Ever since I bought my 04TL, I've had significant problems with the Voice Recognition reliability of my Hands-Free Link system. My Navi has always had excellent an VR rate, while the HFL totally sucked.

I have tried using multiple phones by different manufacturers. This didn't help (I didn't expect it to help, anyways)

The HFL module was replaced as well. No significant difference in VR quality was seen.

I began to suspect that another portion of the HFL system was at fault. I susgested to the dealership that they try looking at the area microphone in the overhead console.

Since the area microphone was replaced, I've seen some significant improvement in in VR quality, but it's still not perfect.

So, I have a general repair question to anyone with the Service Manuals:

There appear to be two microphones in the center overhead console on both sides of the Homelink buttons. Are there actually two microphones - one for the HFL, and one for the Navi VR?

 

Move to BT/Navi subF tomorrow.







6k

 

I have to agree with you GotJazz, the HFL recognition is not up to par with the Navi/Sound/Climate control system. I constantly have to repeat numbers and sometimes it magically tacks on a 0 infront of the phone number, it doesn't make sense, I never thought it could be the mic, I might have it checked, thanks for the post!

 

Another vote of agreement. The phone system is nowhere as good as the navi voice recognition. I beliieve they are actually made by 2 different vendors too.

 

They are made by two different vendors. The HFL Primary Integrator is Johnson Controls. They are using IBM ViaVoice Software for their Voice Recognition engine.

I don't know which software manufacturer Alpine used for their Voice Recognition implementation, but some sites seem to indicate they used IBM as well. ScanSoft (Naturally Speaking) and Visteon also seem to be options.

http://www.medicaldistribution.com/r...0032233276.htm

http://www.mindbranch.com/catalog/pr...&psrc=gsitemap

It's possible that the limitation is in the capabilities of the processor that was selected, not just the software. Or, the software used in the Navi may be a more advanced version.

Anyways, has anyone found out if there are separate microphones for the Navi and the HFL systems?

 

I have this "0" tacked on before 60% + of the numbers I dial now. I swear it wasn't this bad when I got the car in March. Anyone else see evidence that the HFL voice recognition ability has gotten worse?

Ultimately I'd like an option to try to actually improve this.

 

I don't have NAVI, but I echo the above....my voice recognition sucess is probably 60-70% at best. I wouldn't mind if the system was making mistakes with similar sounds, but I commonly experience gross errors like getting "880" read back to me for a ten digit number that starts with "646". Even with the stored names, I sometimes get a *85 or something crazy like that.

GotJazz, given the reluctance of Acura to issue service bulletins until absolutely necessary, I'm surprised your dealer has been so patient with you. I would have expected them to sit on their hands. Please continue to keep us updated.