an application that talks and listens [duites]

8/2/2019 An Application That Talks and Listens [Duites]

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AN APPLICATION THAT TALKS AND LISTENS(MANIPULATING TEXT FOR MOBILE SHORT MESSAGING SYSTEM)

DEEP XAVIER T. DUITES

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE COLLEGE OF COMPUTER STUDIESCEBU INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTSFOR THE DEGREE OF

MASTER IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

OCTOBER 2008


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ABSTRACT

Text-To-Speech and Speech-To-Text (TTS&STT) application was a tool that

converts SMS text (also known as SMS Language, or Textese, or TxtSpk

1

) into

speech and vice versa. It used the English language as its base language. The

conversion process used an SMS dictionary of words which were stored in a

database file, to contrast every SMS text to an English word or an English word

to an SMS text.

TTS&STT was implemented using Microsoft .NET technology and Microsoft

Speech Application's Programming Interface (SAPI). SAPI aided in the

conversion processes of both speech recognition and text to speech. The

conversion technology was built-in of the Speech API and would not be part of

the development of this project.

Aside from speech recognition and reading out of text (from a text file, WAV file,

or text typed in the user interface) in which the TTS&STT application was

capable of, it could also produce a converted SMS text into a text file or into a

WAV file. With these types of outputs produced by TTS&STT application, it could

become usable to other applications that rely on speech recognition and text to

speech.

1 SMS Languagehttp://wapedia.mobi/en/SMS_language


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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to express my sincerest thanks to the following for extending their

support since the start until the completion of this work:

My God, the Almighty Father, who has always been my source of life,

wisdom and will. For without Him, I could not have completed this work.

My wife, Gilda, for being there always to give encouragement and love.

My son, Marcus, for being there to give the smile that fills my heart with so

much joy.

My daughter, Margaret, for being there to give the sweetest smile that fills

my day with so much love and affection.

My dean, Prof. Cherry Lyn C. Sta. Romana, for having been one of the

persons who encouraged me to finishing this work.

My adviser, Prof. Larmie T. Santos-Feliscuzo, for always has been very

supportive of me.

My mentors in the graduate studies, for their consideration, patience, and

understanding.

My colleagues in the College of Computer Studies, for their words of

encouragement and motivation.

My classmates in the graduate studies, for their shared time and thoughts.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1

1.1 Background of the Study ............................................................................ 1

1.2 Objectives of the Study .............................................................................. 2

1.3 Significance of the Study ............................................................................ 3

1.4 Scope and Limitations ................................................................................ 3

2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ............................................................. 5

2.1 Yap: Voice-To-Text Translation on Your Cell ............................................. 5

2.2 Jott: Speech-to-Text Mobile Interface ........................................................ 5

2.3 NMS Communications Voice SMS ............................................................ 6

2.4 SpinVox ...................................................................................................... 7

2.5 IBM ViaVoice.............................................................................................. 8

2.6 Microsoft Voice Command ......................................................................... 8

3. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGIES .......................................................... 10

3.1 Project Budget and Materials ................................................................... 10

3.2 Work Schedule ......................................................................................... 11

3.3 Implementation Plan ................................................................................ 11

4. THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK ....................................................................... 12

4.1 TTS&STT Application ............................................................................... 12


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4.1.1 Speech-To-Text Interface................................................................ 12

4.1.2 Text-To-Speech Interface................................................................ 14

5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................... 16

APPENDIX A: USERS MANUAL ..................................................................... A-1

A.1The Installer Package and the Installation Instructions .......................... A-1

Installation Instructions: .......................................................................... A-1

A.2Getting Started ....................................................................................... A-2

A.3Using the Speech-To-Text Interface ...................................................... A-4

Steps in Interacting with the Speech-To-Text Application: ..................... A-8

A.4Using the Text-To-Speech Interface ...................................................... A-8

Steps in Interacting with the Text-To-Speech Application: ................... A-11

A.5Using the SMS Dictionary Interface ..................................................... A-12

APPENDIX B: PROGRAM LISTINGS

BIBLIOGRAPHY


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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: The basic steps to convert speech to text ............................................ 12

Figure 2: STT's System Architecture .................................................................. 13

Figure 3: The basic steps to convert text to speech ............................................ 14

Figure 4: TTS' System Architecture .................................................................... 15

Figure 5: Contents of the SpeechUiSetup folder ............................................... A-1

Figure 6: Contents of the Debug folder ............................................................. A-1

Figure 7: Contents of the SpeechUiSetup folder in Program Files .................... A-2

Figure 8: TTS&STT's main graphical user interface ......................................... A-2

Figure 9: The LaunchASR shortcut button ....................................................... A-4

Figure 10: The STT's user interface .................................................................. A-5

Figure 11: The Launch TTS shortcut button ..................................................... A-8

Figure 12: The TTS user interface ................................................................... A-9

Figure 13: View menu of the STT application ................................................. A-12

Figure 14: View menu of the TTS application ................................................. A-12

Figure 15: The SMS Dictionary interface ........................................................ A-12


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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Materials and Costs .............................................................................. 10

Table 2: Gantt Chart ........................................................................................... 11

Table 3: Main GUI's menu ................................................................................ A-3

Table 4: Menu items of the drop-down File menu ............................................. A-4

Table 5: Menu item of the drop-down Help menu ............................................. A-4

Table 6: The STT's main menu ......................................................................... A-6

Table 7: Menu items of the drop-down File menu of the STT application ......... A-7

Table 8: Menu items of the drop-down Edit menu of the STT application ......... A-7

Table 9: Menu item of the drop-down View menu of the STT application ......... A-7

Table 10: Menu item of the drop-down Help menu of the STT application ....... A-7

Table 11: The TTS main menu ...................................................................... A-10

Table 12: Menu items of the drop-down File menu of the TTS application ..... A-11

Table 13: Menu item of the drop-down View menu of the TTS application ..... A-11

Table 14: Menu item of the drop-down Help menu of the TTS application ..... A-11


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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

For the past several decades, designers have processed speech for a wide

variety of applications ranging from mobile communications to automatic

reading machines. Speech recognition reduces the overhead caused by

alternate communication methods. Speech has not been used much in the

field of electronics and computers due to the complexity and variety of

speech signals and sounds. However, with modern processes, algorithms,

and methods we can process speech signals easily and recognize the text.

Voice recognition software (VRS), also known as speech-recognition,

automatic speech recognition, ASR or natural language recognition

software, converts your voice to text on a computer. In essence, what this

means is that you can create text files without typing. When you speak

through a microphone (most voice-recognition software includes this

accessory), the software translates the sounds into written words. It is

initially time consuming, but accuracy and ease of use have now improved

so much that it may finally be worth the investment of time and money.

Many first-generation voice-recognition packages used discrete speech

technology, which meant you had to pause between words in order for the

computer to understand them. The latest generation uses continuous

speech technology, which allows you to speak more naturally. All require an

enrollment process, during which you sit at the computer and read sample


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text out loud to help train the speech recognition software to understand

your voice patterns. While most voice-recognition software users want a

large vocabulary in their software package, the larger the vocabulary, the

more time-consuming the training process. Thats because many words

sound similar, and you need to train the recognition system to understand

how you pronounce them.

