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Voice recognition software recognizes the user's voice; whatever is dictated into the microphone will appear as an electronic, word-processed document.
Benefits
• Allows user to operate a computer by speaking to it;
• Free up cognitive working space;
• Allows dictation of text, commands;
• Eliminates handwriting, spelling problems;
• Always spells correctly (doesn't always recognize words correctly);
Potential Drawbacks
• Requires large amounts of memory to store voice files;
• Difficult to use in classroom settings, due to noise interference;
• Requires each user to train software to recognize voice, hard for poor decoders;
• Makes errors, can be frustrating without adequate support;
• Assists with one stage of the writing process, not a solution to the writing problem.
About Voice Recognition
Traditionally, many students with learning disabilities have depended on parents, teachers, instructors, or friends to transcribe their papers as they dictate. While this has been an effective writing strategy, there are some severe drawbacks to this type of dictation. First, it makes the student with a learning disability dependent on another person. Secondly, it is difficult for the writer to have a sense of the flow of the writing without having the draft to read and reread as each sentence develops. (MacArthur, 1998).
Voice recognition software allows students to speak into their computers, which turn their oral language into text. With the advances of voice recognition technology, students with learning disabilities are now able to become more independent as writers, readers, and learners. Today, voice recognition products employ continuous speech, which allows the user to speak at a natural pace.
Once a significant financial investment, now voice recognition programs are more widely available, and are even included in many word-processing programs. There are various voice recognition programs available; for optimal performance all require a computer with a significant amount of memory (hardware), processor speed, the speech recognition software, a headset/microphone, and a superior interface connecting to the sound system.
The obvious advantage of voice recognition technology for students with learning disabilities, who have difficulty expressing themselves in writing, is that it circumvents the transcription process entirely. However, it is by no means a panacea for writing difficulties. As with all technology, voice recognition technology is most effective when combined with direct skills instruction in punctuation, sentence skills, and paragraphing.
The Good News & Bad News Concerning Voice Recognition Software
The Good News: Students don't have to use a keyboard to input information.
The Bad News: The software has to be trained to recognize the user's voice. This is accomplished by reading passages provided by the program.
The Good News: The software learns to recognize a student's unique speech patterns.
The Bad News: Users have to speak distinctly in order for the software to work well. If the student has non-standard speech, tends to run words together, or mumble, the training process may be long. Some punctuation must be dictated.
The Good News: The software spells every word correctly.
The Bad News: The software spells every word it recognizes correctly. Typically, it recognizes 5-20% words incorrectly. It cannot recognize homonyms.
The Good News: Students can write as quickly as they speak, 100+ words per minute.
The Bad News: While users may talk that fast, what they produce will probably be disorganized and grammatically incorrect.
The Good News: Students can produce a large amount of writing, which they can then edit.
The Bad News: Users have to edit.
The Good News: Students can write papers without being held back by spelling or keyboarding problems.
The Bad News: Users can easily get words written down, but there is much more involved in writing a paper than just putting down words.
The Good News: The software will read back to students what they have written, helping with proofreading.
The Good News: Voice recognition software use is expanding rapidly. Both Windows and Macintosh operating systems have voice recognition built in.
The Bad News: Voice recognition uses a lot of memory. The software has specific hardware requirements.
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