September 6, 1983

now the trick is to teach them to listen. Scientists and engineers have already made great strides toward achieving that goal. Machines are already being produced that recognize voices in a primitive way. And experts are confident that they will be able to build computers that will be competent to comprehend the human voice and carry out sophisticated spoken instructions. A number of products are being introduced that have an ability, however crude, to recognize spoken words. They are used already by quality inspectors in factories and baggage handlers in airports. Others will allow video games to be played by shouting commands, and personal computers to respond to such spoken orders as ''store'' and ''copy.'' Some of these devices, however simple-minded they are at the moment, will represent the initial consumer applications of what is considered a promising but extremely elusive technology. ''In the next two or three years there is going to be a dramatic emergence of speech recognition,'' said Janet Baker, president of Dragon Systems Inc., a company in West Newton, Mass., that specializes in speech recognition technology.

The Economy The nation's savings rate has failed to respond to the Reagan Administration's sweeping reduction in taxes. Although Americans typically have saved a bit over 6 percent of their take-home pay, by last spring, despite the economic recovery, the rate had plunged to a 33-year low of 4 percent. (Page A1.)

Terry Ehrich, an auto buff with an informal manner and easy smile, runs an $8 million-a-year magazine business. Next year, for the first time, he plans to draw up a budget. Mr. Ehrich, 42 years old, is publisher of Hemmings Motor News, a monthly resource for more than 225,000 enthusiasts of old automobiles. He also publishes two, smaller magazines, one on old automobiles, the other on small boats, plus an annual directory that lists old-car hobbyists.

There is no sign to guide the visitor, but on the outskirts of Big Spring in the dusty West Texas oil country there is a fenced-off tract of land that is a kind of cemetery of oilmen's dreams. There lie row upon row of great steel oil and gas drilling rigs and a jumble of rusting pipe, cables, drill heads, transformers and house trailers. The owner of all this is the Allied Bank of Texas in Houston, which repossessed them from two victims of the oil bust that has hit Texas: the Matagorda Drilling Company and Republic Drilling and Service. Like countless other banks, oil and gas producers, drilling contractors and oilfield equipment manufacturers, Allied is now pinning its hopes on growing signs of at least a modest recovery in the American oil patch. List of Active Rigs Growing Several hopeful trends have emerged. The weekly count of rigs that are drilling wells, as kept by the Hughes Tool Company, has risen seven weeks in a row, reaching 2,185 nationwide last Monday. This is up 21 percent from the low of 1,807 in mid- April, though still much less than half the peak at the end of 1981. Well permits issued in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana are up slightly.

Just over two years ago the Reagan Administration engineered sweeping changes in the nation's tax system and the largest tax cuts in history. The primary objective was to encourage the country to save and invest more of its income. Instead, Americans are saving less now than they did then. Since the Korean War, American consumers have typically put aside a little more than 6 percent of their take- home pay, a level well below that of other major industrial countries. Last year the personal saving rate in the United States slipped to 5.8 percent, uncommonly low during a recession, when people tend to increase their savings. And last spring, with the economic recovery well under way, the saving rate plunged to a 33-year low of 4 percent.