It is 10 years since Dragon first brought speech recognition to the PC desktop and voice control still has a reputation for being unreliable and inaccurate.

But 40 per cent of all directory assistance calls in the US are automated by TellMe’s voice recognition and many UK callers are unaware that the Nationwide building society’s main inquiry number is using voice recognition to direct their call when the message asks them to say in their own words what their call is about.