B4A Library [Chargeable] SpeechRecognizer Library

SpeechRecognizer​

I have received a lot of requests lately for my SpeechRecognizer library.
This is why I made a separate topic for SpeechRecognizer.
With SpeechRecognizer, you'll be able to recognize text from a service! No popups or anything else!

Requirements:
- Android 2.1+ (API 8)



What will you get from me:
- The library files
- A sample project
- A readme file. (Disclaimer.)


Payment

The price of the library is 15 Euros.
Payment is done through PayPal.
If you are interested in the library, you can send me a private message here on the forums or send me an email to [email protected].

Sample

You can find a sample here written by NJDude:
http://www.b4x.com/forum/android-job-offers/21512-freelance-library-development-6.html#post134332

​

Special thanks and credits goes to NJDude for the sample.

Kind regards,
Tomas

 

[XverhelstX]

Hi

I have no idea what causes the issue on HTC phones.
I found this:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/android-developers/lWsPsWP7Hhw

 

[brelto85]

Tomas,

Could be a good thing to "play" with extras like "SPEECH_INPUT_COMPLETE_SILENCE_LENGTH_MILLIS" or another?

Without a solution i can't update my app into Play Store

 

[brelto85]

I've an HTC phone and since i implemented the CreateRecognizeIntent2 method i have the same behaviors
Is very important for me resolve this issue
I don't tried the SPEECH_INPUT_COMPLETE_SILENCE_LENGTH_MILLIS extra

I expect a reply from Tomas

Is really a strange issue
Today i tasted my app with SpeechRecognizer library with CreateRecognizeIntent2 and the behavior described not occurs
Have you any idea to why is random?
I would expect it to be a systematic behavior

 

[brelto85]

is possibile to manage the AGC settings?
i found this links in android developer reference

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/media/audiofx/AutomaticGainControl.html

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/media/audiofx/AudioEffect.html

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14377481/how-avoid-automatic-gain-control-with-audiorecord

in the last link, a answer seems like that is not possible but if there's the apps that do this, should be possible

 

[brelto85]

Still reading on the internet the setParameters method of AudioManager library, could do the job but i've not found the list of parameters

Also this link maybe very helpful:

http://developer.android.com/refere...edia.AudioManager.OnAudioFocusChangeListener)

the abandonAudioFocus method, disable the audio focus (probably AGC system) but the parameter is AudioManager.OnAudioFocusChangeListener
how to call it in java mode with B4A or exists a library to do that?

 

[brelto85]

Great!
But if the events "EndOfSpeech" or "Results" are unleashed, there need to re-call StartListening method, right?

 

[brelto85]

in the official documentation it speak of activity "Starts an activity that will prompt the user for speech without...."

you bieleve that is possible to run also into a service module?

 

[Kevin]

Excellent stuff! Does this require the latest update to his lib? I bought it a while back but wound up not using it because of the limitations that the past few posts here seem to fix. I tried PMing Tomas several days ago but haven't yet heard from him.

Tomas: If you see this message, please find my PM with my email address inside.

 

[Kevin]

I suppose it depends on whether or not the library I have includes the "CreateRecognizeIntent2" method. I can check later when I have a chance. Hopefully I can get an updated library soon.

 

[Kevin]

It looks like you need it though, per your other post, correct?

 

[Kevin]

Just checked my lib and I do have this function!

Hopefully I'll get some time to try this again in a few days. I wanted it to constantly listen for a 'keyword' and always be ready/listening... I previously didn't think it was possible but it's certainly looking possible now.

 

[mcmanu]

Fortunately No!! You should ignore the SpeechRecognition_EndofSpeech event. As long as this handsfree mode is active, the SpeechRecognition_Results event keeps firing after something has been spoken and Google Voice detects a brief moment of silence. For that reason I also inhibit Stop_listening which is called by some parts of my software in non-handsfree mode. Also in this mode, no Google Voice bleep tones are heared while the handsfree mode is active (except once when the function is started).
This is also an ideal mode to keep the microphone open all the time. No voice activated microphone on/off switch is needed (which I had to use before)! Only after a keyword is said, like "Computer", or "James" will my software respond by doing something and then continues listening for the next occasion whereby the keyword is spoken, i.e. all speech in the room is simply ignored unless the keyword is spoken. I make software for blind and visually impaired users. This is a very welcome new feature.

I dont get it work, it listens the first time and then nothing happens anymore.
Do you have a sample project?

my code

Sub Service_Create


    sr.Initialize("SpeechRecognition")
    isreginitialized=True
    i.Initialize("android.speech.action.VOICE_SEARCH_HANDS_FREE", "")
    i.PutExtra("android.speech.extra.LANGUAGE_MODEL", "free_form")
    i.PutExtra("calling_package", "test.package")
    i.PutExtra("android.speech.extra.MAX_RESULTS", 5)
    i.PutExtra("android.speech.extra.LANGUAGE", "de")
    obj= sr.CreateRecognizeIntent2(i)

End Sub

Sub Service_Start (StartingIntent As Intent)
StartingIntent.Action="android.speech.action.VOICE_SEARCH_HANDS_FREE"
StartListening
End Sub

Sub Service_Destroy
End Sub

Sub StartListening
    sr.StartListening(obj)
    Log("----- Started -----")
End Sub

Sub StopListening
    sr.StopListening
    isreginitialized=False
End Sub

 

[Kevin]

I finally got around to playing with this a bit. The only issue I have is that occasionally an error event fires and it seems to kill the SR "service", meaning that my log stops showing any further SR events such as RMS levels.