1.2 Objectives of the Study

This study aims to develop an application software that is capable of

performing the following:

Convert speech or voice data into SMS text.

Convert SMS text into voice data.

In addition, the following specific objectives must also be achieved during

the project development and completion:

To create a desktop application that is a precursor to a mobile

application (since no mobile technology as of this project is

developed that is available publicly that is capable of doing the

abovementioned objectives.)

To design an application interface that will convert voice or speech

data into SMS text.

To design an application interface that will convert SMS text into

voice or speech data.

To be able to implement the designed system using Microsoft Visual

Basic programming of the .NET technology.


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To come up with an application that handles both speech-to-text and

text-to-speech.

1.3 Significance of the Study

In the innovation of wireless devices these days, mobile communications is

greatly a part of it. In mobile communications, text messaging (SMS) is so

prevalent. In reality, text messaging has never come too easy; we have to

press a lot of buttons in our cell phones just to create a single text message

but though to some people it is not much of an agony but to the many, it is.

So, this study aims to develop a system that makes text messaging a little

easier a system that will transcribe voice or speech data into text message

and vice versa. By this process, text messaging may have been a

convenience to the many.

1.4 Scope and Limitations

The study is only focused to developing a system that is capable of

converting voice or speech data into a text message and vice versa. The

following will be the main focus of the development of the study: the task to

design the interfaces for the conversion processes; the conversion

mechanisms for both speech-to-text and text-to-speech; and the definition of

the SMS dictionary of words.

The following lists the limitations of this study:

The software cannot convert a saved or recorded audio message

into a text message.


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The software cannot extract text messages from a recorded or

saved audio file.

The software cannot speak out other formats of audio files but WAV

files.

The software cannot convert a recognized word into an SMS text if

the recognized word is not present in the defined SMS dictionary.

The software is not capable of recognizing words of other languages

but the English language.

The software is not capable of converting the recognized word into

another language but the English language to form a text message.


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2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The following numbered literatures serve as my basis for the development of this

system; for these literatures are the closest applications to this developed system

that are by-products of speech technologies used today.

2.1 Yap: Voice-To-Text Translation on Your Cell

The system lets you send text messages just by talking into your phone.

The software also allows you to query web services like Google, Wikipedia,

or YouTube with nothing but your voice. It also provides voice-to-text

translation services for mobile phones. Users can say anything they like and

Yap will send a text copy to anyone of their contacts. The service is

completely automated so you wont have intermediary Yap employees

listening to your messages, typing them and then sending them out. They

also have a text messaging application call Yap9 that allows you to keep in

touch with friends, family, and co-workers. Users can also use the

application to instantly query mobile web services just by talking. They can

search Google, Wikipedia, Yahoo, and YouTube, or interact with Facebook

without using their phones miniature keyboards.2

2.2 Jott: Speech-to-Text Mobile Interface

Jott is an application from Jott Networks Inc. accessible via the phone, via

web browser, text messaging, email, downloaded software, links created by

2 Kochanov, Ilya Yap: Voice-To-Text Translation On Your Cellhttp://www.crunchgear.com/2007/09/17/yap-voice-to-text-translation-on-your-cell/http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/17/techcrunch-40-session-2-mobile-communications/


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3rd parties, and 3rd party applications which incorporate the Jott Service via

Application Programming Interfaces. Jott Networks operates a voice to text

service that makes staying organized and in touch easy. Jott allows

consumers to easily and safely send emails and text messages, set

reminders, organize lists, and post to web services with their voice.3

2.3 NMS Communications Voice SMS

Voice SMS is a fast way to send a short message to another mobile

subscriber. In that sense its similar to an SMS text message. But Voice

SMS is much easier to use. There are no keystrokes to compose the

message, you just talk. When someone sends you a Voice SMS, you

receive an SMS text message saying You have a Voice SMS from

**someone in your phonebook**. Click here to listen to your message. One

click and youre listening to the message. In some implementations, it says

Dial *0* to listen to your message. Thats four clicks with the Send key,

but its equally easy for users.

There are additional advantages for Voice SMS over conventional text SMS.

The text user interface on mobile phones is great if you use a European

language, Kanji, or another widely practiced language. But once you get

beyond the top twenty languages, there is little or no support for text

messaging. And of course, text messages are of no use to people who are

illiterate. Yet they easily learn to use Voice SMS.

3 Platzek, Dirk Jott: Speech-to-Text Mobile Interfacehttp://jott.com/default.aspxhttp://www.wunschfeld.net/blog/2007/03/speech-to-text-mobile-interface.html


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Voice SMS is perfect for when you want to communicate but dont need or

dont want a live conversationfor example when you think the other party

is likely to be asleep or in a noisy environment. Voice SMS is a convenient

way to give them some information or initiate a non-real time conversation

where the other party can delay their response until they are ready.4

2.4 SpinVox

SpinVox captures spoken messages and cleverly converts them into text. It

then delivers your message to a destination of your choice inbox, blog,

wall or space. The captured spoken words will be fed into a Voice Message

Conversion System, known as D2 (the Brain), and spits them out as text

content. So D2s pretty smart. Hes bound to be, as hes a combination of

artificial intelligence, voice recognition and natural linguistics. But he also

learns from us humans. He learns all the time about how we speak, and

what we say, from the mundane to the ridiculous. And even the smartest

machines need a helping hand if they are to stay clever: help to understand

and digest new words or phrases to ensure that he is converting what you

mean to say. Over the past four years D2 has been chomping through our

words, converting millions of messages from millions of different voices and

accents, in English, French, Spanish and German. But now hes onto his

main course and he wants to feast on your words to make him bigger and

stronger.5

4 Turner, Brough Voice SMSCreating a Service People Will Adopthttp://www.nmscommunications.com/News/NL/TIN/Jan2007/VoiceSMS.htm

5 Whats SpinVox All About Then?


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2.5 IBM ViaVoice

The system allows email and web navigation via voice command, meaning,

you can use your voice to create, manage, and send email, chat on the

Internet, command your browser, launch URLs and surf the Web. It has

transcription support for digital handheld recorders. It has a new IBM

speech engine with improved background noise adaptation which can result

in greater dictation and voice command accuracy. It has over 300,000

vocabulary and backup dictionary words and you can add customized

addresses, names, acronyms, terms and colloquialisms to the vocabulary.

6

2.6 Microsoft Voice Command

Voice Command transforms your Windows Mobile smart phone into your

own virtual personal assistant, letting you use your voice to look up

contacts, make phone calls, get calendar information, and play and control

your music, as well as start programs. Voice Command makes it easier and

more convenient than ever to take your digital lifestyle with you wherever

you go.

