Applications of Speech Recognition

The specific use of speech recognition technology will depend on the application. Some target applications that are good candidates for integrating speech recognition include:

Games and Edutainment

Speech recognition offers game and edutainment developers the potential to bring their applications to a new level of play. With games, for example, traditional computer-based characters could evolve into characters that the user can actually talk to.
While speech recognition enhances the realism and fun in many computer games, it also provides a useful alternative to keyboard-based control, and voice commands provide new freedom for the user in any sort of application, from entertainment to office productivity.

Data Entry

Applications that require users to keyboard paper-based data into the computer (such as database front-ends and spreadsheets) are good candidates for a speech recognition application. Reading data directly to the computer is much easier for most users and can significantly speed up data entry.
While speech recognition technology cannot effectively be used to enter names, it can enter numbers or items selected from a small (less than 100 items) list. Some recognizers can even handle spelling fairly well. If an application has fields with mutually exclusive data types (for example, one field allows "male" or "female", another is for age, and a third is for city), the speech recognition engine can process the command and automatically determine which field to fill in.

Document Editing

This is a scenario in which one or both modes of speech recognition could be used to dramatically improve productivity. Dictation would allow users to dictate entire documents without typing. Command and control would allow users to modify formatting or change views without using the mouse or keyboard. For example, a word processor might provide commands like "bold", "italic", "change to Times New Roman font", "use bullet list text style," and "use 18 point type." A paint package might have "select eraser" or "choose a wider brush."

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