I take it this is normal and the only recourse is to call StartListening again? Sometimes that doesn't seem to restart it though.

EDIT: I'm not sure I want it to work this way, but is there a way for it to only respond after a keyword? For example, I have an app named Carma and it only wakes up if I say Carma. No beeping or anything else in the meantime. When I say "carma", it says "Yes" and then I hear a beep waiting for a command. Really, I was hoping to just listen for commands and ignore anything it doesn't recognize but it just keeps erroring out (i.e. No speech input, etc) after which I need to restart it and then it beeps again.

By the way, for anyone interested I have added error descriptions to the error sub:

Sub SpeechRecognition_Error (ErrorType As Int)
        Dim sErrorMsg As String
      
        Select Case ErrorType
            Case 1
              sErrorMsg = "Network operation timed out"
            Case 2
              sErrorMsg = "Network error"
            Case 3
              sErrorMsg = "Audio recording error"
            Case 4
              sErrorMsg = "Server sends error status"
            Case 5
              sErrorMsg = "Client-side error"
            Case 6
                sErrorMsg = "No speech input"
            Case 7
                sErrorMsg = "No recognition result matched"
            Case 8
                sErrorMsg = "RecognitionService busy"
            Case 9
                sErrorMsg = "Insufficient permissions"
            Case Else
                sErrorMsg = "Unknown error"
        End Select

        'StartListening  ' Do this here?
    Log("VR Error: " & ErrorType & " - " & sErrorMsg)
    'CallSub2(Main, "ShowError", ErrorType)    ' Currently not using this part
End Sub

 

[Kevin]

I meant to listen for a keyword before it even beeps and starts the service, although the more I think of it this is outside of the scope of this library. A really good example would be the newer Google Search that has been out for a while on Android. When you open it, it presents you with a search box that you can type into as well as your "cards". You can also do a voice search by saying "Okay Google". It is only after you say that phrase that the phone beeps (the start of the speech recognition service). You can say anything else or even just "Google" but it is absolutely silent and does nothing until you say the full phrase or at least something very close... (Funny story: the first time I found out about this was when I was looking at my "cards" and there was some kind of glitch and I said "F**k*n' Google!", at which time the phone beeped awaiting my voice search. )

I'm guessing that how they did it is to constantly keep the microphone turned on and recording the last few seconds of audio and repeatedly analyze it (locally as opposed to sending it to a server) to look for a matching sound pattern. When it finds a match, then it triggers the speech recognition service.

That is more what I had in mind. I think this could probably be done using the audio recording library and somehow comparing the incoming audio to a pre-recorded file containing the keyword. Of course this would have language limitations unless it was something somewhat universally pronounced such as "okay" and "Google".

It could just be that I need to re-think how I want to do speech recognition in my app. I had envisioned it always listening but that constant beeping gets old after about 30 seconds. So instead I guess I will have to have the user press a button in order to start listening for a command unless I can get the above scenario working (similar to "okay Google").

 

[mcmanu]

Thank you Rick Harris, i will try it today maybe there is a Stop_listening in my code

 

[Kevin]

There is no need for the user to press a button. Simply add Start_listening under Activity_Create or start it with a timer or use sound detection (using the audiorecorder library).

I like the idea of just listening for sound using the audio recorder library. It's so obvious I'm embarrassed to have not thought of it myself! Perhaps if I feel really adventurous I will experiment with keyword detection.

I like to think that the Google Search app is only listening locally for the "okay Google", because I have thought about that as well - the possibility of it sending everything it hears to a Google server. Not a very warm and fuzzy feeling, to say the least! If I recall correctly, that app is excessively large to download, so it is conceivable that they could have included whatever is necessary to detect that phrase in varying forms inside the app itself. One reason I feel this way is because it only beeps after saying the phrase. But Google being Google, I'm sure there are plenty of private functions that only they can use to circumvent how things may normally work in most apps. With that in mind, they could certainly be using a special method of the speech recognition service that does not beep. I think one way to find out for sure would be to run Wireshark and watch all of the traffic involved with the phone before and during the use of the Google search app.

 

[Kevin]

Interesting work-around! This may be doable.

 

[mcmanu]

Mhh Dont work for me at all
Listens once and then nothing happens.
I dont have a Stoplistening in my code.
I dont know what the problem is
Here is a simple test project
http://www.file-upload.net/download-8587192/TestRecognizer.rar.html
Use the smallest download button


Maybe somebody can help me

 

[Kevin]

I can't look at your code right now but you likely need to call StartListening again. This is the case after speech is processed or when some (or any?) errors occur.

This was my complaint about the constant beeping when restarting the recognition service but a work-around has been posted above for that.

 

[mcmanu]

Ah okay, i thought the startlistening event is fireing again automatically in hands free mode, Thanks you
Yes i will try the awesome Work around