Because Voice Command has state-of-the-art speech technology, you will

never have to prerecord important phone numbers or use difficult

commands to access the information that you need. Simply select one of

the many commands that is most natural to you and let Voice Command do

http://www.spinvox.com/homepage.htmlhttp://www.spinvox.com/how_it_works.html

6 IBM Corporation IBM ViaVoice Advanced Edition Release 10http://www.nuance.com/viavoice/advanced/


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the rest. You can even ask, "What can I say?" at any time to help find an

appropriate command.7

7 Microsoft Voice Command 1.6

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/voicecommand/features.mspx


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3. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGIES

3.1 Project Budget and Materials

Shown below is the table of itemized list of tangible and intangible materials

needed to develop and realize the system. Also shown are the costs of each

respective material (in pesos) as of this writing:

Material Cost

a. Personal Computer (1 unit) 32,000.00b. Microsoft Windows Vista 7,500.00

c. Microsoft Office 2007 6,500.00

d. Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 (free, available for downloadat microsoft.com)

0.00

e. Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition (free, availablefor download at microsoft.com)

0.00

f. Standard headset (with microphone) 200.00

g. Speakers 300.00

Total Budget Cost 46,500.00Table 1: Materials and Costs


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3.2 Work Schedule

The Gantt chart below shows the timeline of activities that is to be observed

during the development of this system:

June2008

July2008

Aug2008

Sept2008

Oct2008

System Analysis andDesign

Coding

Testing

Maintenance

DocumentationTable 2: Gantt Chart

3.3 Implementation Plan

This application software will be deployed in a standalone desktop with the

software requirements based on Table 1: Materials and Costs. The speech-to-

text interface of the application will require a standard headset for speech input.

The text-to-speech interface of the application will require a set of speakers for

the audio output. The SMS dictionary of words will be stored into a database in

which the user can add, update and delete words.


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4. THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

4.1 TTS&STT Application

The TTS&STT application is designed and implemented using object-

oriented approach. It uses the Microsoft Visual Basic .NET

of the

Microsoft .NET Framework as the programming language, Speech

Application Programming Interface (SAPI) for speech recognition and

synthesis, and Microsoft Access 2003 as its database tool.

4.1.1 Speech-To-Text Interface

The Speech-To-Text interface of the TTS&STT application handles the

speech recognition capability using the Speech APIs speech recognition

engine. The speech recognition process of the speech-to-text interface is

based on the following steps, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: The basic steps to convert speech to text

Voice Input

Text Output

SR En ine SS En ine

SAPI


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The conversion of speech to text follows the basic steps as shown in

Figure 1. The detailed conversion of speech to text is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: STT's System Architecture

In this conversion process, the user utters a word using a standard

microphone and SAPI will recognize the word. Once recognized by SAPI,

the recognized word will passed to the text parser and the text parser will

Voice Input

SR En ine SS En ine

SAPI

Recognized Text

Text Parser

Text Output

SMS text Database

SMS text manipulation

Add word

Delete word

Update word

Sort


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compare the recognized word into the SMS text dictionary and outputs the

word.

4.1.2 Text-To-Speech Interface

The Text-To-Speech interface of the TTS&STT application handles the

text to speech conversion or the so called "speech synthesis" using the

Speech API's speech synthesis engine. The speech synthesis process of

the text-to-speech interface is based on the following steps, as shown in

Figure 3.

Figure 3: The basic steps to convert text to speech

The conversion of text to speech follows the basic steps as shown in

Figure 3. The detailed conversion of text to speech is shown in Figure 4.

Text Input

Voice Output

SR En ine SS En ine

SAPI


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Figure 4: TTS' System Architecture

In this conversion process, the text input will parsed by the text parser by

comparing each word of the text input to the SMS text dictionary. Once

parsed, each word of the parsed text will be analyzed by SAPI using the

speech synthesis engine and outputs it as voice.

Text Input

SR En ine SS En ine

SAPI

Parsed Text

Text Parser

Voice Output

SMS text Database

SMS text manipulation

Add word

Delete word

Update word

Sort


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5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The Speech API (Applications Programming Interface) for mobile applications

has been used by a number of developers today. But it has been exclusively

developed and distributed to mobile companies and its of no avail to anyone who

might want to use the technology. The IDE (Integrated Development

Environment) and other related tools for developing such applications are also

exclusively distributed.

As of the development of this project, the public API for developing speech

application for mobile is not yet available. Despite the limited resource and

technology, this project was still pursued. The speech-to-text and text-to-speech

interfaces that are supposed to be implemented in a mobile environment are

developed instead in a desktop environment.

Due to the unavailability of public API for developing speech application for

mobile, the project developer was not able to implement it in the intended target

environment which is the mobile environment. Interested developers may

implement the following suggestions for its improvement and suitability:

1. The speech-to-text and text-to-speech interfaces should be implemented

in a mobile environment that supports speech technology.


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2. The Speech API for mobile applications to be used should support both

speech recognition and voice output.

3. The SMS dictionary of words should be well defined so that the messages

it will create will be understandable and reliable.

4. The speech recognition process should be given attention and more

training since it requires a so-much-like English or American accent for the

engine to recognize a word. More so, constant training with your voice can

improve the recognition capability of the engine.


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A-1

APPENDIX A: USERS MANUAL

A.1 The Installer Package and the Installation Instructions

The contents of the installation folder SpeechUiSetup are shown inFigure 5.

Figure 5: Contents of the SpeechUiSetup folder

The Debug folder, as shown in Figure 5, has the setup program to beused for the installation. The contents of the Debug folder are shown inFigure 6.

Figure 6: Contents of the Debug folder

Installation Instructions:

1. Run the setup.exe orSpeechUiSetup.exe file that is found inside theDebug folder in the installation folder (as shown in Figures 5 & 6). Thiswill install the TTS&STT (Text-To-Speech & Speech-To-Text) programinto the host PC. (This step assumes that the Microsoft .NET 3.0 orabove has been installed into the host PC already.)

2. After running the setup program, an installation wizard will appear which will guide you through a successful installation process. Just

leave the default settings as is and proceed with the installation.

3. After successful installation, you need to proceed to the final instructionwhich is written inside the file READ_ME.txt, located in the defaultdirectory C:\Program Files\DeepQuest Corp\SpeechUiSetup. Thecontents of the directory are shown in Figure 7.


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A-2

Figure 7: Contents of the SpeechUiSetup folder in Program Files

4. After doing the instruction inside READ_ME.txt file, you can double-click on SpeechUI.exe file (make sure not the XML Configuration file)to run the program.

A.2 Getting Started

Assuming the TTS&STTprogram is not running, run it by double-clicking theSpeechUI.exe file that is found inside the SpeechUiSetup folder (as shown in

Figure 7). After a few seconds, the TTS&STTs main graphical user interface(GUI) will appear on screen, as shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8: TTS&STT's main graphical user interface

The descriptions of the labeled parts of the main GUI are the following:

Menu bar contains the drop-down menus used for launching the differentfeatures of the program.

Menu bar

Shortcut buttons

Minimize and Close control buttons


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Shortcut buttons one-click controls for easy access of the main features ofthe program.

Minimize and Close control buttons the minimize button is used to obviouslyminimize the window if the user decides to get back to the running programlater, and the close button is used to completely terminate the runningapplication.

