Intel has released software that lets computers read lips, a step forward that could lead to better voice recognition applications. The Audio Visual Speech Recognition (AVSR) software tracks a speaker"s face and mouth movements. By matching these movements with speech, the application can provide a computer with enough data to respond to voice recognition commands, even when these are given in noisy environments. The AVSR program is part of the OpenCV computer vision library, a collection of open-source applications and tools that help computers interpret visual data.
Computer companies have tried to popularize voice recognition applications for years, but have been stymied by a shortfall in processing power in most computers any by the restricted performance of their software.