Tapping Technology - Speech Recognition

	February 1998

Speech Recognition Gives People with Disabilities a Long Awaited Level Playing Field

Neal Meskimen,
ATS - Concert Access Technologies

(Ed note: the language used below and the opinions expressed in the following article are those of the author, and are reproduced here verbatim, without editorial changes.)

Speech input and recognition for computers has arrived and promises to revolutionize the way those with disabilities and challenges will now communicate and access technology. For many people with disabilities, speech input enables them to run their computers and communication with others and to gain and stay employed. Whether the challenge has been repetitive stress injury, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, or motor skill impairments, speech input has allowed these individuals to further their education, to gain an income and opens up the world of computers, including the Internet.

To this assistive technologist there is no greater disability than the inability to enjoy spontaneous communication. Our planet thrives on two-way communications. It is the leveling force in the playing field of life and strife. No matter what one's disability may be, without communications you will be discriminated first and foremost because you cannot respond or originate your thoughts. No matter how simple your needs, if you can't get to first base if you're not understood. Countless numbers of those with challenges are now at last able to not only communicate but also finally let others know just how valuable they can (finally) be.

Some speech therapists report that speech input to computers is one of the best therapy devices they have ever used. With speaker-dependent, discrete recognition systems, the consumer must say each word separately and distinctly for the system to have maximum recognition. Often after several months of using the system, a marked improvement is seen with speech impediments cause by strokes or cerebral palsy.

We are on the forefront of being able to provide real opportunities for education, jobs and leisure no matter what the user's challenges are. Finally people can now be valued on their ability to communicate rather than someone making incorrect assumptions on their behalf.

Not only can Voice Recognition provide a way to communicate; with some software you can also control program functions for starters and finally surf the Internet. This advent of being able to communicate on the net using voice recognition is one of the first level playing fields for those with disabilities who cannot type effectively. No longer do complex layers of menus and commands prohibit one from successfully controlling and executing programs.

Continued development must take place however. There are still numerous programs that cannot be controlled. Others require improvements in their ease of use by voice recognition. It is this reporters belief that in the next few short years that all of our technology will be voice and/or touch driven. It is the most natural for our species.

There are an ever-increasing number of Voice Recognition manufactures since they have seen the increased attention and demand by the abled market place. The big three players are Dragon Systems, IBM and Kurzweil. There are now other emerging companies who will no doubt continue to compress prices and further advanced voice technology.

Several words of caution: There is at present a rush for the latest form of Voice Recognition called Naturally or Continuos Speaking. In my research and testing thus far, these newer speech recognizers do not adapt as well for some of the challenged users. Prior to the advent of this latest improvement you were required to speak with a short pause between words, which is the way most with challenges do speak already. This method also provides the user with a chance to correct and further strengthen their voice file, which is extremely important. Rule #1 in Voice Recognition, always correct your mistakes to prevent the program from developing bad habits. Just like we do with our children. If you have questions regarding this technology you may contact me through the email address given below.

Other new concepts of access are under development as we speak. Concert Access Technologies is currently developing custom speech recognition solutions that provides access to many whom now cannot be understood, through a patented process. Another leading edge access device under development is centered on directed "thought" control rather than any physical movements. Both of these products will be released this year with others to follow. For more information email ConcertAT@aol.com.

My research follows- almost all these sites/ companies had free demos. I will be downloading the Dragon Product. Maybe we could all provide feedback from demo usage and I will compile and put results in a newsletter to everyone. Let me know what you have used for what disabilities and challenges and your experiences with that product. Thanks everyone!

DragonDictate : World Leader in Voice Recognition
Adaptive Computer Technologies Specialist
324 First Street
Marysville, Ca. 95901
Voice (530)749-8820
Fax (530)741-3580
http://www.dragontalk.com/

Dragon NaturallySpeaking

http://www.dragontalk.com/natural.htm

Dragon NaturallySpeakingTM is a revolutionary product from Dragon Systems. Its high accuracy, fast performance and extensive vocabulary give you outstanding recognition for your toughest business projects. Its simple. Just speak to your computer naturally, without pausing between words and watch as sentences appear on your screen. Dictate entire paragraphs at a time. Compose e-mail messages, create reports, draft letters, and edit proposals just by speaking. Youšll find Dragon NaturallySpeaking can be faster and more natural than typing.