The following tabulations give details of the different menus provided in theprograms main GUI:

Menu Name Description When Activated When Deactivated

File A drop-down menu; itcontains the menuitems which are themain features of the

program

(always activated) (always activated)

Help A drop-down menu; itcontains the menuitem that launches adialog box thatdisplays theprograms version,the copyright year,the author and thebrief description ofthe program.


Table 3: Main GUI's menu


Launch ASR It opens the Speech-To-Text interfacewhich allows the userto use speech to textconversion.


Launch TTS It opens the Text-To-Speech interfacewhich allows the userto use text to speechconversion.



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Exit It terminates therunning program.


Table 4: Menu items of the drop-down File menu


About It opens the dialogbox that displays theprograms version,the copyright year,the author and thebrief description ofthe program.


Table 5: Menu item of the drop-down Help menu

A.3 Using the Speech-To-Text Interface

The Speech-To-Text (STT) interface can be launched by accessing the Filemenu then choosing Launch ASRor by clicking on the Launch ASRshortcutbutton of the main GUI, as shown in Figure 9 below.

Figure 9: The Launch ASRshortcut button

Using either of the two options to launch STT, the STT graphical user interfacewill appear on screen, as shown in Figure 10.

Launch ASR button


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A-5

Figure 10: The STT's user interface

The descriptions of the labeled parts of the Speech-To-Text GUI are thefollowing:

Menu bar contains the advance and basic operations of the STT interface.

Recognized text area contains the recognized text or words. (If the text areacontains [Recognized text will be placed here.], which is the default text,then no recognized text yet has been detected by the recognition engine.)

Parsed text area contains the parsed text or words. (If the text area contains[Parsed text will be placed here.], which is the default text, then no parsingof the recognized text has been done yet.)

Minimize and Close control buttons the minimize button is used to obviouslyminimize the window if the user decides to get back to STT program later,and the close button is used to terminate the STT application and return tothe main GUI.

Status bar indicates the status of the recognition engine.

The following tabulations give details of the different menus provided in theSpeech-To-Text GUI:


File A drop-down menu; itcontains the items for


Recognized text area

Parsed text area

Menu bar

Status bar



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loading a grammar,saving to file andclosing the interface.

Edit A drop-down menu; itcontains the items forparsing therecognized text toSMS text, clearingthe textboxes


View A drop-down menu; itcontains the item thatwill display the SMSdictionary of words.


Help A drop-down menu; itcontains the menuitem that launches adialog box thatdisplays theapplication name, thecopyright year andthe author.


Table 6: The STT's main menu


Load DefaultGrammar

It loads the defaultgrammar supportedby the Speech APIinstalled in the hostPC.


LoadExternal

Grammar

(not implemented no support yet as of

this writing)


this writing)


this writing)

Save To File A submenu thatcontains the menuitems for saving therecognized text or



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the parsed text into aWAV file.

Close It terminates the STT

application andreturns to the mainapplication.


Table 7: Menu items of the drop-down File menu of the STT application


Parse toTxtSpk

It parses/converts therecognized text to

SMS text based onthe SMS dictionary ofwords.


EmptyTextboxes

It clears the contentsof the two textboxes.


Table 8: Menu items of the drop-down Edit menu of the STT application


Dictionary It opens the interfaceof the SMS dictionaryof words, as shownin Figure 15.


Table 9: Menu item of the drop-down View menu of the STT application


About It opens a dialog box

that displays thename of theapplication, thecopyright year andthe name of theauthor


Table 10: Menu item of the drop-down Help menu of the STT application


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A-8

Steps in Interacting with the Speech-To-Text Application:

1. The user needs to load the default grammar (installed in the host PC andsupported by the Speech API) by clicking on FileLoad Default Grammar.

2. The user can now utter the words he or she wishes to be recognized (by thespeech recognition engine used in the STT application) using a standardmicrophone.

3. After the uttered words are recognized, the user can parse or convert therecognized text to SMS text based on the database of SMS words.

4. After parsing or conversion, the user can optionally save the recognized textto a WAV file by clicking on FileSave To File Recognized Text, or theuser can optionally save the parsed text to a WAV file by clicking onFileSave To FileParsed Text.

A.4 Using the Text-To-Speech Interface

The Text-To-Speech (TTS) interface can be launched by accessing the Filemenu then choosing Launch TTS or by clicking on the Launch TTS shortcutbutton of the main GUI, as shown in Figure 11 below.

Figure 11: The Launch TTS shortcut button

Using either of the two options to launch the TTS application, the TTS graphicaluser interface will appear on screen, as shown in Figure 12.

Launch TTS button


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A-9

Figure 12: The TTS user interface

The descriptions of the labeled parts of the Text-To-Speech GUI are thefollowing:

Menu bar contains the advance and basic operations of the TTS interface.

Text entry area contains the text or words typed by the user or extractedfrom a text file which are to be spoken by the speech engine.

Parsed text area contains the parsed text or words that have been spokenby the speech engine.

Speech control buttons controls the speech engine by making it speak,stop, pause and reset.

Voice settings sets the supported voices (if there are other voices installed),format for the audio output, adjusts the speaking rate (speed) and the volume.

Minimize and Close control buttons the minimize button is used to obviouslyminimize the window if the user decides to get back to TTS application later,and the close button is used to terminate the TTS application and return to

the main GUI.

Status bar indicates the status of the speech engine.

The following tabulations give details of the different menus provided in theSpeech-To-Text GUI:

Text entry area

Parsed text area

Speech control buttons

Voice settings

Menu bar

Status bar



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File A drop-down menu; itcontains the menuitems that allows theapplication to speakfrom a WAV file orfrom a text file.


View A drop-down menu; itcontains the menuitem that will displaythe SMS dictionary ofwords.


Help A drop-down menu; itcontains the menu

item that launches adialog box thatdisplays theapplication name, thecopyright year andthe author.


Table 11: The TTS main menu


Speak fromText File

It opens the OpenDialog Box to let theuser choose a textfile.


Speak fromWave File

It opens the OpenDialog Box to let theuser choose a WAVfile.


Save to

Wave File

It opens the Save As

Dialog Box to let theuser save the audioequivalent of theparsed text to a WAVfile.


Close It terminates the TTS (always activated) (always activated)


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application andreturns to the mainapplication.

Table 12: Menu items of the drop-down File menu of the TTS application


Dictionary It opens the interfaceof the SMS dictionaryof words, as shownin Figure 15.


Table 13: Menu item of the drop-down View menu of the TTS application


About It opens a dialog boxthat displays thename of theapplication, thecopyright year andthe name of theauthor


Table 14: Menu item of the drop-down Help menu of the TTS application

Steps in Interacting with the Text-To-Speech Application:

1. The user needs to type a word or set of words in the text entry area or theuser opens a text file (click on FileSpeak from Text File) or opens a WAVfile (click on FileSpeak from Wave File).

2. The user can now adjust the voice settings, as shown in Figure 8, but leavingit as is will do the job perfectly.

3. After adjustments were made in the voice settings (if any), the user needs toclick on the Speak button in the Speech control buttons group, as shown inFigure 8. Note that if the user decided to let the application speak from aWAV file, then it is not necessary for the user to click on the Speak buttonsince this option will let the application speak automatically.

