theBoom headsets are ideally suited for high-quality audio applications such as Speech Recognition and VoIP, especially when the environment is acoustically variable and/or noisy.

theBoom’s Speech Recognition legacy
theBoom’s unique, patented technology was forged in the fire of extremely noisy environments of Wall Street trading floors. We, the creators of theBoom (UmeVoice, Inc.), were developing speech recognition software for Wall Street traders. These applications had to be extremely accurate since they performed mission critical functions in real time. As anyone who has used speech recognition software knows, background noise is very undesirable. A solution was required that allowed us to get very high speech recognition accuracy in such environments. Software engineering and linguistic expertise only got us so far towards acceptable accuracy. We had to have a solution that reduced background noise effectively in order to get the accuracy up to acceptable levels.

How theBoom’s technology was invented

We explored all the commercially available solutions for noise cancellation but none of them gave us acceptable speech recognition performance. Our scientists tackled this problem and invented an innovative acoustic solution that was effective even in very high noise environments (such as Blackhawk helicopter noise, Jet engine noise, Wall street trading floor noise). This solution was initially incorporated into telephone handsets which were connected to phone systems as well as desktop computer systems on trading floors. We achieved remarkable levels of success with this solution, obtaining very high levels of speech recognition accuracy.

The technology was miniaturized to fit on a headset, and theBoom was born. theBoom is now available to the public in several models : theBoom v4, theBoom “O”, theBoom "C", theBoom “E”, and theBoom Quiet, that combine varying fit preferences and additional features.

How good is theBoom’s technology for Speech Recognition?

Speech recognition accuracy is critically dependent upon the quality of the input audio signal. The quality can be defined as a combination of two quantifiable components: Speech/Noise ratio and Speech fidelity. theBoom’s microphone technology provides uniquely high levels of both these factors, unlike most other leading noise canceling technologies which typically provide one at the cost of the other.

The effectiveness of theBoom technology for speech recognition has been proven using direct speech recognition accuracy studies as well as indirect standard methods such as the Modified Rhyme Test (MRT), both in-house as well as by independent testers including the U.S. military.

Quality Comparison/Measurement Tests

We have performed comparisons of theBoom noise Canceling microphones with several other microphones that feature a range of technologies including active and electronic noise Canceling technologies. One of the objective comparison methods used was the Modified Rhyme Test (MRT), performed independently by us in-house and by the Air Force Research Laboratories (AFRL) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. These tests showed theCobra microphone featuring theBoom technology to consistently provide higher intelligibility than the M87 and the M138 military microphones respectively.

On the commercial side, KnowBrainer.com compared theBoom microphones with other leading brands. They had this to say: “theBoom tied in first place with the Sennheiser KnowBrainer (Sennheiser ME3) microphone for noise Canceling but significantly bested the ME3 in accuracy. Although each of our test subjects produced different accuracy scores, they all had one thing in common. All test subjects scored 2% higher accuracy with theBoom. The average test subject scored 96% accuracy with the Sennheisers and 98% with theBooms which roughly translates into 50% less errors with theBoom microphone.”

How people are using theBoom for Speech Recognition
theBoom headsets are being used to greatly enhance speech recognition performance for diverse audio applications in noisy environments:

1. Desktop speech recognition: With products such as Dragon Naturally Speaking for dictation (Speech to Noise values of up to 23 with theBoom “O”)
2. Handheld speech recognition: In industrial warehouses (“Voice picking”) – for inventory control and data gathering
3. Direct dictation into mobile digital voice recorders (optionally transcribed to text via Dragon Naturally Speaking)

Other benefits of using theBoom headsets for Speech Recognition
theBoom headsets are designed with universal connectivity in mind, and can be used with a wide variety of devices. Adapters are available for most cell phones, home and office phones, PC sound cards, PC/Mac USB ports and PDAs.

With theBoom headsets, people can use speech recognition effectively in practically any environment.

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