American Airlines Deploys Natural Language Speech Recognition System with Technology from Periphonics and Nuance

Business Wire, July 29, 1998

FORT WORTH, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 29, 1998--

AAdvantage Executive Platinum Members Receive Faster Service with Travel Industry's First Speech Recognition System For Customers

American Airlines, a division of AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) today introduced the travel industry's first speech recognition-based application for customers using technology from Periphonics Corporation (NASDAQ: PERI) and Nuance Communications. This application will allow American's AAdvantage Executive Platinum members to complete travel arrangements more conveniently and efficiently, resulting in enhanced customer service for American's top travelers.

Using VPS/is Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems from Periphonics Corporation with speech recognition and natural language understanding software from Nuance Communications, the new application replaces an existing service limited to touch-tone and supported by PC-based IVR systems from another vendor. The new system retrieves customer information through an interface with American's AAdvantage system developed by the SABRE Group. The system, which allows American's Executive Platinum Members to speak their AAdvantage numbers in a natural way, makes calling American Airlines easier than ever.

"We have made a commitment to provide our customers with the best service of any airline and to make it as easy and efficient for them to plan their travel," said John Samuel, director of Interactive Marketing for American Airlines. "Periphonics and Nuance offer scaleable, accurate technologies that give us the confidence to use the system for our most important customers."

How the System Works

Members dial American's Executive Platinum 800 number and simply speak their alpha-numeric account number. The VPS sends the caller's speech to the Nuance 6 speech recognition engine, which is running on a Periphonics speech processing platform, then uses the text result returned by the recognizer to retrieve important member information from an SQL database. All pertinent data relating to the spoken account number will "screen-pop" onto the agent's terminal at the same time the call is transferred.

Natural language speech recognition offers a significantly higher success rate for alpha-numeric account numbers than conventional touch-tone systems, which are often cumbersome and difficult to use. As a result, the average call duration using speech recognition is much shorter than with touch-tone. Since AAdvantage numbers are alpha-numeric, Executive Platinum members can complete their travel needs more quickly with the speech system and the airline saves money on long-distance charges and other call center costs.

"Periphonics and Nuance were the first to commercially deploy speech-enabled IVR technology," said Dick Rosinski, executive director, speech technology business development for Periphonics. "Our experience has allowed us to provide American Airlines with a cost-effective speech recognition solution that will offer significant benefits to both the company and its customers. In addition to American, Periphonics and Nuance have recently implemented these technologies for clients in many industries, including financial services and courier services."

"By using natural language speech recognition, American Airlines is setting the customer service standard for the entire travel industry," says Ronald Croen, president and CEO of Nuance Communications. "Nuance and Periphonics achieved recognition accuracy over 90% and a high degree of customer satisfaction at Charles Schwab and UPS. We expect to see similar results at American."

ABOUT AMERICAN AIRLINES AND AMR

The Airline Group of AMR consists primarily of American's Passenger and Cargo divisions and AMR Eagle, Inc., a separate subsidiary. American is one of the largest scheduled passenger airlines in the world. American and American Eagle provide scheduled jet service to more than 250 destinations, throughout North America, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and Japan.

ABOUT PERIPHONICS CORPORATION

Periphonics Corporation develops, markets and supports products and professional services for Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) and for Telecom Enhanced Network Services using technologies such as Interactive Voice Response (IVR), speech input, messaging, fax and Web browsers. The Company's products and services automate call and transaction processing, increase call center agent productivity, and often create new revenue streams for its customers.

ABOUT NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS

Nuance Communications develops speech recognition, language understanding and speaker verification software to automate access to information and services over-the-phone. Nuance's products enable a user to speak to a computer over the telephone in everyday, conversational language. Headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company focuses on customer service applications in call centers, particularly within the financial services and travel industries, and on enabling enriched functionality and new services in telecommunications networks. For more information, see Nuance's Web site at http://www.nuance.com, or call (650) 847-0000.