4. Optionally, the user can save the typed words in the text entry area into aWAV file if he or she wishes to.


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A.5 Using the SMS Dictionary Interface

The SMS Dictionary interface can be launched using the ViewDictionary menuof both the Speech-To-Text and Text-To-Speech applications, as shown inFigures 13 and 14 respectively.

Figure 13: View menu of the STT

applicationFigure 14: View menu of the TTS

application

Using either of the options to launch the SMS Dictionary, the SMS Dictionary

interface will appear on screen as shown in Figure 15.

Figure 15: The SMS Dictionary interface

In this interface, the user can add, update, delete word or words, or sort (in

ascending or descending manner) the words in the dictionary.


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APPENDIX B: PROGRAM LISTINGS

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Imports System.Data.OleDb

Imports System.Speech.RecognitionPublic Class frmASR

Dim SpRecognizer As New SpeechRecognitionEnginePrivate Sub mnuAbout_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles

mnuAbout.ClickMsgBox("Speech Recognition application." & Chr(13) & "Copyright 2008" & Chr(13) & "Deepquest

Corp.", MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Information, "ASR")End Sub

Private Sub mnuDictionary_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)Handles mnuDictionary.Click

frmDictionary.Show()End Sub

Private Sub mnuClose_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) HandlesmnuClose.Click

Me.Close()frmSpeechEngineMain.Show()

End SubPrivate Sub frmASR_FormClosed(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As

System.Windows.Forms.FormClosedEventArgs) Handles Me.FormClosedfrmDictionary.Close()SpRecognizer.Dispose()SpRecognizer = NothingfrmSpeechEngineMain.Show()

End Sub

Private Sub mnuParseToTxtSpk_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)Handles mnuParseToTxtSpk.Click

Dim p_Str As String = txtRecoString.TexttxtRecoString.Text = TextParser(p_Str)

End SubPrivate Function TextParser(ByVal p_Str As String) As String

Dim n_Str As String = String.EmptyDim t_Str() As StringDim d_Str As String = " " & vbCrLf & "." & "," & "?" & "!"Dim d_Chars() As Char = d_Str.ToCharArray

'Tokenize the stringt_Str = p_Str.Split(d_Chars, StringSplitOptions.None)'Compare every string if it's in the databaseFor Each s As String In t_Str

n_Str = n_Str & " " & ParseToDigiWord(s)NextReturn n_Str.Trim

End FunctionPrivate Function ParseToDigiWord(ByVal f_Str As String) As String

'Connect to the database

Dim objConnection As OleDbConnection = ConnectToDatabase()

'Search if the string is in the dictionaryDim strSQLSearch As String = "SELECT digiWord FROM Words WHERE realWord = '" & f_Str & "'"Dim objDataAdapter As New OleDbDataAdapter(strSQLSearch, objConnection)Dim objDataTable As New DataTable("mWords")objDataAdapter.Fill(objDataTable)

If objDataTable.Rows.Count > 0 Thenf_Str = objDataTable.Rows(0)("digiWord").ToString

End If


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objDataAdapter.Dispose()objDataAdapter = NothingobjDataTable.Dispose()objDataTable = NothingobjConnection.Close()objConnection = Nothing

Return f_StrEnd Function

Private Sub frmASR_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) HandlesMyBase.Load

Dim grammar As Grammar = DefaultGrammar()SpRecognizer.LoadGrammarAsync(grammar)

SpRecognizer.SetInputToDefaultAudioDevice()SpRecognizer.RecognizeAsync()

AddHandler SpRecognizer.SpeechDetected, AddressOf SpeechDetectedEventHandlerAddHandler SpRecognizer.SpeechRecognized, AddressOf SpeechRecognizedEventHandlerAddHandler SpRecognizer.SpeechRecognitionRejected, AddressOf

SpeechRecognitionRejectedEventHandlerAddHandler SpRecognizer.RecognizeCompleted, AddressOf SpeechRecognizeCompletedEventHandler

End SubPrivate Sub SpeechRecognizedEventHandler(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As

SpeechRecognizedEventArgs)Dim result As RecognitionResult = e.ResultDim phrase As String = result.Text

'Update the recognized text window's stringtxtRecoString.Text = txtRecoString.Text & phrase & " "tssRecoText.Text = "Recognized"

'Update the parsed text window's stringtxtParseText.Text = txtParseText.Text & ParseToDigiWord(phrase) & " "

End SubPrivate Sub SpeechRecognitionRejectedEventHandler(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As

SpeechRecognitionRejectedEventArgs)tssRecoText.Text = "Rejected"

End Sub

Private Sub SpeechDetectedEventHandler(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e AsSpeechDetectedEventArgs)

tssRecoText.Text = "Ready"End SubPrivate Sub SpeechRecognizeCompletedEventHandler(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As

RecognizeCompletedEventArgs)SpRecognizer.RecognizeAsync()

End Sub

Private Sub mnuLoadDefaultGrammar_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e AsSystem.EventArgs) Handles mnuLoadDefaultGrammar.Click

Dim grammar As Grammar = DefaultGrammar()

SpRecognizer.UnloadAllGrammars()SpRecognizer.LoadGrammar(grammar)

End Sub

Private Function DefaultGrammar() As Grammar'Connect to the databaseDim objConnection As OleDbConnection = ConnectToDatabase()

'Extract all word pairs in the dictionaryDim strSQL As String = "SELECT realWord FROM Words"Dim objDataAdapter As New OleDbDataAdapter(strSQL, objConnection)


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Dim objDataTable As New DataTable("mWords")objDataAdapter.Fill(objDataTable)

Dim words As New ChoicesDim gBuilder As New GrammarBuilder

For Each row As DataRow In objDataTable.Rowswords.Add(row.Item("realWord"))

Next

gBuilder.Append(words)


Dim grammar As New Grammar(gBuilder)Return grammar

End Function

Private Function ConnectToDatabase() As OleDbConnectionDim strConnectionString As String = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;" & _

"Data Source=C:\Data\TextWords.mdb;"Dim objConnection As New OleDbConnection(strConnectionString)

TryobjConnection.Open()

Catch oleDbException As OleDbExceptionMsgBox(oleDbException.Message, MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Critical, "Error " &

oleDbException.ErrorCode)Catch invalidOperationException As InvalidOperationException

MsgBox(invalidOperationException.Message, MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Critical, "Error")End TryReturn objConnection

End Function

Private Sub txtRecoString_DoubleClick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) HandlestxtRecoString.DoubleClick

txtRecoString.Text = String.EmptytxtParseText.Text = String.Empty

End Sub

Private Sub txtParseText_DoubleClick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)Handles txtParseText.DoubleClick

txtParseText.Text = String.EmptyEnd Sub

Private Sub mnuEmptyTextboxes_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)Handles mnuEmptyTextboxes.Click

txtRecoString.Text = String.EmptytxtParseText.Text = String.Empty

End Sub

Private Sub mnuSaveRecognizedText_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e AsSystem.EventArgs) Handles mnuSaveRecognizedText.Click

