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Bringing digitised audio and human conversations to the Web is the goal of VoiceXML, a new version of which has just been ratified by the important Web standards body W3C.

VoiceXML 2.0 is a means by which conversations originating from the world's estimated two billion fixed line and mobile phones can be processed on the Web. The Voice Extensible Markup Language, to give it its full name, 'enables

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integration of voice services with data services using the familiar client-server paradigm' in the words of the W3C.

The new standard addresses a range of inputs and outputs. As well as computerised recognition of human speech, it also covers the output of synthesized speech (text-to-speech), the output of audio files, the recording of spoken input and telephony features such as call transfer and disconnection.

The new development of VoiceXML also includes the Speech Recognition Grammar Specification Version 1.0. This defines a syntax by which developers can specify words, or patterns of words, to be listened out for by a speech recogniser.

You can find more information on the VoiceXML section of the W3C website.

A status of 'Recommendation' means that the specification is stable, has been fully reviewed by W3C members, and should be adopted as an official standard by the industry.