Suited for Everyone

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is the natural way to input text. Almost anyone business professionals, writers and journalists, nontypists, telecommuters, and employees of small offices can find themselves quickly creating documents and reports with ease and accuracy. Dragon NaturallySpeaking spells correctly every time.

Powerful Speech Capabilities

Hidden behind the simplicity of Dragon NaturallySpeaking's user interface are breakthroughs in speech recognition capabilities. Dragon NaturallySpeaking's advanced features include:

True Continuous Speech

Speak to your computer naturally and at a normal pace without pausing between words. Your spoken words swiftly appear on your computer screen.

High Recognition Accuracy

Concentrate on your work, not on corrections, and get more done. PC Weeks lab "found recognition accuracy to be in the 95 percent or higher range." (June 2, 1997)

Large Vocabulary

The large 230,000+ word total vocabulary (30,000 active) recognizes most of the words people use everyday. Add new words quickly with the revolutionary Vocabulary BuilderTM. It automatically finds and adds unique words from documents on your hard drive. You can also add new words by saying and spelling them once.

Natural Spelling

If you ever need to spell a word, just spell it using the names of the letters of the alphabet. With Dragon NaturallySpeaking, "a" means "a" and "b" means "b". You do not need to learn a special name for each letter.

Select-and-Say^TM Editing and Correction

Correct and edit anytime as you go, or postpone it until later. Its ideal for people who prefer to concentrate on their thoughts, instead of the PC screen as they dictate. Just say "select" followed by the word or phrase you want to change. Then replace the selected text by saying a new word or phrase. You can even adjust the format by saying words like "bold that." Its that simple.

System Requirements

Minimum 133 MHz Pentium Processor IBM-compatible PC
Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0
Industry standard 16 bit sound card or built in audio systems on desktops and portables, including the Creative Labs SoundBlaster 16 and other selected cards. Contact Dragon Systems for the most up to date list.
Speakers required for multimedia help system.
Hard disk requirements: 60 MB
Memory requirements Windows 95: 32 MB, Windows NT: 48 MB

Includes a high-quality headset microphone.

Dragon PowerSecretary

The Premier All-Purpose Macintosh Solution

Also at: http://www.dragontalk.com/powersec.htm
PowerSecretary Power Edition is the premier all-purpose version of PowerSecretary. With the Power Edition, you can dictate into most of the standard applications at rates up to 40-55 correct words per minute.

PowerSecretary Power Edition features a full 120,000 word backup dictionary based on the most commonly used words in English with a maximum active vocabulary size of 60,000 words. Power Edition is designed for users who need to be able to dictate into multiple applications and who need the largest vocabulary available for their work.

PowerSecretary Personal Edition comes with a complete 120,000 word, customizable vocabulary, limited to an active vocabulary of 30,000 words. As your needs grow, you can increase the functionality of your Personal Edition system with an upgrade package for any combination of the other specially designed applications listed above.

System Requirements

Compatible Models
Virtually all Power Macintosh models with 16-bit sound input, various Macintosh compatibles including Motorola, Power, and Umax Computer, or a 33 MHz or faster 68050 Macintosh with 16-bit sound input (for example: 660AV, 850AV, Power book 540).
Operating Systems
MacTM OS 7.5 or greater
Hard Disk Requirements for Installation
Power/Personal Editions; 25 MB
Memory Requirements, All Versions
24 MB minimum system RAM
13 MB for application
32 MB for multiple applications
Includes a high-quality, lightweight headset microphone with sound-input microphone adapter.

IBM offers a family of industry leading speech products:

http://www.software.ibm.com/is/voicetype/us_prods.html

New ViaVoice Gold

The latest addition to IBM's best selling speech recognition software family, ViaVoice Gold, harnesses the full power of your voice to improve the productivity of your PC. ViaVoice - continuous speech software, just $99!

IBM VoiceType Simply Speaking Gold
IBM VoiceType Simply Speaking
IBM VoiceType Connection

The following products have been developed independently by third parties using IBM VoiceType/ViaVoice technology*:

Wizzard Software Corporation - VoiceE-mail
Complete E-mail software with voice recognition
ViaVoice for Windows 95 and Windows NT
IBM's large vocabulary, general purpose, continuous-speech dictation software that makes writing fun! ViaVoice offers the advantage of continuous speech and more.

