RSI and Voice Recognition

Voice recognition systems are one way to reduce the strain on your hands. The chairman in my employment tribunal, when I had lost a job because of RSI, claimed that if voice recognition for programming is that good, everyone would be using it. It is, in fact, already workable (see my voice links page), and I am working on improving it. the main drawbacks for voice recognition at the moment seem to be:

• need for training (both of computer and of user) -- probably perceived as a bigger problem than it really is
• need to put headset on and position microphone accurately, thus making use less casual -- although now array microphones are available, which mimic the effect of a microphone following your mouth round
• recognition error rate (some of my current work is on making the command recognition more tolerant and adaptive, thus circumventing this problem while we wait for the underlying systems to improve)
• opinions vary as to whether VR use in a shared room is a problem

John C. G. Sturdy

Last modified: Sun Nov 12 22:21:40 GMT Standard Time 2006