If String.IsNullOrEmpty(txtRecoString.Text) ThenMsgBox("Cannot save an empty text to a file.", MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Exclamation,

"Empty")Exit Sub

End If

Dim SaveAsDialog As New SaveFileDialogSaveAsDialog.Filter = "Text files (*.txt)|*.txt"


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If SaveAsDialog.ShowDialog = DialogResult.OK Then'Write string to fileFileOpen(1, SaveAsDialog.FileName, OpenMode.Output)PrintLine(1, txtRecoString.Text)FileClose(1)

End If

SaveAsDialog.Dispose()SaveAsDialog = Nothing

tssRecoText.Text = "Saved"End Sub

Private Sub mnuSaveParsedText_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)Handles mnuSaveParsedText.Click

If String.IsNullOrEmpty(txtParseText.Text) ThenMsgBox("Cannot save an empty text to a file.", MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Exclamation,

"Empty")Exit Sub

End If

Dim SaveAsDialog As New SaveFileDialogSaveAsDialog.Filter = "Text files (*.txt)|*.txt"

If SaveAsDialog.ShowDialog = DialogResult.OK Then'Write string to fileFileOpen(1, SaveAsDialog.FileName, OpenMode.Output)PrintLine(1, txtParseText.Text)FileClose(1)

End If

SaveAsDialog.Dispose()SaveAsDialog = Nothing

tssRecoText.Text = "Saved"End Sub

End Class----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Imports System.Data.OleDbImports System.Speech.SynthesisImports System.Speech.AudioFormatPublic Class frmTTS

Dim SSynthesizer As New SpeechSynthesizerPrivate Sub mnuAbout_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles

mnuAbout.ClickMsgBox("Text-To-Speech application." & Chr(13) & "Copyright 2008" & Chr(13) & "Deepquest

Corp.", MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Information, "TTS")End Sub

Private Sub frmTTS_FormClosed(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e AsSystem.Windows.Forms.FormClosedEventArgs) Handles Me.FormClosed

frmSpeechEngineMain.Show()SSynthesizer.Dispose()SSynthesizer = Nothing

frmDictionary.Close()End Sub

Private Sub frmTTS_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) HandlesMyBase.Load

'Populate the contents of the voice combo boxFor Each voice As InstalledVoice In SSynthesizer.GetInstalledVoices()

cbVoice.Items.Add(voice.VoiceInfo.Name)NextcbVoice.SelectedIndex = 0


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'Populate the contents of the format combo boxDim hrtz As New ArrayListDim type As New ArrayListhrtz.Add("8kHz")hrtz.Add("11kHz")hrtz.Add("12kHz")hrtz.Add("16kHz")hrtz.Add("22kHz")

hrtz.Add("24kHz")hrtz.Add("32kHz")hrtz.Add("44kHz")hrtz.Add("48kHz")type.Add("8 Bit Mono")type.Add("8 Bit Stereo")type.Add("16 Bit Mono")type.Add("16 Bit Stereo")For Each f As String In hrtz

For Each t As String In typecbFormat.Items.Add(f & " " & t)

NextNextcbFormat.SelectedIndex = 18

'Add an event handler to notify if speaking is completedAddHandler SSynthesizer.SpeakCompleted, AddressOf SpeakCompletedEventHandler

'Add an event handler to notify if speaking is startedAddHandler SSynthesizer.SpeakStarted, AddressOf SpeakStartedEventHandler

End Sub

Private Sub btnSpeak_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) HandlesbtnSpeak.Click

Dim p_Str As String = TextParser(txtTextWindow.Text)Try

btnSpeak.Enabled = FalsebtnStop.Enabled = TruebtnPause.Enabled = TrueSSynthesizer.SelectVoice(cbVoice.Text)SSynthesizer.SetOutputToDefaultAudioDevice()

SSynthesizer.Volume = trVolume.ValueSSynthesizer.Rate = trRate.ValueSSynthesizer.SpeakAsync(p_Str)txtRealSpoken.Text = p_Str

Catch ex As ExceptionMsgBox(ex.Message, MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Critical, "Error")

End TryEnd SubPrivate Sub btnStop_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles

btnStop.ClickSSynthesizer.SpeakAsyncCancelAll()btnStop.Enabled = FalsebtnPause.Enabled = FalsebtnSpeak.Enabled = True

End Sub

Private Sub btnPause_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) HandlesbtnPause.Click

If btnPause.Text = "Pause" ThenSSynthesizer.Pause()btnPause.Text = "Resume"

ElseSSynthesizer.Resume()btnPause.Text = "Pause"

End IfEnd Sub


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Me.Close()End Sub

Private Sub btnReset_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) HandlesbtnReset.Click

'Reset buttons' status

SSynthesizer.SpeakAsyncCancelAll()btnStop.Enabled = FalsebtnPause.Enabled = FalsebtnSpeak.Enabled = True'Reset voice, rate, volume and format valuescbVoice.SelectedIndex = 0trRate.Value = 0trVolume.Value = 100cbFormat.SelectedIndex = 18'Clear textboxtxtRealSpoken.Text = String.Empty

End Sub

Private Sub mnuDictionary_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)Handles mnuDictionary.Click

frmDictionary.Show()End Sub

Private Sub mnuSpeakTextFile_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)Handles mnuSpeakTextFile.Click

Dim f_Str As String = String.Empty, f_pStr As String = String.EmptyDim TTSOpenFileDialog As New OpenFileDialogTTSOpenFileDialog.Filter = "Text files (*.txt)|*.txt"If TTSOpenFileDialog.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then

If TTSOpenFileDialog.FileName String.Empty ThenTry

FileOpen(1, TTSOpenFileDialog.FileName, OpenMode.Input)Do Until EOF(1)

f_pStr = LineInput(1)f_Str = f_Str & f_pStr & vbCrLf

Loop

txtTextWindow.Text = f_StrCatch ex As Exception

MsgBox(ex.Message, MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Critical, "Error")Finally

FileClose(1)End Try

End IfEnd IfTTSOpenFileDialog.Dispose()TTSOpenFileDialog = Nothing

End Sub

Private Function TextParser(ByVal p_Str As String) As StringDim n_Str As String = String.EmptyDim t_Str() As StringDim d_Str As String = " " & vbCrLf & "." & "," & "?" & "!"

