In the past decades there were several developments in the elevator industry regarding safety,
speed, but also economy and convenience.
The single task was to make the use of elevators more efficient, easier and more accessible
to an ever increasing number of people. Towards this direction, voice recognition has
a significant impact on accessibility issues, at the same time providing a faster way of
finding and reaching a destination, within a complex building. The present paper addresses
the rationale of the development of an innovative product that uses speech technology
providing the opportunity of the emergence of the first series of voice-controlled elevators
in the history of the lift industry.

talk2lift^® is a speech recognition device adjustable on the electronic board of an elevator’s cabin.
Through the use of speech technology, passengers can talk to the elevator pronouncing the floor
that they wish to go within a building or even the name of the person they want to visit or some
attributes characterizing them (e.g. dermatologist). The software system of the speech recognition
has been designed and developed in order to recognize the voice of any given user, independently
of the tone or loudness of her voice. In short, the main function of talk2lift^® is to transform
the voice of the elevator’s users into an additional press of the button on the board of an elevator.