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The Loudness Of Vowels Helps The Brain Break Down Speech Into Syl-La-Bles

The brain analyzes changes in sound volume to detect syllables and make sense of speech. filo/Getty Images hide caption

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filo/Getty Images

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The Loudness Of Vowels Helps The Brain Break Down Speech Into Syl-La-Bles

Syllables are the building blocks of spoken language. And now a study of brain activity hints at how we extract them from a stream of speech.

The Loudness Of Vowels Helps The Brain Break Down Speech Into Syl-La-Bles

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Turn On, Tune In, Transcribe: U.N. Develops Radio-Listening Tool

People listen to the radio as the results of the presidential elections are announced in Kireka, Uganda, in February. Many rural Ugandans don't have Internet access, and the radio is a central source of news — and platform for citizens' opinions. Isaac Kasamani/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Isaac Kasamani/AFP/Getty Images

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Turn On, Tune In, Transcribe: U.N. Develops Radio-Listening Tool

In rural Uganda, "radio is everything," as one journalist puts it. So the U.N., hoping to hear more rural voices, used a tiny amount of data to build speech recognition software for new languages.

Their Masters' Voices: Dogs Understand Tone And Meaning Of Words

What did she say? Eniko Kubinyi/Science hide caption

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Eniko Kubinyi/Science

Shots - Health News

Their Masters' Voices: Dogs Understand Tone And Meaning Of Words

When humans talk to dogs, the canine brains seem to separate the meaning of the words from the intonation used and to analyze each aspect independently.

Their Masters' Voices: Dogs Understand Tone And Meaning Of Words

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Voice Recognition Software Finally Beats Humans At Typing, Study Finds

A customer tries the Siri voice recognition function on an Apple iPhone 6 Plus in Hong Kong. Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption

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Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

All Tech Considered

Voice Recognition Software Finally Beats Humans At Typing, Study Finds

In a face-off between voice entry and typing on a mobile device, voice recognition software performed significantly better. The results held true in both English and Mandarin Chinese.

Voice Recognition Software Finally Beats Humans At Typing, Study Finds

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Amazon Wants To Put A Listening Speaker In Your Home

The Amazon Echo is Bluetooth-enabled and can play music from Amazon Prime Music or other music services. And it's ready to listen to your questions and commands. Amazon.com/AP hide caption

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Amazon.com/AP

All Tech Considered

Amazon Wants To Put A Listening Speaker In Your Home

Are you ready to bring an eavesdropping device that's connected to the cloud into the privacy of your abode? Amazon thinks so, as it introduces Echo, a speaker that takes your questions and commands.

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