[senit] Voice recognition

Chris

Hi Ira
It's interesting to see that you have a somewhat different experience with
the versions of VR than most people over here. I wonder if these differences
may be due, at least in part, to the different pronunciation of sounds/words
on either side of the Atlantic? We use 'British' versions of the software,
which are different from the original US versions. I can recall purchasing
an early version of Via Voice in America and having GREAT difficulty
training it to my voice despite much time and effort. I found that when it
utterly refused to produce a sensible result, all I needed to do was to say
the words in my best attempt at an American accent - and it wrote sense!
Presumably the software is originally written for an 'American voice' and
then adapted to take account of the different stress, pronunciation of
sounds in Britain. How well the software is 'adapted' might account for the
differences in our success with the software......

Regards
Ann McDevitt 

-----Original Message-----
From: senit-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senit-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of Ira David Socol
Sent: 13 September 2006 14:57
To: senit at lists.becta.org.uk
Subject: Re: [senit] Voice recognition

I have had very good success with ViaVoice (on both Macs and PCs - on PCs 
the "Pro-USB" edition) with children as young as third grade. I have also 
had good luck with SpeakQ, and I'm currently having a great time with the 
Beta version of Windows Vista - which has a great voice-to-text engine built

in. I've had much less success below adulthood with any Dragon product - not

sure why, although the voice training seems harder and less forgiving. 

Of course this does not work well in the classroom, except maybe with use of

that World War pilot-style "Voice Sylencer" microphone - 
http://speedchange.blogspot.com/2006/03/csun-2006speech-recognition_23.html
 - which would embarrass most kids. 

The key is training, put the training on an iPod (or just a cassette) or 
whisper each line so they can repeat it - eliminating the need to read 
component. This is easier in ViaVoice than Dragon just because of the design

of the interface, and un-needed in SpeakQ where the software reads it to the

person whose voice is being trained. 

Anyway. This has been great for a lot of children. I find that it seems to 
improve reading as well, since students learn sightword recognition rapidly 
when they are speaking and seeing the words appear on the screen. 

Last thought. Yes, especially among secondary students there are pushy 
parents more interested in this (especially in Dragon because it costs so 
much) than their children. But this can sometimes get leveraged to your 
advantage - if you build the right connection with the child. 

Ira Socol
Special Education Technology Scholar
CEPSE
College of Education
Michigan State University 

Mitchell, Dave (ChS, LBSS) writes: 

> Chris 
> 
> I would say the technology works.... but not in class... 
> 
> ...  with ongoing support from adults who understand what is required....
by students who can take substantial responsibility for setting up their PC
each time they want to use it (get it out of the bag, open applications, put
on headset.....) and can correct errors (or use other supportive software to
assist them..; see WWW Keystone or Clarosoft products)  .... used at home or
in sessions out of class in school ..... 
> 
> you can see I am adding lots of qualifications to my initial
assertion..... 
> 
> I have a report of a small scale study completed for BECTa some years ago
but not published using portable digital recorders with Dragon Naturally
Speaking... its a cautionary tale. want a copy? 
> 
> Dave Mitchell 
> 
> Principal Teacher
> Assistive ICt & AAC 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: senit-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
> [mailto:senit-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk]
> Sent: 13 September 2006 08:35
> To: senit at lists.becta.org.uk
> Subject: [senit] Voice recognition 
> 
> 
> I've been asked about speech recognition as a means for a student to
> 'write up their work at home'.
> Has anything happened recently to suggest that the panacea has finally
> arrived?
> I know Wrawickshire DISCS ran a project but I can't find any info on
> their site.
> Becta doesn't offer anything of note.
> Has anyone successfully used any systems with mainstream secondary aged
> pupils?
> Any suggestions please folks, eother of research to read or first hand
> experience? 
> 
> 
> Thanks
> Oh yes and is there any corelation between pushy parents who think ICT
> is THE solution and disinterested students? 
> 
> Chris 
> 
> Chris Howles
> Broadband Sandwell
> Sandwell TDC
> Popes Lane
> Oldbury
> West Midlands
> B69 4PJ
>  
> Tel: 0121 569 2400
> Fax: 0121 511 1022
> **********************************************************************