Designing Effective Speech Interfaces

Universal Access

Speech technology provides many people access to information or use of computers who may otherwise have little or no access. Using text-to-speech software, people who are visually impaired or have reading problems can have their computer screen or Web page read to them. People who cannot effectively use a keyboard and/or pointing device, such as a mouse, can use commands to control the computer. For example, a woman working for a corporate information services department developed carpal tunnel syndrome that left her hands irreparably damaged. Not wanting to accept disability status, she convinced her employer to allow her to use voice recognition software to perform her work. She has continued working in her position, spending several hours a day at the computer creating training materials and wordprocessing. Universal access is covered in more detail in Chapter 12.

Using text-to-speech software, people who are visually impaired or have reading problems can have their computer screen or Web page read to them.