What’s All the Fuss About? Common Voice
Struggle to make yourself heard? Help may be coming
What is it?
An ambitious project from Mozilla, which makes Firefox, to collect examples of speech from around the world. It wants to build a database of voice recordings that voice-recognition programs can refer to, helping them to better understand human speech. And it’s inviting you to “donate” your voice.
How can I do that?
By first checking that your microphone is switched on, then visiting the Common Voice website (https://voice.mozilla.org) and clicking the ‘Donate your voice’ button. On the next page click the circle to start the recording, then speak the sentence that’s shown above (‘You should see it’, in our main screenshot). After three recordings you can listen back to them, letting you decide whether to submit them to Mozilla, or re-record them.
Can I trust Mozilla with my voice?
Yes. The company says it “cares about your privacy and won’t use your microphone for anything but recording the short sentences you’ll read”. Don’t worry, the sentences can’t be used for marketing purposes. You’re not asked to read, for example, “Firefox is the best browser, don’t use Chrome”! Mozilla says that the sentences come from suggestions from users as well as from film scripts, including the 1946 classic It’s a Wonderful Life.
What will Mozilla do with my voice?
It will add it to a voice database that developers of software can access. Companies won’t actually use your voice as their new digital assistant (so you won’t be replacing Amazon’s Alexa, for example). Instead, they’ll be testing their voice-recognition technology against a range of accents in order to improve accuracy.
Mozilla’s main aim is to boost innovation among smaller companies who, unlike Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft, don’t have millions to spend on research. The more voices they can listen to, the fewer mistakes they’ll make.
What mistakes do they currently make?
They struggle to understand strong accents. As Mozilla says, even Apple’s Siri trips up when it “hears a beautiful Irish brogue or Scottish burr or the accent of a non-native English speaker”. You may have noticed this when using OK Google, Microsoft’s Cortana or the Amazon Echo.
What if I don’t want to make a recording?
You can still help by validating those made by others. At the bottom of the home page you’ll see a green box, under ‘Try it!’. Click the play button, check whether it matches the words alongside, then select Yes or Nope. We listened to 20, and all were perfect, though every accent was American. There were no geordie, scouse, Cornish or brummie accents, so more Brits need to get involved.
Will Firefox use voice search soon?
It plans to, having just announced Voice Fill, which lets you “speak to your favourite speech engines” (see screenshot left). It’s an experimental feature soon to be available on Firefox’s Test Pilot site ( https://testpilot.firefox.com).
Why is voice recognition so important?
Experts regard it as the “next big platform”, which is jargon for saying it will provide a new way for software to work. It will join other platforms, such as operating systems and browsers, to provide a new method of performing tasks, such as searching the web, editing documents and translating languages.
Mozilla says that improving voice technology so that all accents are recognised will help make the web “open and accessible for everyone”. It thinks you shouldn’t have to sound like a 1940s BBC radio presenter to be understood by modern technology. Ken Bruce, Danny Baker and Huw Edwards would no doubt agree.