LISTEN

  This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 644283.  

Title

Hands-free Voice-enabled Interface to Web Applications for Smart Home Environments

Concept

Nowadays, it is becoming increasingly affordable to enhance the home environment with several automation schemes, allowing remote control of e.g., heating/cooling, communication, lighting, media, etc. Such smart home functionalities are essential for people with disabilities and the elderly, as they not only provide assistive control of important everyday functionalities, but may prove to be life-saving in case of emergency. However, smart home functionalities may become useless for people who need those most, if they cannot be accessed via a natural, easy to use, interface.

The central objective of LISTEN is to design and implement a complete system, including both the software and hardware components, enabling robust hands-free large-vocabulary voice-based access to Internet applications in smart homes. This would allow the users to have natural control (i.e., using their voice) of the smart-home web-enabled functionalities (e.g., turning on/off web-enabled “smart” appliances), but also to access specific Internet applications (e.g., web search, email dictation, access to social networks). A truly hands-free system operation of the voice interface is equally important: users will not have to turn towards a microphone or other device, or wear a headset.

Participants

• Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Greece
• EML European Media Laboratory GmbH, Germany
• Cedat 85 S.r.l., Italy