Speech Processing.qxd

munication between humans and computers. A system that can converse with a human in a natural and unrestricted way has long been seen as the quintessential challenge in computing. As a field, SP encompasses a wide variety of disciplines and technologies. From a scientific perspective, it draws on research from Signal Processing, Acoustics, Linguistics (Phonology, Syntax, Pragmatics, etc.), and other areas. To present the main concepts of SP, we will be introducing a hypothetical computer information system, Sprach (the reader may think of an automated air travel reservation agent or a museum information system). The architecture of Sprach is shown in Figure 1. We will describe how a user can engage in a conversation with the information system. The sample transcript of the dialogue is shown in Figure 2.