ECTACO Releases the New SpeechGuard 5 Series – The Ultimate Speech-to-Speech Handheld

New York, NY - ECTACO Inc., known for its pioneering position in the international language device and software business has taken SpeechGuard to a new level. The world renowned developer and manufacturer of over 3,500 electronic language dictionaries, translators and software has responded accordingly to it’s government, state, and municipal customers.

The original SpeechGuards for military, law enforcement, and Homeland Security (the GI-4, PD-4, and HS-4 respectively), have been used by over 300 agencies in the United States, Europe, Middle East, and international waters. Users of the SpeechGuard 4 series provided ECTACO with wish lists of features that would further benefit them to communicate with non-English speaking personnel. As the sole developer of SpeechGuard’s hardware and software, ECTACO welcomed the task of taking action to such requests.

SpeechGuard GI-5 and PD-5 now allow military and law enforcement entities to communicate thoroughly in a multitude of languages (and ways) without the assistance of a human translator. The 5 series affords users the ability to manipulate the interface without using their hands or taking their eyes off of their subjects. “Non-English speaking people can input anything they want to say into SpeechGuard now and have it repeated for them in English”, notes ECTACO Product Manager Boris Krol. Language Teacher, an audio-visual language learning tool has been implemented into SpeechGuard to enable users the ability to learn to speak languages independent of electronic devices or translators. “We recognized many agencies’ concerns about repeatedly spending their resources to teach their staffs languages or provide language support like a never-ending revolving door”, adds Mr. Krol. “Those that have beta tested the new SpeechGuard have been overwhelmed by how quickly their workforce has learned basic phrases and commands beyond English”.

The SpeechGuard 5 series has Cultural Awareness Notes, Audio Phrasebooks and text translation for multiple languages, audio player for mp3 files, calendar planner, voice recorder, and the capability to connect to external amplification devices like PA systems, or loudspeakers. Updates and battery charging can be accomplished by connecting units via mini-USB to any PC or notebook. A pen-scanner for numerous languages and a video camera will be available soon.