Call Center World 2016 Berlin

International Conference and Trade Show

(www.ccw.eu)

Ph. D. Danil Dintsis

Portfolio coordinator at the ITFORYOU

Petralex Speech communications

For Call (Contact) Centers and Help Desks

1. The ITFORYOU company has 5+ years’ experience in real time audio processing. The

presenter – Danil Dintsis involved as a Portfolio consultant (10+ years’ experience as

Project manager, PMP, PgMP, and 5+ years’ experience as a Portfolio manager).

2. Our portfolio contains special software hearing aid for people with hearing losses

(Petralex®, www.petralex.pro), which won the LERN award as a part of the Specialist

CCT program for lifelong virtual learning of adult people. We really help people with

hearing losses to do their best in the virtual world: communicate with their families and

friends, listen to music, learn virtually, etc.

The Urban Denoiser (www.urbandenoiser.com) is an App for music fans, won the 1st

prize at the Microsoft/IAMCP AppCup 2015 conference and competition. It adjusts

sound levelling to person’s hearing profile, surrounding noises in a safe hearing

protecting manner. For example a music fan can listen to music even in a subway with

high quality and minimal risk for his/her hearing.

The Karaoke Sing Assist (www.singassist.com) is the solution, which improves amateur’s

singing in a real-time mode. A person sings as he or she can, but the out coming audio is

correct in notes.

Our plans include the special phone for aged people acting as a hearing aid and safety

assistant device.

3. At the CCW 2016 we present our solution for call/contact centers and help desks. Let’s

discuss in brief the main challenges and problems to be solved. In a modern world

contact centers (first customer line) becomes a kind of a customer communication and

customer-lead department. We need highly motivated and prepared staff, high level of

job automation. But on the other side we know that contact center agents are often

students or young workers, who consider this job as a starting point for future career.

That is one of reasons the staff at the first line changes often. Different researches

points five main success factors for call/contact centers:

SMART goals

“right” technology

“right” team

business process

measuring progress vs goals

That is the reason of wide use of speech analysis. The speech analysis solves three

important tasks: customer demands classification; opportunity research tools, and

automated traffic of calls control. The speech analysis solutions implement three main

tools: key words search, phonetic analysis, and transcription analysis.

Our solution is partially based on phonetic analysis, but offers reversed approach while

agent and customer talk. The solution improves in some real-time mode speech

parameters as: voice persuasiveness, expressiveness; improve intelligibility; decrease

stressing notes in incoming voice; overwhelm surrounding noises; adjust sound volume

according personal hearing profile and surrounding noise. Additional options are cutting

off tone signals and agent’s aspiration sounds.

4. Why Petralex Speech Communications (www.petralexsolutions.com) is useful for call

center customers?

The Petralex Speech Communications implements frequency- and timbre-based audio

signal real-time processing. The technology is developed by our R&D department and

patented worldwide. The technology (mathematical methods and algorithms and software

based on them) preserves voice recognition for both agent and a client. Simultaneously it

improves agent’s voice persuasiveness, making it more aged. As MSU Voice lab research

shows, 70% of people trust more if an agent is a middle-aged person. The PSC solution

improves both agent and customer’s voice intelligibility due to the following options:

- decrease of number of speech artifacts (such as aspiration) in agent’s audio; - better intelligibility due to tone signals reduction; noise overwhelm.

Often users switch on recording option, which leads to generating tone signals. Those signals increase agent’s stress factors, and make incoming audio less intelligible. After implementing the PSC modules: “Persuasive voice”, “Noise Reduction” more than 70& of users’ feedback their satisfaction about communication quality.

5. Why the PSC suits contact center and staff?

One of the main problems for contact centers is staff fatiguability due to a lot of internal

and external factors: exceeding hearing pressure, stresses, noises, low speech intelligibility. As a

result: decreased level of perception, mistakes (issues), unhappy customers. And on the other

side: demotivated staff, agent’s hearing issues, etc

As mentioned above the PSC improves incoming audio intelligibility, and more the PSC

contains so-called “Antistress” module. It detects stressing notes in a user’s speech, and cuts

them off. So an agent hears less emotional voice, and can concentrate on a deal rather on

emotions.

6. Implementing technologies for better audio perception and hearing protection.

The Petralex module contains a simple “in situ” hearing test. After creating a user’s (agent’s)

hearing profile according to his/her level of hearing perception at 8 main frequencies, the

Petralex adapts incoming audio according to person’s hearing profile as well to surrounding

noises. This option both protects agent’s hearing and also improves perception.

7. The full list of the PSC functions is below. Any person or company can download the 30-day trial version and test it, enjoying the technical support by the ITFORYOU staff.

Persuasive Voice Deep voice transformation, adapting an agent`s voice for remote user`s better comprehension.

Expressive Voice Technology, founded on changing voice quality and allowing to add appropriate accents to agent's speech.

Compression Technology of sound volume levelling, due to which a customer will hear low sounds better.

Microphone Noise Reduction Technology of reduction of microphone equipment artefacts, expressed in low-pitched noise.

Speech Tempo Technology of agent's voice speed measurement.

Antistress Technology of changing psychological tone of input speech signal, based on changing phonation mode.

PETRALEX® Hearing Improvement Technology, improving agent`s auditory perception and taking care of his hearing.

Means of Noise Suppression Technology gives the opportunity to lead a session in very noisy environment.

Cancellation of Tone Signals Technology of cancellation of tone signals, produced by pressing phone buttons.