A UNIX BASED TELEPHONE SPEECH DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM



It is highly desirable to collect speech data from the telephone network by digitally interfacing to the network. This avoids an additional A/D conversion normally required by analog telephone data collection hardware. The T1 line is currently the most pervasive and cost-effective digital solution for large-scale data-collection applications. T1 interfaces for Sun workstations have become a necessity in the speech community. The market leader in this niche arena is a system developed by Linkon Corporation.

Using the Linkon system's low level direct driver interface, we have developed a fully-expandable, robust system for platform-independent collection of telephone speech data. Our object-oriented software libraries and intuitive GUI provide powerful tools with which even a novice user can efficiently generate complex applications. Using the system one can generate programs which range from simple single-user prompt/record demonstrations to robust SWITCHBOARD-type applications. This presentation will serve as an overview of the system and a tutorial on prototyping applications with the GUI.