This fall, a little-known event is starting to make waves. As COVID dominates the headlines, an event called “Voice Launch” is pulling together an impressive roster of start-ups and voice tech companies intending to uncover the next big ideas and start-ups in voice.

While voice tech has been around for a while, as the accuracy of speech recognition improves, it moves into its prime. “As speech recognition moves from 85% to 95% accuracy, who will use a keyboard anymore?” says Voice Launch organizer Eric Sauve. “And that new, more natural way to interact with our devices will usher in a series of technological advances,” he added.

Voice technology is something that has been dreamt of and worked on for decades all over the world. Why? Well, the answer is very straightforward. Voice recognition allows consumers to multitask by merely speaking to their Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Siri, etc. Digital voice recording works by recording a voice sample of a person’s speech and quickly converting it into written texts using machine language and sophisticated algorithms. Voice input is just the more efficient form of computing, says Mary Meeker in her ‘Annual Internet Trends Report.’ As a matter of fact, according to ComScore, 50% of all searches will be done by voice by 2020, and 30% of searches will be done without even a screen, according to Gartner. As voice becomes a part of things we use every day like our cars, phones, etc. it will become the new “norm.”

The event includes a number of inspiration sessions meant to help start-ups and founders pick the best strategies. Companies presenting here include industry leaders like Google and Amazon and less known hyper-growth voice tech companies like Deepgram and Balto and VCs like OMERS Ventures and Techstars.

But the focus of the event is the voice tech start-ups themselves, and this year’s event has some interesting participants. Start-ups will pitch their ideas, and the audience will vote to select the winners. The event is a cross between a standard pitchfest and Britain’s Got Talent.

Below is a sample of some of the interesting ideas competing at Voice Launch this year:

Smart Voice Studio is presenting its Mobile-based voice app development application. www.smartvoicestudio.com

CoCoHub is presenting Anna an all domain voice bot whose purpose is to provide companionship to the elderly (or anyone else that feels lonely). www.cocohub.ai

Pratglad is presenting a voice control system for home automation that works without the need for an Internet connection. https://pratglad.com

Rumble Studio is presenting an end-to-end platform to plan, record, edit and distribute audio content for marketing, and in a fraction of the time that’s currently possible. www.rumble.studio

Vocalytics is presenting a machine learning platform helping enterprises listen to their customers in the physical world and derive value from voice & sound. www.vocalytics.ai

If you are thinking about voice tech, are a start-up, or just want to learn more about the industry, this event is free and happening Oct 27–28. You can sign up at www.voicelaun.ch

What makes Voice Tech so Popular in 2020?

It is predicted that 2020 will be the year of voice search. More and more consumers use voice to find local businesses, make purchase decisions, run search engine queries, and more. Furthermore, voice search brings great benefits to a business. As voice search stats suggest, more than half of the users who use smart speakers would like to get information from brands. On top of that, more than 5 million Americans directly purchase with a search assistant. And after all, it’s just so easy; you don’t have to move a muscle. Google’s voice searches demographic statistics show that 27% of the worldwide population has access to the web use voice searches. Also, in the US, over 111 million people use voice assistants.

According to a report, with Siri’s introduction in 2011, 98% of iPhone users have tried the voice assistant. The mobile voice assistant is perhaps the most relevant voice application in our modern lives. Google can get you restaurant recommendations based on your location and demands. Besides, Siri can send text messages, make calls, set meetings for you, and can also wake you up for work.

The Verdict

It is well worth mentioning that voice technology is still advancing with changes happening all the time, and Amazon’s Alexa crashing on the day of Christmas due to unexpectedly high usage. Therefore, it is evident that voice technology will emerge further and become much more widespread than it is today.