Dim d_Chars() As Char = d_Str.ToCharArray'Tokenize the stringt_Str = p_Str.Split(d_Chars, StringSplitOptions.None)'Compare every string if it's in the databaseFor Each s As String In t_Str

n_Str = n_Str & ParseToRealWord(s) & " "NextReturn n_Str

End Function

Private Function ParseToRealWord(ByVal f_Str As String) As String


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'Connect to the databaseDim strConnectionString As String = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;" & _

"Data Source=C:\Data\TextWords.mdb;"Dim objConnection As New OleDbConnection(strConnectionString)

'Open the databaseTry

objConnection.Open()

Catch oleDbException As OleDbExceptionMsgBox(oleDbException.Message, MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Critical, "Error " &

oleDbException.ErrorCode)Catch invalidOperationException As InvalidOperationException

MsgBox(invalidOperationException.Message, MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Critical, "Error")End Try

'Search if the string is in the dictionaryDim strSQLSearch As String = "SELECT realWord FROM Words WHERE digiWord = '" & f_Str & "'"Dim objDataAdapter As New OleDbDataAdapter(strSQLSearch, objConnection)Dim objDataTable As New DataTable("mWords")objDataAdapter.Fill(objDataTable)

If objDataTable.Rows.Count > 0 Thenf_Str = objDataTable.Rows(0)("realWord").ToString

End If


Return f_StrEnd Function

Private Sub mnuSaveToWaveFile_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)Handles mnuSaveToWaveFile.Click

If String.IsNullOrEmpty(txtTextWindow.Text) ThenMsgBox("Cannot save an empty text to a wave file.", MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly +

MsgBoxStyle.Exclamation, "Empty")Exit Sub

End If

Dim p_Str As String = TextParser(txtTextWindow.Text)Dim TTSSaveFileDialog As New SaveFileDialog

TTSSaveFileDialog.Filter = "Wave files (*.wav)|*.wav"If TTSSaveFileDialog.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then

SSynthesizer.SetOutputToWaveFile(TTSSaveFileDialog.FileName)SSynthesizer.SpeakAsync(p_Str)

End If

TTSSaveFileDialog.Dispose()TTSSaveFileDialog = Nothing

End Sub

Private Sub mnuSpeakWaveFile_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)Handles mnuSpeakWaveFile.Click

Dim TTSOpenFileDialog As New OpenFileDialogTTSOpenFileDialog.Filter = "Wave files (*.wav)|*.wav"

If TTSOpenFileDialog.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then

txtTextWindow.Text = "[Enter the text you wish spoken here.]"txtRealSpoken.Text = String.Empty


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txtTextWindow.Enabled = FalsetxtRealSpoken.Enabled = False

'Disable | Enable control buttonsbtnSpeak.Enabled = FalsebtnStop.Enabled = TruebtnPause.Enabled = True

'Create a prompt to handle the wave fileDim promptBuilder As New PromptBuilderpromptBuilder.AppendAudio(TTSOpenFileDialog.FileName)SSynthesizer.SpeakAsync(promptBuilder)

End If

TTSOpenFileDialog.Dispose()TTSOpenFileDialog = Nothing

End Sub

Private Sub SpeakCompletedEventHandler(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e AsSpeakCompletedEventArgs)

btnSpeak.Enabled = TruebtnStop.Enabled = FalsebtnPause.Enabled = FalsetxtTextWindow.Enabled = TruetxtRealSpoken.Enabled = TruetssStatus.Text = "Ready"

End Sub

Private Sub SpeakStartedEventHandler(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As SpeakStartedEventArgs)tssStatus.Text = "Speaking"

End Sub

Private Sub txtTextWindow_DoubleClick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)Handles txtTextWindow.DoubleClick

txtTextWindow.Text = String.EmptyEnd Sub

Private Sub txtRealSpoken_DoubleClick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) HandlestxtRealSpoken.DoubleClick

txtRealSpoken.Text = String.EmptyEnd Sub

End Class----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Imports System.Data.OleDb

Public Class frmDictionary

Private Sub frmDictionary_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)Handles MyBase.Load

PopulateListView()End Sub


Me.Close()

End Sub

Private Sub PopulateListView()Dim wordCount As Integer = 0Dim objConnection As OleDbConnection = ConnectToDatabase()

If objConnection.State = ConnectionState.Closed ThenExit Sub

End If

Dim strSQL As String = "SELECT * FROM Words"


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Dim objDataAdapter As New OleDbDataAdapter(strSQL, objConnection)Dim objDataTable As New DataTable("mWords")objDataAdapter.Fill(objDataTable)

'Populate the ListView controllvwWords.Items.Clear()Dim listItem As ListViewItemDim objDataRow As DataRow

For Each objDataRow In objDataTable.RowslistItem = lvwWords.Items.Add(objDataRow.Item("realWord"))listItem.SubItems.Add(objDataRow.Item("digiWord"))wordCount += 1

Next

tssWordCount.Text = wordCount

objDataAdapter.Dispose()objDataAdapter = NothingobjDataTable.Dispose()objDataTable = Nothing

objConnection.Close()objConnection.Dispose()objConnection = Nothing

End Sub

Private Function ConnectToDatabase() As OleDbConnectionDim strConnectionString As String = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;" & _

"Data Source=C:\Data\TextWords.mdb;"Dim objConnection As New OleDbConnection(strConnectionString)Try

objConnection.Open()Catch oleDbException As OleDbException

MsgBox(oleDbException.Message, MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Critical, "Error " &oleDbException.ErrorCode)

Catch invalidOperationException As InvalidOperationExceptionMsgBox(invalidOperationException.Message, MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Critical, "Error")

End TryReturn objConnection

End Function

Private Sub mnuDelete_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) HandlesmnuDelete.Click

Dim r_Word As StringDim d_Word As String'Get the data from the selected item in the listviewIf lvwWords.SelectedItems.Count 0 Then

r_Word = lvwWords.SelectedItems(0).Textd_Word = lvwWords.SelectedItems(0).SubItems(1).Text

ElseMsgBox("No item is selected.", MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Exclamation, "No Selection")Exit Sub

End If



End IfDim strSQL As String = "DELETE FROM Words WHERE realWord = '" & r_Word & "' AND digiWord =

'" & d_Word & "'"Dim objCommand As New OleDbCommandobjCommand.Connection = objConnectionobjCommand.CommandText = strSQLobjCommand.CommandType = CommandType.TextDim m_Row As Integer = objCommand.ExecuteNonQuery


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If m_Row = 1 ThenPopulateListView()MsgBox("Word is successfully deleted" & ControlChars.CrLf & "in the dictionary.",

MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Information, "Deletion")Else

MsgBox("Cannot find the word in the dictionary.", MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Critical,"Not Found")

End If

objCommand.Dispose()objCommand = NothingobjConnection.Close()objConnection.Dispose()objConnection = Nothing

End Sub

Private Sub mnuUpdate_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) HandlesmnuUpdate.Click

Dim r_Word As StringDim d_Word As String'Get the data from the selected item in the listviewIf lvwWords.SelectedItems.Count 0 Then

r_Word = lvwWords.SelectedItems(0).Textd_Word = lvwWords.SelectedItems(0).SubItems(1).Text

ElseMsgBox("No item is selected.", MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Exclamation, "No Selection")Exit Sub

End If

frmUpdateWordPair.txtRealWord.Text = r_WordfrmUpdateWordPair.txtDigiWord.Text = d_WordfrmUpdateWordPair.Show()Me.Close()

End Sub

Private Sub mnuAdd_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) HandlesmnuAdd.Click

Me.Close()frmAddWordPair.Show()

End Sub

Private Sub mnuSortAtoZ_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)Handles mnuSortAtoZ.Click

Dim objConnection As OleDbConnection = ConnectToDatabase()If objConnection.State = ConnectionState.Closed Then

