What Is Voice AI and How Does It Work?

Bhawna Valecha
Vodex
Published in
7 min readNov 27, 2022

Considering how complex human speech is, automating or managing it seems to be an impossibility. Today, most of us have used Alexa or Siri and are aware of the differences between speaking to a voice bot and speaking to a human. What if we claimed that voice interactions enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) would fundamentally change customer service?

Voice AI is a type of artificial intelligence that’s powered by voice. It’s often used to create digital assistants like Alexa and Siri, who can answer questions, set reminders, and more. The most popular use for Voice AI is in the home but there are also many other applications for it such as banking transactions or shopping online.

Voice AI works by listening to the user’s voice and then converting the spoken words into a series of text commands that can be processed by computers. This process is called speech-to-text, and it’s how Apple’s Siri works.

What is Voice AI?

Voice AI is a type of artificial intelligence that uses voice commands to accomplish tasks. It can be used in many different applications, such as customer service and personal assistants.

Voice AI is a technology that allows computers to understand and respond to human speech. It’s often used in phones and smart speakers but it can also be used in other applications like banking or shopping online. The main aim of Voice AI is to provide a more natural way for humans to interact with computers and get things done.

Businesses have had amazing success with voice AI, and as a result, the sector has gained popularity. The market for voice-based speakers is anticipated to reach $30 billion in value by the end of 2024.

How Does Voice AI Work?

Voice AI is a technology that allows you to use your voice to interact with your devices. Voice AI can be used to control devices, ask questions, or provide information.

Voice AI works by sending a voice command (known as an utterance) from your phone to a server. The server then processes the command and returns the results of that process back to your phone in real-time or asynchronously (as in over time). This is done using many different methods including speech recognition, natural language processing (NLP), machine learning, and conversational interface design techniques.

Voice AI relies on comprehending and interpreting human language to provide relevant results. The algorithms used in AI programming are continually improved to deliver the best logical response. Automation and AI work together to create speech systems.

Voice AI functions similarly to how two people communicate, with the message being encoded and decoded. The steps involved in AI speech recognition are covered below.

1.Understanding of The Speech-To-Text

Understanding the speaker’s speech is the first step in the procedure. To separate the speaker’s sound waves into text fragments, they must be analyzed and interpreted.

For this step, businesses employ the pre-speech recognition method. The AI classifies the user’s words into groups. The words are changed during this process into bits that the system can easily comprehend.

2. Removing Background Noise

There is a chance that the AI will pick up some background noise in addition to the user’s spoken words. The likelihood of hearing nearby noises like horns or announcements while on the phone with a call center while driving is increased, let’s say.

3. Switching to Neural Processing

The neural networks that mimic human brain neurons are the foundation of voice artificial intelligence. To find the best match, the system further breaks down the set of data that it receives.

The AI reads and analyses every letter of the message in an effort to determine the meaning of the sentence and match it with the most appropriate responses.

4. Techniques in Syntax and Semantics

Voice AI is now prepared to take action. The AI gains a deeper understanding of the context at hand by using syntactic and semantic text analysis techniques.

Here, the syntactic analysis further dissects the grammatical rules of the natural language. Additionally, semantic analysis is predicated on comprehending the words’ and sentences’ intended meanings.

5. Analyzing the Response

The AI carefully considers the user’s question before drawing a particular set of conclusions. In order to find the ideal match for the query, the algorithm filters the responses and further analyses the most promising solution.

6. Using the Language to Communicate with The User

The user is informed of the chosen response in the final step. In this case, the user gets the answer to their query while AI simultaneously converts the data into audio format. Additionally, the AI stores the response for later use.

Top 5 Business Benefits of Voice AI

Now that you are aware of what voice artificial intelligence is and how it functions, let’s discuss some of the business advantages of voice AI. However, because voice AI has so many potential applications in customer support, your company can experience far more than the advantages listed below.

