• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, March 27, 2012

The movement in the TV business to allow voice recognition to select shows and make other commands has a significant audience. A large percentage of Apple iPhone 4S users appreciate the Siri voice-recognition functionality and a notable chunk would like the opportunity to issue similar directives for their TVs, according to Parks Associates.

More than 70% of U.S. 4S users are “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with Siri, while 37% of them “want to have a similar voice-command interface for their TV set.” There are suggestions that Siri may be part of a new Apple TV.

John Barrett, a director in customer analytics at Parks, said the nearly 40% who expressed interest in Siri-type capability for TV sets was surprisingly low.

“I would have expected more owners to want Siri for their TV set,” he said. “These are the folks that rushed out to get the new iPhone 4S."

Smart TVs from Samsung (which also has gesture and face recognition) have voice control, while it is expected that most smart TVs on the market from various manufacturers will offer it soon.

Barrett did say that some Siri users may have concerns how it would work in a living room buzzing with family members and others. "Some said Siri didn't work well against background noise,” he said. “Others said it had trouble understanding commands. These problems could be amplified in a noisy living room, where the main TV would be located."