SoundHound partners with Onkyo to deliver speakers that can also listen

By Lulu Chang Updated January 6, 2017

soundhound onkyo smart speakers ces 2017 ncp 302 4

Your speakers are about to pick up what you’re putting down. Thanks to a new partnership between SoundHound, the voice-enabled conversational intelligence company, and Onkyo, producer of high-end consumer audio products, your speakers will not only play content for you to listen to, but listen to you as well. The latest product to be “smart” in your home will soon be your Onkyo speakers, which basically means you’ll have an AI assistant that sounds a heck of a lot better than the usual ones.

“The Houndify platform was created to be the world’s first fully agnostic voice and A.I. technology that allows anyone to easily add a voice-enabled, conversational interface to their apps and devices,” said Keyvan Mohajer, cofounder and CEO of SoundHound Inc. “Onkyo is a respected leader in innovative, high-end consumer audio products, both in Japan and around the globe, and we’re thrilled to partner with them to deliver a smart and robust conversational voice interface to their customer base.”

Now that the two companies are working together, Onkyo smart speakers will be able to listen to and process commands and requests. Whether you’re interested in asking your speaker about the weather, your upcoming flight, or current movies, SoundHound (by way of its Houndify platform) will have an answer for you. And thanks to natural language processing, you can ask your smart speaker questions just as you would a human — no jargon necessary.

“Voice interfaces are becoming a more important part of consumers’ lives, as we embark upon a new, more connected era of audiovisual technology,” said Munenori Otsuki, president and CEO of Onkyo. “Onkyo has a history of establishing partnerships with the world’s pioneering technology companies; with Houndify, SoundHound Inc. has created a sophisticated natural language processing platform that is uniquely positioned to scale and innovate along with us.”

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