Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center

SpeechRecognize[audio]

recognizes speech in audio and returns it as a string.

SpeechRecognize[audio,level]

returns a list of strings at the specified structural level.

SpeechRecognize[audio,level,prop]

returns prop for text at the given level.

Details and Options
Details and Options Details and Options
Examples  
Basic Examples  
Scope  
Basic Uses  
Level Specification  
Properties  
Options  
Masking  
Method  
PerformanceGoal  
Applications  
See Also
Related Guides
History
Cite this Page

SpeechRecognize

SpeechRecognize[audio]

recognizes speech in audio and returns it as a string.

SpeechRecognize[audio,level]

returns a list of strings at the specified structural level.

SpeechRecognize[audio,level,prop]

returns prop for text at the given level.

Details and Options

  • Speech recognition aims to convert a spoken audio signal to text. It is also known as speech-to-text and is typically used in voice-enabled human-machine interactions and digital personal assistants.
  • SpeechRecognize[audio] returns all recognized speech in audio as a single string.
  • Structural elements specified in level include:
  • Automaticspeech found in the whole audio signal (default)
    "Segment"a list of transcription segments
    "Sentence"a list of sentences
    "Word"a list of words
  • The property prop can be one of the following:
  • "Audio"trimmed audio containing the recognized text
    "Confidence"strength of the recognized text
    "Interval"interval containing the text
    "SubtitleRules"a list of time intervals and texts
    "Text"recognized text (default)
    {prop1,prop2,…}a list of properties
  • The following options can be given:
  • LanguageAutomaticthe language to recognize
    Masking Allinterval of interest
    Method Automaticthe method to use
    PerformanceGoal $PerformanceGoalaspects of performance to try to optimize
    ProgressReporting$ProgressReportingwhether to report the progress of the computation
    TargetDevice"CPU"the device on which to perform recognition
  • Use Languagelang1lang2 to recognize speech assumed to be in language lang1 and return translated text in language lang2.
  • By default, speech in the whole signal is recognized. Use Masking->{int1,int2,…} to limit the recognition to intervals inti.
  • Possible settings for Method are:
  • Automaticautomatic method
    "GoogleSpeech"uses Google speech-to-text
    "NeuralNetwork"uses built-in neural networks
    "OpenAI"uses OpenAI speech-to-text
  • By default, if a method returns non-speech tokens (e.g. [applause]), they are returned in the result. Use Method{method,"NonSpeechReplacement"replacements} to specify different replacements. Use "NonSpeechReplacement""" to remove them.
  • SpeechRecognize works for English speech as well as various other languages, such as Chinese, Dutch, French, Japanese and Spanish.
  • SpeechRecognize uses machine learning. Its methods, training sets and biases included therein may change and yield varied results in different versions of the Wolfram Language.
  • SpeechRecognize may download resources that will be stored in your local object store at $LocalBase, and can be listed using LocalObjects[] and removed using ResourceRemove.

Examples

open all close all

Basic Examples  (2)

Recognize speech in an audio signal:

Recognize speech from a recording:

Scope  (4)

Basic Uses  (2)

Recognize speech in a short audio track:

Recognize speech in an audio track of a video file:

Recognize speech in a non-English language:

Classify the language from the recognized text:

Classify the language from the original audio:

Level Specification  (1)

By default, all recognized text is returned as one string:

Extract a list of recognized sentences:

Extract a list of words:

Extract a list of segments, typically used for splitting text for subtitles:

Properties  (1)

By default, recognized speech is returned as a string or as lists of strings:

Return the speech interval, corresponding chunk of the audio and recognition strength:

Options  (3)

Masking  (1)

Use the Masking option to recognize parts of a signal:

Method  (1)

By default, a local model is used for speech recognition:

Use OpenAI speech recognition:

Use GoogleSpeech speech recognition:

PerformanceGoal  (1)

By default, a medium-speed model with moderate quality is used:

Get the result fast:

Get the higher-quality result:

A balanced speed and quality result:

Applications  (4)

Use AudioIntervals to select which parts of the signal to recognize:

Interpret a spoken city:

Show the recognized city on the map:

Find the answer from a spoken question in a text:

Build an automatic assistant based on Wolfram|Alpha:

Wolfram Research (2019), SpeechRecognize, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/SpeechRecognize.html (updated 2024).

Text

Wolfram Research (2019), SpeechRecognize, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/SpeechRecognize.html (updated 2024).

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2019. "SpeechRecognize." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2024. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/SpeechRecognize.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2019). SpeechRecognize. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/SpeechRecognize.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_speechrecognize, author="Wolfram Research", title="{SpeechRecognize}", year="2024", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/SpeechRecognize.html}", note=[Accessed: 04-February-2026]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_speechrecognize, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={SpeechRecognize}, year={2024}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/SpeechRecognize.html}, note=[Accessed: 04-February-2026]}