1. Simplified customer service

Customer service is in fact a demanding position with numerous repetitive tasks, such as sending emails, gathering customer feedback, and answering basic FAQs. Your team can automate repetitive tasks and streamline the entire process with the aid of voice AI.

Your business can assist employees by allowing voice bots to handle repetitive tasks so they can concentrate on the important tasks that require human interaction.

2. An improved customer experience

Customers adore the support offered by voice bots because they receive prompt responses 24 hours a day and have their questions answered accurately. Voice artificial intelligence (AI) can assist your business in communicating with customers in their native tongues and at their convenience.

All of these features can contribute to a more refined and satisfying customer experience, giving your business a competitive advantage and raising customer satisfaction levels.

3. Customer interactions that are automated and customized

In terms of customer support, personalization has proven to be revolutionary. Based on their historical data, your company can respond to each customer with personalized responses. Voice bots can access data from a database and use it to their advantage when interacting with customers.

4. Cost savings for customer support

Customer support automation can reduce costs in a variety of ways. First off, a voice bot can answer a lot more questions for a very low price. Higher customer satisfaction is one of the chatbot’s passive effects, which reduces the expense of acquiring new clients.

With automation, you can cut down on a significant amount of working time that would otherwise be spent on unskilled, repetitive tasks.

5. Communication without barriers

A company can use artificial intelligence to create a robust interactive communication channel where customers can interact with voice bots. A voice bot can assist your customers with all of their needs and is a multilingual, 24/7, personalized support channel.

Voice AI enables businesses to create a seamless communication channel between their clients and themselves. This substantially aids businesses in enhancing the customer experience.

Voice AI benefits for consumers

Now that you know why you should integrate voice AI into your company’s website, app, and other channels of communication, let’s look at how your customers will profit from it. You can anticipate favorable feedback from your customers on the following points after implementing the voice bot.

  1. Self-serve

Customers have developed the habit of self-serving their inquiries and requests in the age of digital transformation. Customers no longer need to browse your FAQs or watch your demo videos thanks to voice AI. They can directly ask the bot their questions, and they will immediately receive a response.

For both your internal and external customers, query resolution becomes quicker, easier, and better.

2. Communication friction is reduced

Prior to voice artificial intelligence, customers had to write emails outlining their complaints, send them to the company’s support email address, and then wait for a response. Customers were irritated by the friction in the process.

Voice bots have made the entire process frictionless and effortless for the customer. Customers are undoubtedly happier with your goods and services.

3. One-time information gathering

The fact that a customer must repeatedly provide all the information and details to various teams each time he needs support is another annoying trait of a customer support team lacking artificial intelligence.

Voice AI can assist customers by storing their information for later use and sharing it with each human agent that interacts with them.

Voice AI: A new frontier in customer experience

Voice assistants are becoming more common and fashionable in the online world for a few key reasons. The way voice search is changing SEO and other organic marketing initiatives are one of the main causes. Voice AI-enabled businesses typically rank higher.

Another factor is the viability of placing orders on e-commerce websites using conversational voice AI. According to studies, voice searches will account for 30% of all e-commerce websites’ total revenue by the year 2030.

Voice artificial intelligence is becoming more and more commonplace, so you should too. We can help if your company wants to use artificial intelligence to improve your customer service.

FAQ-

  1. What does voice-first mean?

The phrase “voice-first” refers to a trend where companies from various sectors offer voice user interfaces for their goods, mobile applications, and services, such as voice-enabled IVR systems in customer service departments. Voice interfaces will still be a part of multi-modal experiences even though we anticipate the continued rapid adoption of customized voice assistants. Voice-first is not and has never been, a voice-only approach.

2. NLU: What is it?

Conversational voice assistants use a core technology called Natural Language Understanding (NLU). Conversations between people and voice assistants are now simple, natural, and intelligent. By comprehending complex and natural conversations in real time, our patented method enables voice assistants to converse as people do.

3. What is the purpose of conversational AI?

Cost savings through smarter automation and increased customer satisfaction through immediacy and relevance are at the core of the business justifications for conversational AI.

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