可以知道你喜怒哀乐的手机应用

Beyond Verbal Communications Ltd., a voice-recognition software developer here, is rolling out an app promising something Siri can't yet deliver: a readout on how you feel.
语音识别软件开发商Beyond Verbal Communications Ltd.即将推出一款应用软件，有望实现Siri尚且无法实现的一个功能：把你的情绪显示出来。

Called Moodies, it lets a smartphone user speak a few words into the phone's mike to produce, about 20 seconds later, an emotional analysis. Beyond Verbal executives say the app is mostly for self-diagnosis -- and a bit of fun: It pairs a cartoon face with each analysis, and users can share the face on social media.
借助于这款名为“Moodies”的应用，智能手机用户可以朝着手机的麦克风讲话，在大约20秒钟之后生成情绪分析。Beyond Verbal的管理人员说，该应用主要是用于自我诊断，也可以带来一些小小的乐趣：它给每一次分析配上一张卡通脸孔，用户可以把脸孔拿到社交媒体上去分享。

But the app is coming out as the company and other developers -- many clustered in Tel Aviv -- push increasingly sophisticated hardware and software they say can determine a person's emotional state through analysis of his or her voice.
在这款应用面世之际，Beyond Verbal和其他一些开发商──很多都扎堆特拉维夫──正在推出一些越来越尖端、据它们说可以通过分析语音确定一个人情绪状态的硬件和软件。

These companies say the tools can also detect fraud, screen airline passengers and help a call-center technician better deal with an irate customer. And they can be used to keep tabs on employees or screen job applicants. One developer, Tel Aviv-based Nemesysco Ltd., offers what it calls 'honesty maintenance' software aimed at human-resource executives. The firm says that by analyzing a job applicant's voice at an interview, the program can help identify fibs.
这些公司说，这些工具还可以侦测欺诈、检查飞机乘客、帮助呼叫中心技术人员更好地对付发飙的顾客。它们可以用来监视员工或筛选求职者。特拉维夫开发商Nemesysco Ltd.推出以人力资源经理为目标客户的“诚信维护”软件。该公司说，这套程序可以通过分析求职者在面试期间的说话声音来帮助辨别谎言。

That's raising alarm among many voice-analysis experts, who question the accuracy of such on-the-spot interpretations. It's also raising worries among privacy advocates, who say such technology -- especially if it is being rolled out in cheap, easy-to-use smartphone apps -- could be a fresh threat to privacy.
这引起了很多语音分析专家的警惕，他们对这类现场转译的准确性提出了质疑。也引起了很多隐私鼓吹者的忧虑，他们说，这类技术有可能成为一种新的隐私威胁，如果是以便宜好用的智能手机应用的形式推出，威胁就更为严重。

Depending on how the analysis is performed, used and shared, 'there could well be breaches of certain privacy laws,' says Gwendolen Morgan, an associate at Bindmans LLP, a London human-rights law firm.
伦敦人权律师事务所Bindmans LLP合伙人格温德琳・摩根(Gwendolen Morgan)说，这些分析“很有可能违反了某些隐私法规”，具体要看它们是怎样运行以及被使用和共享的。

The new wave of technology is based on so-called layered voice analysis, and it's related to the much broader, more established field of 'speech-to-text' sentiment analysis. Verint Systems Inc., Thomson Reuters PLC and Hewlett-Packard Co. and others have long used speech-to-text technology to record phone calls and break them down into so-called text-based sentiment intelligence by flagging the occurrence of keywords or types of words. Call centers use the data to teach employees to keep customers on the phone or monitor employees for training purposes.
这一波新的技术浪潮基于“深层语音分析”(layered voice analysis)，跟更广泛、更成熟的“语音转文字”(speech-to-text)情绪分析领域有关。Verint Systems Inc.、汤森路透(Thomson Reuters PLC)、惠普(Hewlett-Packard Co.)等公司曾长期使用语音转文字技术来记录通话，并把出现在其中的关键词或某些词语种类标注出来，从而将通话分解为“基于文本的情绪情报”。呼叫中心用这些数据教员工如何让客户保持通话，或为了培训的目的而监测员工。

The new speech-focused tools come as other companies are marketing body-language and facial-recognition sentiment-analysis tools -- including an app for Google Inc.'s Google Glass.
在这些新的语音分析工具面世之际，其他公司也在销售身体语言和面部识别类的情绪分析工具，比如一款针对谷歌公司(Google Inc.)“谷歌眼镜”(Google Glass)的应用。

voice-recognition and analysis specialists say there is no question that emotions and patterns of speech can be linked. But many say the utility of the analysis can be limited by the extent to which voice samples have been collected -- often requiring years of samples to detect variations caused by emotions.
语音识别与分析专家说，情绪和语音形态可能存在关联，这一点勿庸置疑。但很多人说，这类分析的实用性可能受制于语音样本的采集规模，常常需要采集多年的样本才能侦测到情绪造成的变异。

Andrew Baron, assistant professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, says information produced by a lot of the commercially focused voice-recognition technology can be 'fuzzy.'
温哥华英属哥伦比亚大学(University of British Columbia)心理学助理教授安德鲁・巴伦(Andrew Baron)说，很多以商业为重的语音识别技术所产生的信息都有可能是“失真”的。