Andrew and Egor, the co-founders of InTone, invested a lot of time in enhancing their spoken English. The most difficult to change is the accent, and it still puts a barrier between them and the largely English-focused tech scene. The pair met while doing language courses in the UK, working diligently to enhance their public speaking skills. As entrepreneurs and technology junkies, they have worked in technology companies and been part of the tech space for several years. They have witnessed difficulties with international communication in their own experiences and among others in the tech space.
It is difficult for people to change their accents because different languages consist of different tongue and lip movements. There are sounds Andrew and Egor didn't have in their native language, including unusual intonations in questions and statements, which made the challenge to change their accents long and difficult. On top of that, to non-native speakers, the differences between sounds are often so subtle that it is impossible to notice and explain them.
Many people who use English in their work face difficulty in understanding their partners because of their accents: specialists in international teams, salespeople with international clients, and call center employees. It takes hours and hours of work to improve the accent, and still, it is difficult to feel fully confident. When individuals feel uncomfortable and insecure, it can reduce the chances for career advancement, make it difficult to impact the world, and turn simply being heard into a daily battle.
Fortunately, the AI era opens new approaches to solving existing issues. Andrew and Egor developed a real-time on-device accent-enhancement platform, InTone, to break down communication barriers and empower people to achieve more globally. InTone relies on deep neural networks and - unlike typical voice technology, which often works on a word-by-word basis - operates on sounds. This makes it possible to enhance accent in real-time and ensures technology will work even for rare words, technical terms, and proper names.
Andrew and Egor see their platform as a way to empower employees of international call centers who serve English-speaking customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada while having English as a non-native language. Foreign call center agents deal with a lot of frustrated customers daily. The analytics firm CFI Group confirms this: customers handled by American agents rate their satisfaction at an average of 79%. In comparison, customers dealt with by foreign representatives are only 58% satisfied.
While agents work on improving their pronunciation, InTone provides a solution to both decrease negativity in conversation by enhancing understanding and increasing trust between people from different cultures, and help them feel secure until they are confident enough in their skills. It will impact not only the agents' happiness but also customer satisfaction and the overall efficiency of the call center.
Other voice generation technologies have taken off all around the world. But, as with any new technology, the market has had mixed reactions. Some people see such accent enhancement products as enabling racism and accommodating native English speakers instead of encouraging them to adapt. While this perspective is understandable, Andrew and Egor developed this platform because of their experience as non-native English speakers, as an easier understanding means more trust and confidence. With an ambition to save the speaker's personality, InTone partially preserves the initial voice, mixing it with voice actor data from a variety of regions all over the globe. The InTone team focuses on improving clarity and understanding rather than generating a neutral computer voice.
InTone is an excellent technology for call centers to adopt, but the potential doesn't stop there. With virtual communication becoming more common in medicine, education, and other industries, InTone can be used to cultivate more transparent interactions and deeper understandings between both parties in any conversation. It's also a fantastic platform for conference communications during virtual meetings and events for international teams and organizations.
The roadmap ahead for what Andrew and Egor have built is exciting. There are many use cases for this type of technology. It can transform huge industries such as voice support and online education, and improve understanding and confidence in phone and video calls around the globe. The InTone team continues to grow, recently reaching the size of 10 people, to bring this innovative technology to customers and ensure their success. Meanwhile, Andrew and Egor continue to evangelize their product, enhance its capabilities, and lead from a place of compassion.
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of techtimes.com
