➡T CRIMINAL JUSTICE SOLUTIONS 

IN 

SEPT. 04 

U.S. Department of Justice 

Office of Justice Programs 

National Institute of Justice 

OWARD 

Voice Translators for Law Enforcement 

SHORT 

THE PROBLEM	 Two law enforcement officers who speak only English are on patrol 

when they stop a non-English-speaking suspect. They need to communicate some basic instructions to him before they can take him to 

the precinct station, where he can be questioned with a translator 

present. The situation soon becomes filled with gestures and confusion. Officers who routinely patrol an area where English is not the 

predominant language might find it helpful to learn a few simple 

phrases. 

But officers who infrequently encounter non-English-speaking individuals might easily forget the phrases. And learning the language 

won’t help if they must also deal occasionally with suspects who 

speak other languages. A better strategy might be to carry an electronic device that provides translations of basic commands in several languages. 

BACKGROUND	 In 2002, the National Institute of Justice asked the Naval Air Systems 

Command Training Systems Division Orlando (NAVAIR ORL) to perform comparison testing of three such devices—the Voice Response 

Translator (VRT), the Phraselator, and the Universal TranslatorTM—for 

both translation accuracy and ability to work in noisy environments. 

The Voice Recognition and Evaluation Report summarizes the investigation and comparison of the three voice translator units. 

THIS STUDY	 Exhibit 1 compares some of the performance capabilities of the 

three devices. Evaluators used five different phrases picked from 

each device’s phrase list to test accuracy at various noise levels. 
Exhibit 1. Comparison of Three Voice Translator Devices 

VRT	 Phraselator Universal TranslatorTM 

Languages stored	 Spanish, Creole, Portuguese, Arabic, Dari, Pashto, Urdu. Spanish, German, French. Manufacturer’s 

Arabic, Dari Farsi. Manufacturer Manufacturer has capability to Web site says has capability for up to 

has capability to add other languages. add other languages. 17 languages 

Phrases stored 204	 326 3,000, subdivided into 10-phrase domains 

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Technology 8-bit wave playback	 Dynaspeak speech recognizer Wave playback 

Hands-Free Capability Yes 	 No No 

Response Time Less than 1 second 	 4 to 5 seconds 3 to 4 seconds 

Dimensions	 Width: 3.25 inches 

Height: 5.125 inches 

Depth: 1 inch 

Weight: 10.5 ounces 

Width: 5 inches Width: 2.5 inches 

Height: 7 inches Height: 4.375 inches 

Depth: 1.75 inches Depth: 1 inch 

Weight: 19.3 ounces Weight: 4.7 ounces 

Operating System Proprietary	 Windows CE Proprietary 

Users Enrolled Yes, up to seven per unit No 	 No 

Maintenance Recharge battery Recharge battery pack Replace batteries. (Rechargeable batteries 

and battery charger not included). 

They also measured the length of time that each battery held its charge and the 

recharge times. 

BOTTOM LINE	 Results indicate that the VRT is the easiest of the three to use. It has the fastest 

response times and the longest-lived battery, in addition to being the only one with 

hands-free capability. The Phraselator’s large phrase set and ability to bypass voice 

recognition make it well suited to a more relaxed environment in which more attention 

may be given to operation of the unit. The Universal TranslatorTM is suitable only for 

tourist travel. 

LIMITATIONS	 Although the VRT offers many advantages, it does not include the option of stopping 

the unit when the user realizes the translation is incorrect. Enrolled users must “train” 

with the unit until it recognizes their speech patterns, and the unit may need to be 

retrained at a later time if it does not recognize a phrase spoken by an enrolled user. 

Speaking short key word phrases activates the translation program. One disadvantage 

is that if an agency adds a large number of phrases to the 204 already in the unit, the 

phrase set could become too large for the user to memorize. If users then need to constantly refer to a “cheat sheet,” the VRT’s hands-free capability would be essentially 

eliminated. 

AUDIENCE	 Law enforcement officers and administrators 

FIND THIS The full report of the Voice Recognition Evaluation Report is available online at 

STUDY www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/grants/202733.pdf. 
Technology Programs of the National 

Institute of Justice 

Through the Office of Science and Technology, NIJ funds the development of technologies to 

improve the safety and effectiveness of law enforcement and corrections professionals. NIJ develops new forensic science technologies and helps crime laboratories increase their capacity to 

obtain and employ new technology. The agency also develops standards and best practices to 

guide the criminal justice community in the use of technology. 

More information on the Technology Programs of the National Institute of Justice may be found 

at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/sciencetech/. 

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PRESORTED STANDARD 

POSTAGE & FEES PAID 

DOJ/NIJ 

PERMIT NO. G–91 

U.S. Department of Justice 

Office of Justice Programs 

National Institute of Justice *NCJ~205837* 

Washington, DC 20531 

Official Business 

Penalty for Private Use $300 

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This document is not intended to create, does not create, and may not be relied upon to create any rights, substantive or procedural, enforceable at 

law by any party in any matter civil or criminal. Opinions or points of view expressed in this document represent a consensus of the authors and do not 

represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. The products and manufacturers discussed in this document are presented 

for informational purposes only and do not constitute product approval or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Justice. 

Office of Justice Programs ■ Partnerships for Safer Communities ■ www.ojp.usdoj.gov NCJ 205837