vocalize.ai has entered into a research agreement with the Department of Audiology at the University of the Pacific, San Francisco campus. The university will evaluate our test suite which provides methods for efficiently benchmarking the capabilities of AI powered automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems, e.g. Alexa, Siri, Cortana, Assistant, Bixby and Hound. Several of the vocalize.ai tests are modified versions of the algorithms and procedures commonly used in the field of audiology. Working with the university’s research team we intend to verify that our procedures have been implemented correctly per existing audiology guidelines. “The developers of virtual assistant technologies strive for human-like interactivity, there is no better standard than the human auditory system. As audiologists, we can utilize our well-validated tools to benchmark automatic speech recognition systems against that ultimate standard,” said Dr. Jennifer Henderson Sabes, Assistant Professor. The results are intended to help vocalize.ai demonstrate the next step towards benchmarking and mapping virtual assistant performance to human performance.