Speech Recognition The world of information technology is constantly making improvements and advancements. Throughout the past decade or so, we have experienced a whole new realm of technology, much of which was never even deemed imaginable. We have seen the development and continuous improvements in smart phones, whether its Wi-Fi connections, 3G, or even 4G. We have seen the enhancement in computer software and operating systems such as the new OS X Lion developed by Apple. While these extraordinary advancements have left many people wondering what is next, I believe the answer and next “big thing” will be the perfection of speech recognition. Speech recognition, also know as voice recognition or voice command, is a type of software which recognizes spoken words by the user and can interpret these words into a command. This is essentially a computer with though processing ability. However, this piece of technology has never been very efficient and in many of cases, has been avoided. It is often difficult for a user to speak slowly and clear enough for the system to recognize what is being said, causing frustration and a waste of time. It is also difficult for the software to recognize the wide array of accents which people have. According to a speech recognition research company called Type Well, speech recognition is only about 60% accurate. This shows that the development of an efficient and usable speech recognition product is still a few years away. Although the perfection of speech recognition software is yet to be seen, there is hope and many expectations for this to become very applicable for every day use. Speech recognition software can improve and make millions of lives easier by doing a being complete a few basic tasks. The most needed feature for future speech recognition products should be a speech to text command. According to EmergingTechnologies.com, “Speech to text software is perfect for anyone who wants to multitask. It makes it simple to dictate notes or documents verbally to the program that then turns those spoken words into written text” (“Emerging Technologies”). Not only could this be effective for mobile text messages, it would also be highly beneficial in the office or school setting when needing to type a report or memo. In order to do this the user would simply speak to the computer or phone and it would process the words on the screen just as in typing. This could also be ground-breaking in the world of automobiles because drivers who would normally text and risk their lives could now speak to their phones to accurately send a text message without ever losing sight of the road. Finally, according to Miss Ronda Field “it allows students with physical impairments, fine motor difficulties or visual impairments to generate text without the need for handwriting” (Field). Information technology is continuously changing for the betterment and increased efficiency of our society. Researchers work non-stop to find a better product to make our lives easier each and every day. With that said, speech recognition software can be and most likely will be a product that leads to an easier lifestyle. As Bill Gates said, referring to the future of speech recognition tecnology, “There are some things that we are always thinking about. For example, when will speech recognition be good enough for everybody to use that? And we have made a lot more progress this year on that. I think we will surprise people a bit on how well we will do on our speech recognition” (“BillGatesmicrosoft.com”).

References:

"Speech Recognition." Type Well. N.p., 2009. Web. .

Field, Ronda. "Speech/Text Software." Miss Fields Eduportal. Ronda Field, 2009. Web. .

"The Business Benefits of Speech Technology and Voice Recognition Technology." Emerging Technology. Emerging Technologies, 04 007 2009. Web. .

"Bill Gates Quotes." BillGatesmicrosoft.com. N.p., n.d. Web. .