WindowsPhone8StartScreen1_PageThanks to some new technology, Windows Phone 8 is getting a better pair of ears.

According to a new blog post from the Windows Phone team, Microsoft is using Deep Neural Networks (DNN) to improve the speed and accuracy of its Bing voice search and voice-to-text features.

They claim the new technology makes voice search on WP8 up to twice as fast and 15 percent more accurate than the previous version of its software.

If DNN sounds familiar, it’s also the namesake of DNNresearch, a Toronto startup that was acquired by Google earlier this year to bolster its own voice search capabilities with products like Google Now.

As both Apple and Google continue to innovate with their voice recognition-based virtual assistants, Microsoft has to keep up, especially now that Siri is going to be using Bing as its primary search engine.

With Microsoft expecting a massive influx of searches from Siri, it would be rather embarrassing for them if the best way to search Bing with your voice was through an Apple product.

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