????語音識別并不是什么新鮮事物。多年來，消費電子產品、汽車和自動呼叫中心一直就在“傾聽”使用者的指令。從2009年開始，谷歌公司（Google）就一直在采錄語音信箱的信息。而在此之前三年，微軟公司（Microsoft）也將類似的技術置入了Windows Vista。那么，蘋果這個名為Siri的全新虛擬個人助理到底有什么神奇之處呢？

????它能讀懂你的心。

????換句話說，Siri不僅僅是語音識別技術，它還能理解語言——正是這一點開始改變用戶與手機的互動方式。現在，很多人預測，Siri將對這項長期以來呼之欲出的技術起到重大推動作用，正如蘋果iPhone的觸控系統讓觸控技術躋身主流一樣。這項技術將掃清眾多創新應用發展道路上的障礙。市場調研公司Opus Research稱，今年語音識別行業的產值將達到約27億美元。該公司還預計，2012年，市場將掀起后Siri語音應用熱潮。

????是什么讓Siri如此與眾不同呢？戰略咨詢公司Creative Strategies總裁提姆?巴佳瑞稱，答案在于精確性。他說：“Siri推出的是真正的新一代人機界面，它對語音理解及精確把握語音的市場產生了重大影響。”

????Siri當然談不上完美無缺。這項技術在理解某些口音上還頗為困難，不過蘋果已經在努力解決這些小問題了。但對一款軟件來說，Siri的表現可圈可點。Siri的始創者是位于加州的門羅帕克市的研究實驗室SRI International，據它稱，Siri的關鍵在于自然語言處理技術。Siri的工作原理是：捕捉語音信號，直接將其轉換為文本，它們與用戶在手機屏幕上看到的文本并無二致。Siri然后將這些語句與某些預先編制好的指令配比，比如“撥打電話”，或“編輯短信”。

????這一技術潛力巨大，絕不是只適用于平板電腦和智能手機。語音識別系統Nuance公司是語音識別軟件Dragon的開發者，這款軟件在醫療保健行業的應用已經長達十年之久。內科醫生的桌面上正運行著Nuance的最新軟件，它利用一個夾式微型話筒來錄音。隨著問診的推進，這款軟件會及時更新病人的電子健康記錄。Nuance公司醫療保健部門的資深研發副總裁喬?佩特羅稱：“病人可能在這一秒說的是母親的病史，下一秒又提起父親的病歷。而這些情況這款軟件都能理解。”

????Speech recognition is nothing new.Consumer electronics, cars and automated call centers have been "listening" to commands for years. Google has been transcribing voicemail messages since 2009, and Microsoft baked similar technology into Windows Vista three years before that. So what's the big deal about Apple's new virtual personal assistant named Siri?

????She gets you.

????In other words, Siri isn't just voice recognition technology, but voice comprehension -- and that's changing the way users interact with their mobile devices. Now, many predict Siri could provide a major boost to a perennially around-the-corner technology, much the way Apple's (AAPL) touch-based iPhone controls vaulted that technology into mainstream use. That could clear the way for a wide range of innovative applications. The voice recognition industry was worth some $2.7 billion this year, according to Opus Research. It is predicting a post-Siri boom in 2012.

????What makes Siri so different? Accuracy, according to Tim Bajarin, president of strategy firm Creative Strategies. "What Siri has really introduced is the next man-to-machine interface, and it's making a significant impact on the market of speech comprehension and accuracy," Bajarin says.

????Siri's not perfect, of course. The technology still has a hard time understanding some accents, and Apple has scrambled to fix early glitches. But for a piece of software, Siri still does pretty well. The key to that, according to Siri's original creators, Menlo Park, California-based research lab SRI International, is natural language processing. Essentially, Siri takes speech signals, translates them directly into the text users see on their screens and maps those terms to one of its pre-programmed commands such as place a call or compose a text message.

????That technology has potential outside of tablets and smartphones. Nuance (NUAN), the creator of Dragon speech recognition software, has been working in healthcare for a decade. Nuance's latest program runs on a physician's desktop, recording speech using a clip-on microphone. The program updates patients' electronic health records as appointments are going on. "One second the patient could be talking about the medical history of their mom, and then the next they're talking about their dad. And the application understands that," says Joe Petro, senior vice president of research and development at Nuance Communication's health care division.