Voice search technology is getting more popular and more accurate as time goes by, reports The Seattle Times.

Players of all sizes, from Google and Microsoft to smaller players, like VoiceBox, are working at making voice search as seamless and easy to use as possible. A number of these companies are using the technology to aid in directory assistance searches.

The one common factor in most of these efforts is that they are free, but ad-supported. That plays to a perception that the days of consumers paying for services like directory assistance are coming to a close. Especially since users are showing that they will act on special offers from advertisers delivered as part of the search.