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CONTENTS

Section 1:
Introduction

Section 2:
Strategies

Section 3:
The Law

Section 4:
Rights and Responsibilities

Section 5: Code
of Practice

Section 6:
Who can Assist?

Appendix A:
Examples

Appendix B: Appropriate
Language and Behaviour

Appendix C:
Fact Sheets

Bibliography

References

Tasmanian Organisations

Acknowledge-
ments

 

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This Fact Sheet is available in PDF Format. To Access and download this version click here.

 

Brief Description:

Voice Recognition systems enable you to speak to a computer and have your words appear on the screen, or, in some instances, your operating commands enacted.

Who can it assist?

  • students who have limited use of a hand or arm
  • students who have an overuse injury
    •
  • students with learning disability

Inclusive Teaching Practice

Considerations:

  • It is important to realise that, as is the case with most technological advances, they are not always the answer to everything.
  • This software takes an extensive amount of time and patience to "train" as it must learn to recognise its user’s voice and the specific language used.
  • It takes additional time to learn how to dictate to a computer rather than to type as it is necessary to construct the sentence in your mind before saying it to avoid any "ums" that will be picked up as words by the system.
  • 100% recognition accuracy is difficult to achieve.
  • Even the most experienced users may find some tasks difficult.
  • If the student’s voice quality is affected (eg. due to illness or tiredness) the accuracy of the system deteriorates along with the voice.
  • The software may not be suitable for the task required (eg. the software may not be able to efficiently recognise some language, for example, chemistry formulas)

Students who use voice recognition software:

  • will need access to a high powered personal computer
  • will require additional space at any work station including examination/assessment facilities
  • will need access to power points for the equipment.

You can assist your student by:

  • Where necessary, allowing additional time to complete tasks, assignments and assessments or give notice of assignments earlier.
  • Allowing time for breaks as students using voice recognition software will find it extremely demanding on their concentration and they will become physically tired.
  • Checking the limitations of the software before assuming that your student will be able to successfully use a voice recognition program to complete a task/assignment.
  • Not expecting total efficiency - the development of this software is "cutting edge" technology and, although improving at a rapid pace, "bugs" in systems and limitations do exist.
  • Considering your teaching environment. There is an additional noise factor related to the use of voice recognition systems which may affect other students in open plan teaching or examination environments. Most importantly for the student is the need for a quiet space in which to operate their system as background noise will detrimentally affect the ability of the program to recognise it’s users voice.

Inclusive Technology

  • System capabilities differ widely from program to program but with many products it is now possible to not only dictate text to the computer but also to completely operate associated software such as spreadsheets, Web browsers and e-mail, by voice.
    •
  • Voice recognition systems enable students who experience difficulties with writing and accessing a traditional computer keyboard the opportunity to dictate material directly to the computer.
  • Product research in this area is rapidly evolving. A range of software is available an example of which is:

Dragon NaturallySpeaking™

  • Dragon NaturallySpeaking is an IBM compatible voice recognition program. It is a reasonably simple word processor with the difference that it can be largely controlled using only the voice. NaturallySpeaking is a continuous-speech dictation system, meaning that it can interpret words spoken at a normal conversational pace (i.e., without pauses between words).
  • With Dragon NaturallySpeaking, users no longer need to type text into a computer. Users simply talk in a natural manner and pace. The spoken words immediately appear on the screen with every word spelled correctly. The text editing and formatting capabilities allow users to bold, italicise, change the font, etc. by voice commands.

 

Further information and assistance can be obtained from:

Disability Advisers/Disability Liaison Officers (See Fact Sheets in section 6 for contact details)

ACCESS & Equity Project of Northern Group Training Ph. 6334 2266

Independent Living Centre Tasmania Ph. 6334 5899

Useful information and links can be found at the following website:

Technical Access Liaison Group (TALG)
http://ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au/~heyes/talg.html

Useful reference:

University of Tasmania Student Services;
"Handy Hints for Using Dragon NaturallySpeaking", University of Tasmania, 1998.

 

Introduction | Strategies for Inclusive Practice | What The Law Says | Legislative Requirements | Rights and Responsibilities | Code of Practice | Who Can Assist? | Examples of Inclusive Practice | Appropriate Language and Behaviour | Index to Fact Sheet Series | Bibliography | Recommended References | Tasmanian Organisations | Acknowledgements