Automatic speech recognition and understanding has been subject to intensiv
e research for several decades. A few years ago, the first commercial appli
cations for the technology resulting from these efforts began to emerge. It
is now obvious that speech recognition technology will soon play an import
ant role in everyday life and also in business. In this paper, we outline t
he basic principles of speech recognition technology and analyze its potent
ials and also its limitations. We discuss current and possible future appli
cations, ranging from simple command control systems and dictation systems
to natural language dialogue and translation systems.