automatic speech recognition: meaning, definition, pronunciation and examples
C1Technical/Academic
Quick answer
What does “automatic speech recognition” mean?
Technology that enables computers to understand and process human speech.
Audio
Pronunciation
Definition
Meaning and Definition
Technology that enables computers to understand and process human speech.
A branch of computational linguistics and artificial intelligence focused on converting spoken language into text or commands, often involving machine learning algorithms and acoustic modeling.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
No significant lexical differences; both use the same term. Spelling follows regional conventions in compound documents.
Connotations
Neutral technical term in both varieties.
Frequency
Equally common in technical contexts in both regions.
Grammar
How to Use “automatic speech recognition” in a Sentence
ASR + verb (enables, converts, processes)adjective + ASR (accurate, real-time, multilingual)ASR + preposition + noun (recognition of speech, recognition for dictation)Vocabulary
Collocations
Examples
Examples of “automatic speech recognition” in a Sentence
verb
British English
- The system can automatically recognise speech in real time.
- We need to speech-enable the application.
American English
- The software automatically recognizes speech with high accuracy.
- We're working to speech-enable the device.
adverb
British English
- The speech was recognised automatically.
- The system processes audio automatically.
American English
- The speech was recognized automatically.
- It converts speech to text automatically.
adjective
British English
- The automatic speech recognition capability is impressive.
- We offer automatic speech-to-text conversion.
American English
- The automatic speech recognition feature works well.
- Automatic transcription services are improving.
Usage
Meaning in Context
Business
Used in tech companies developing voice assistants or transcription services.
Academic
Common in computer science, linguistics, and human-computer interaction research.
Everyday
Rare in casual conversation; might appear when discussing voice assistants like Siri or Alexa.
Technical
Standard term in software documentation, AI research, and system specifications.
Vocabulary
Synonyms of “automatic speech recognition”
Strong
Weak
Vocabulary
Antonyms of “automatic speech recognition”
Watch out
Common Mistakes When Using “automatic speech recognition”
- Using 'automatic' as an adverb ('automatically speech recognition')
- Confusing with 'speech synthesis' (text-to-speech)
- Incorrect hyphenation: 'automatic-speech-recognition' (usually not hyphenated in noun form)
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Not exactly. Automatic speech recognition focuses on understanding what is said (content), while voice recognition often refers to identifying who is speaking (speaker identification).
Accents, background noise, homophones, speaker variability, and spontaneous speech with disfluencies like 'um' and 'uh'.
Typically involves acoustic modeling (matching sounds to phonemes), language modeling (predicting word sequences), and decoding algorithms to find the most probable transcription.
Speech-to-text usually refers specifically to transcription, while ASR is broader and can include understanding intent, speaker diarization, and emotion detection.
Technology that enables computers to understand and process human speech.
Automatic speech recognition is usually technical/academic in register.
Automatic speech recognition: in British English it is pronounced /ˌɔːtəˌmætɪk ˈspiːtʃ ˌrekəɡˈnɪʃən/, and in American English it is pronounced /ˌɔːt̬əˈmæt̬ɪk ˈspiːtʃ ˌrekəɡˈnɪʃən/. Tap the audio buttons above to hear it.
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “None specific to this technical term”
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
AUTOmatic Speech Recognition: Like an AUTOmatic translator that RECOGNIZES SPEECH.
Conceptual Metaphor
COMPUTER IS A LISTENER / SPEECH IS DATA TO DECODE
Practice
Quiz
What is the primary function of automatic speech recognition?