White Papers for Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

Speech recognition software can ncrease productivity

Speech recognition software uses the human voice as the main communication mechanism between the
user and the computer. While relatively simple to use, speech recognition software is sophisticated
technology that uses “language modeling” to recognize and differentiate among the millions of human
utterances that make up any language.
The software enables users to input text and data into virtually any Microsoft® Windows®-based applications by voice, as well as to navigate the computer desktop with little or no use of their hands. Users speak naturally into a noise-canceling microphone connected to the computer.2 The software “recognizes” the spoken words, converts them into text, and displays them on the screen.
Most speech recognition programs also allow users to speak a standard command that prompts the
computer to perform an action. For example, the user says, “Start WordPerfect,” and the PC launches
WordPerfect®. The more advanced speech recognition programs also enable users to create customized
commands (macros), such as “Send an e-mail to Doug Z,” which will open up their e-mail application,
with Doug Z’s address appearing in the address line.
The enrollment process is simple. After installing the software, each user must read aloud from a choice
of prepared texts for about five minutes. Based on the dictation that it captures, the software analyzes
how the user pronounces each word and stores the data to prepare a unique user profile, or “User” for that
individual.

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