Exit SubEnd IfDim strSQL As String = "SELECT * FROM Words ORDER BY realWord"Dim objDataAdapter As New OleDbDataAdapter(strSQL, objConnection)Dim objDataTable As New DataTable("mWords")objDataAdapter.Fill(objDataTable)

'Populate the ListView controllvwWords.Items.Clear()Dim listItem As ListViewItem

Dim objDataRow As DataRowFor Each objDataRow In objDataTable.Rows

listItem = lvwWords.Items.Add(objDataRow.Item("realWord"))listItem.SubItems.Add(objDataRow.Item("digiWord"))

Next



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End Sub

Private Sub mnuSortZtoA_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)Handles mnuSortZtoA.Click



End IfDim strSQL As String = "SELECT * FROM Words ORDER BY realWord DESC"Dim objDataAdapter As New OleDbDataAdapter(strSQL, objConnection)Dim objDataTable As New DataTable("mWords")objDataAdapter.Fill(objDataTable)

'Populate the ListView controllvwWords.Items.Clear()Dim listItem As ListViewItemDim objDataRow As DataRowFor Each objDataRow In objDataTable.Rows

listItem = lvwWords.Items.Add(objDataRow.Item("realWord"))listItem.SubItems.Add(objDataRow.Item("digiWord"))

Next



End SubEnd Class----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Imports System.Data.OleDbPublic Class frmAddWordPair

Private Sub btnCancel_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) HandlesbtnCancel.Click

Me.Close()frmDictionary.Show()

End Sub

Private Sub btnSave_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) HandlesbtnSave.Click

Dim r_Word As String = txtRealWord.TextDim d_Word As String = txtDigiWord.Text

If String.IsNullOrEmpty(r_Word) Or String.IsNullOrEmpty(d_Word) ThenMsgBox("Cannot append with an empty string.", MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Critical,

"Empty")

Exit SubEnd If

Dim strConnectionString As String = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;" & _"Data Source=C:\Data\TextWords.mdb;"

Dim objConnection As New OleDbConnection(strConnectionString)Try




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End Try

'Search if r_Word in the database already since we'do not allow duplicates on our dataDim strSQLSearch As String = "SELECT realWord FROM Words WHERE realWord = '" & r_Word & "'"Dim objDataAdapter As New OleDbDataAdapter(strSQLSearch, objConnection)

Dim objDataTable As New DataTable("mWords")objDataAdapter.Fill(objDataTable)

'Append the word pairDim strSQL As String = "INSERT INTO Words VALUES('" & r_Word & "', '" & d_Word & "')"Dim objCommand As New OleDbCommandobjCommand.Connection = objConnectionobjCommand.CommandText = strSQLobjCommand.CommandType = CommandType.TextDim m_Row As Integer = objCommand.ExecuteNonQuery

If m_Row = 1 ThenMsgBox("Word pair is successfully added" & ControlChars.CrLf & "into the dictionary.",

MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Information, "Append")End If



End SubEnd Class----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Imports System.Data.OleDbPublic Class frmUpdateWordPair

Private Sub btnCancel_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles

btnCancel.ClickMe.Close()frmDictionary.Show()

End Sub

Private Sub btnSave_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) HandlesbtnSave.Click

Dim r_Word As String = txtRealWord.TextDim d_Word As String = txtDigiWord.Text

If String.IsNullOrEmpty(d_Word) ThenMsgBox("Cannot update with an empty string.", MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Critical,

"Empty")Exit Sub

End If

Dim strConnectionString As String = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;" & _"Data Source=C:\Data\TextWords.mdb;"

Dim objConnection As New OleDbConnection(strConnectionString)Try




End Try


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Dim strSQL As String = "UPDATE Words SET digiWord = '" & d_Word & _"' WHERE realWord = '" & r_Word & "' AND digiWord = '" & d_Word & "'"

Dim objCommand As New OleDbCommandobjCommand.Connection = objConnectionobjCommand.CommandText = strSQLobjCommand.CommandType = CommandType.TextDim m_Row As Integer = objCommand.ExecuteNonQuery

If m_Row = 1 ThenMsgBox("Word is successfully updated" & ControlChars.CrLf & "in the dictionary.",

MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Information, "Update")Else

MsgBox("Cannot find the word in the dictionary.", MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly + MsgBoxStyle.Critical,"Not Found")

End If



End SubEnd Class----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Public NotInheritable Class AboutBox

Private Sub AboutBox1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) HandlesMyBase.Load

Me.LabelProductName.Text = "Speech Engine"Me.LabelVersion.Text = "Version 1.0"Me.LabelCopyright.Text = My.Application.Info.CopyrightMe.LabelCompanyName.Text = "Deepquest Corp."Me.TextBoxDescription.Text = "An application that demonstrates speech recognition and text-to-

speech."End Sub

Private Sub OKButton_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) HandlesOKButton.Click

Me.Close()End Sub

End Class----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Public Class frmSpeechEngineMain

Private Sub mExit_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) HandlesmExit.Click

EndEnd Sub

Private Sub mAbout_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) HandlesmAbout.Click

AboutBox.Show()End SubPrivate Sub mLaunchTTS_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles

mLaunchTTS.ClickMe.Hide()frmTTS.Show()

End SubPrivate Sub mLaunchASR_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles

mLaunchASR.ClickMe.Hide()frmASR.Show()


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End SubPrivate Sub pbASR_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles

pbASR.ClickMe.Hide()frmASR.Show()

End Sub

Private Sub pbTTS_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles

pbTTS.ClickMe.Hide()frmTTS.Show()

End SubEnd Class------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dunn, Michael D., Pro Microsoft Speech Server 2007: Developing SpeechEnabled Applications with .NET, Berkeley, California: Apress, 2007

Halvorson, Michael, Microsoft Visual Basic

2008, Redmond, Washington:Microsoft Press, 2008

Barker, F. Scott, Database Programming with Visual Basic

.NET andADO.NET: Tips, Tutorials, and Code, New York: Sams Publishing, 2003

Dobson, Rick, Programming Microsoft Visual Basic .NET for MicrosoftAccess Databases, Redmond, Washington: Microsoft Press, 2003

Willis, Thearon, Beginning Visual Basic2005 Databases, Indianapolis,Indiana: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2006

Pelland, Patrice, Microsoft Visual Studio2005 Express Edition: Build AProgram Now, Redmond, Washington: Microsoft Press, 2006

Kochanov, Ilya, Yap: Voice-To-Text Translation On Your Cell,http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/09/17/yap-voice-to-text-translation-on-your-cell/

Platzek, Dirk, Jott: Speech-to-Text Mobile Interface,http://www.wunschfeld.net/blog/2007/03/speech-to-text-mobile-interface.html

Turner, Brough, Voice SMSCreating a Service People Will Adopt,http://www.nmscommunications.com/News/NL/TIN/Jan2007/VoiceSMS.htm

Wapedia.com, SMS Language, 2006http://wapedia.mobi/en/SMS_language

Wikipedia.com, SMS Language, Common Abbreviationshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_language

TextingSlang.com, Common Abbreviations

http://www.textingslang.com/

an application that talks and listens [duites]

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