It doesn't get any easier than this! ViaVoice allows you to speak naturally. Offered at a very affordable price, it's truly a breakthrough for people who'd rather talk naturally than type. Only $99 ($138 Cdn)!

ViaVoice at a glance

Talk Naturally. With ViaVoice, there is no longer a need to leave a brief pause between words. Type Eyes-free and Hands-free. With ViaVoice, there is no need to stare at the screen or pound away at the keyboard. Just talk, it types! When you're finished with your text, then go back and make corrections. Dictate into SpeakPad. SpeakPad is ViaVoice's optimized speech recognition word processing environment. From SpeakPad, text may be transferred to any application, on any operating system, which supports the Cut & Paste facility. Dictate into MS Word. With IBM ViaVoice a user may dictate directly into the Microsoft Word, word processing environment.

Playback Your Dictation.

The system offers complete audio playback of a word, sentence or the entire text. This unique feature allows you to make sure that sounds and words match.

Train Incrementally.

ViaVoice allows users to train in small, easy steps. Try the first 50 sentences in the enrollment (training) process; it will take less than 30 minutes and will significantly increase your dictation accuracy. Add Your Own Words. ViaVoice ships with a 22,000 word base vocabulary and the ability for you to add 42,000 of your own words.

Learn Continuously.

ViaVoice adapts to you as you adapt to using it. The system continuously learns how you say and use words. If you dictate, correct and update, your dictation accuracy will just keep on getting better and better!

Contains advanced features such as:

Vocabulary Expander.
This utility allows users to add personal words and phrases to the system, simply and easily.
ViaVoice Outloud,
a multi-options, text-to-speech applet. Now, ViaVoice reads aloud exactly what is typed on the screen. This feature offers users advanced word correction capabilities. There's more. ViaVoice Outloud works with applications other than ViaVoice as well. Want to have your e-mail read aloud to you? Go ahead, use ViaVoice Outloud!
ViaVoice includes a terrific lightweight microphone. The microphone is fully reversible for left or right-handed users, folds flat for carrying and has noise elimination technology.
System requirements

Pentium** 166 MHz or150 MHz with MMX
32 MB RAM for Windows** 95 -OR- 48 MB RAM for Windows NT 4.0
CD ROM drive
Sound Blaster** 16-bit audio board (Sound Blaster 16 100% compatible) or IBM Mwave*
100 MB hard disk space
Microsoft Windows 95 -OR- Microsoft Windows NT 4.0.

Other speech products available from IBM

New IBM ViaVoice Gold

Priced at $149, ViaVoice Gold is a feature-enhanced version of IBM's industry- leading ViaVoice product, the company's first general purpose, continuous dictation product for the consumer market.

IBM VoiceType Simply Speaking Gold

$99. 'Discrete' speech recognition software with added productivity benefits and the ability to work with IBM professional language models. IBM speech recognition: The voice you can trust

Kurzweil VoicePlus and VoicePro
http://www.lhs.com/kurzweil/pcapps/voicepluspro/description.htm
Kurzweil VoicePlus and Kurzweil VoicePro for Windows Release 2.5 are the latest versions of our large vocabulary, award-winning voice recognition system for Windows 95 and Windows 3.1x. Release 2.5 combines Kurzweil AI's latest discreet speech recognition technology with its continuous digit recognizer, allowing users to rapidly and efficiently enter numeric data.

Using Kurzweil VoicePlus and VoicePro, you can combine speech with the keyboard and mouse to develop an easy and natural approach to personal computing. The programs support voice input for navigation, which drives the Windows operating system and Windows-based applications on a command and control basis, and dictation, which enables the user to create text and enter data simply by speaking.

Kurzweil VoicePlus comes with a 30,000 word active vocabulary, while Kurzweil VoicePro comes complete with a 60,000 word active vocabulary. Each includes an on-line dictionary, including acoustic models and spellings, for a total of 200,000 words. In addition, you can customize both editions by adding thousands of your own words and commands. You can even create a unique vocabulary suited to your professional specialty.

