From the Back Cover Speech recognition is the automatic transcription of spoken words into written language. When you use your voice instead of typing complex commands， the computer adapts to you rather than the other way round. Speech Recognition: The Future Now! provides a detailed overview of speech recognition technology， including how it works， what system is right for you， the national language aspects， and how to customize products to your environment. This book was first developed as a “redbook” at IBM's International Technical Support Organization (ITSO). At the ITSO， new products and systems under development are given a workout by IBM engineers from around the world. The experience gained is documented in practical guides called “redbooks，” which， because they are written by people with extensive practical experience， offer a much more direct and problem-solving approach than many books on similar topics. About the Author MICHAEL KOERNER is an Advisory System Engineer in the IBM International Technical Support Organization， Austin， Texas. He is the author of PowerPC: An Inside View (published by Prentice Hall) and several redbooks on IBM PC Server systems. LORI HAWKINS， of IBM USA， is a Technical Program Manager of the IBM PC Institute in Raleigh， North Carolina. She has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Appalachian State University， Boone， North Carolina. JOSEPH C. POLIMENI， of IBM USA， is an Advisory Programmer at IBM's Austin Texas facility. Joe has a B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and an M.S. in Computer Engineering from Florida Atlantic University. ETIENNE SPITERI， of IBM UK， is a team leader of IBM PS/Assist. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Accounting from the University College of Wales， Aberystwyth， United Kingdom. THOMAS WETTER is a computer scientist in Germany. He holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from Aachen Technical University and has qualified as a university lecturer in computer science at Kaiserslautern University. SUBRATA DAS， of the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights， New York， holds an M.Tech. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology， Kharagpur and a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Arizona， Tucson. He has published extensively in technical journals and books， conducted an international seminar series on Advances in Speech Processing in Europe， and supervised government and university speech contracts including the work of some speech industry consultants. ARTHUR NÁDAS was born in Budapest and received B.A. and M.A. degrees in mathematics from Alfred University and the University of Oregon. He was an IBM Graduate Fellow at Columbia University， where he received a Ph.D. degree in mathematical statistics. A former Research Staff Member at the IBM Watson Research Center， he has published a number of articles and chapters in mathematics and statistics and has received several patents for statistical algorithms for speech recognition. He is currently a Research Professor at the Nelson Institute of Environmental Medicine， NYU Medical Center.