Kurzweil VoicePlus and VoicePro provide built-in commands for Windows 95, Windows 3.1x, QualComm's Eudora Pro, Intuit's Quicken, and for the most recent versions of the leading Windows software applications, including Microsoft Office, Lotus SmartSuite and CorelOffice. Users can easily voice-enable virtually all other Windows applications as well. Our enhanced Command Learning Feature ensures that all the words in any application added with Command Learning come in already trained.

Kurzweil VoicePlus and VoicePro are easy to install, learn and use. The products are speaker-independent, require no initial training, and can be used right out-of-the-box with greater than 90% recognition accuracy. It also automatically adapts to users' speech and language patterns, boosting ongoing recognition accuracy to 97% and higher. In addition, our three new child profiles enable individuals under 17 years of age to create user profiles which deliver superior recognition and throughput performance.

Work more naturally with Kurzweil VoicePlus and VoicePro's new intuitive editing capability, Point & Fix. Users can now dictate (or type) lengthy documents in either Microsoft Word (6.0 or 7.0), then go back to any location within the document and easily make changes. All by VOICE! Now users can fully concentrate on text creation and content, leaving the editing for last. In addition, the Point & Fix method of editing is not only easier to use and far more flexible, but also increases dictation throughput due to the significant reduction in dictation interrupts.

Kurzweil VoicePlus and VoicePro appeal to a wide range of users: Executives and professionals with limited typing skills; individuals whose jobs are keyboard and mouse intensive; students; computer novices as well as experts; and, those who are suffering from pain or injury from the repetitive motion of the keyboard and mouse. Kurzweil VoicePlus and VoicePro Release 2.5 support 'hands-free' control of the PC and can enhance personal computing power among all users.

VoiceCOMMANDER and SpeechCOMMANDER By A.V.R. Inc.

http://www.speechcommander.com/products.htm

Applied Voice Recognition, Inc. has been developing and marketing Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) software since 1994.

VoiceCOMMANDER Pro is the first professional level, integrated office suite on the market to use continuous speech. It is a complete voice-powered office correspondence suite that combines speed with easy-to-use command and control functionality.

SpeechCOMMANDER is AVRI's continuous speech dictation product for the consumer and small office-home office markets. Its easy-to-use, task oriented interface allows users to write letters, do faxes and memo, and even record important reminders - all by voice. It is the only voice recognition product available to have all of these features plus a free training video.

With VoiceCOMMANDER Proô, you can dictate memos, letters, e-mail and other documents by simply talking to your computer. Just say the word!

Continuous Speech

Finally: a voice recognition system that allows you to speak conversationally, without any artificial pauses. VoiceCOMMANDER Pro user- specific context means dictation speeds up to 200 words/minute with 97% accuracy.

Speaker Adaptive

VoiceCOMMANDER Pro automatically adapts to and recognizes the unique characteristics of your personal speech pattern. What's more, creating your voice file takes less than a half hour.

Hands Free Control

No need to lift a finger. You control your PC--including navigation through menus, dialog boxes and your desktop --entirely by your voice. (Easy- to-create custom macros and editing by voice save even more time.)

Vocabularies

Enjoy a large built-in vocabulary and add thousands of new words by simply saying them. VoiceCOMMANDER Pro stores the new words instantly. Industry-specific and custom vocabularies developed upon request.Ý

Key Features of VoiceCOMMANDER Pro

VoiceCOMMANDER Pro is the first integrated office suite to use continuous speech. With the natural feel and speed of continuous speech dictation, this advanced system allows you to use your voice to:

Dictate and print letters and memos, send faxes, dial the telephone, work with e-mail and surf the Internet
Interface with popular contact management databases such as Goldmine and Act!
Transcribe and edit documents at a rate of up to 200 wpm
Use your voice to command and control all Windows applications
Speak words and commands naturally without artificial pauses
Use built-in vocabulary of 22,000 words or add your own -- expandable up to 64,000 words!

System Requirements

Windows 95 Operating System
32MB RAM
166 MHz MMX processor or faster
Soundblaster 16 Soundcard or equivalent
Up to 100 MB Hard disk space available for loading

Write to: info@voicecommander.com