Research Technology Blog (Row 1: Victoria, Tracey, Neal, Dan, Dave)

Handwriting Recognition using Tablet PCs
Tracey Anderson

If your Tablet PC doesn't have a foldout keyboard or you are nowhere near a place to plug a keyboard into your Tablet PC then the handwriting recognition software is perfect for you. The handwriting recognition program allows you to write things down using your stylus pen and then convert your writing into text on the Tablet PC.

Personally I don't think that this is going to last very long. Most people prefer the keyboard over the pen. Typing has become the fastest method of writing for most people in this day and age and with a program like writing things down on a computer when it could easily be typed will soon be gone in the world of technology. The handheld Tablet PCs will all soon be made with a foldout keyboard and the program will no longer be needed in the Tablet PC.

Speech Recognition Software
Victoria Sousa

As technology becomes more and more advanced, the desire to make even the simplest of tasks easier will become more and more widespread. Speech recognition software is currently being used more and more often in the field of healthcare. As time progresses and Speech Recognition Software becomes more advanced and accessible to the common individual it can be applied in any field imaginable. In recent years, Speech Recognition Software is being used in college lecture halls across the country as well as in Canada.

The advancement of speech recognition technology is currently being used to create equal learning environments where all students have access to all information. The Atlantic Centre of Research, Access, and Support for Students with Disabilities at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada has been meeting the needs of students with disabilities since 1985.

In the fall of 1998, three Saint Mary's professors used speech recognition software in their classrooms for one semester. The instructors developed a personalized voice profile by "teaching" speech recognition software to understand his or her speech.

Once the training process was complete, the professors moved to the classroom wearing wireless microphones that transmitted to a computer system running speech recognition software. This custom software first converts spoken lectures into text, and then displayed the text on a large screen at the front of the classroom. Students could not only hear
the lecture, but also see
the lecture as it is being delivered. More importantly, after the lecture, software-generated notes were created in a variety of formats.

This form of teaching (and learning) is especially useful for those students with lack of or limited use of their hands. Upon the conclusion of the lecture they can receive personal software generated notes available to them in a variety of different formats. I think that type of technology will be very useful in the future as technology progresses and the need and desire for equality in the classroom grows.

Speech Recognition Software

Neal Anderson

Technology in this day and age is becoming more and more advanced and complex every day. Speech Recognition Software is just one of the few new technologies available today. Speech recognition covers a wide range of topics including, voice dialing, call routing, simple data entry, speech-to-text- processing, and aircraft cockpits. The thought of speech recognition has been around a lot longer than most people think. The Alexander Graham Bell came up with the first development of speech recognition more than 50 years before the computer was thought of. He came up with the idea because he wanted a way to communicate with his deaf wife. His plan was to create a device that would transform words that he spoke onto a screen that his wife could read. Although it didn't end up working the way he wanted, through his research he was able to invent the telephone which he now famous for. We are already able to speak to our computers and tell them what to do, scientists believe that in 25 years our computers may be able to talk back to us.

Speech Recognition Software

Dan Moxley

Speech recognition is starting to be used in the classrooms to investigate the student's ability to understand speech in classroom and other social situations. Speech recognition is an extremely useful tool. It's a type of software that takes spoken words and converts it to machine-readable input. Now this type of software is being used to help children learn in the classrooms. People want to use this type of software in schools because children have been struggling to learn how to understand and interpret spoken words in school because of all the noise around them. Since most learning in school involves listening of some sort, this could really damage a child's education if not addressed early on. With speech recognition, scientists plan to understand how certain noise levels affect a child's hearing, how children's ability to understand speech varies, and to assess teachers' voice quality and attempt to relate the data to acoustical measurements of the room. . After scientists have gathered their results they should be able to find a way to help or even solve the problem and make learning much easier for children in classrooms.

 

Speech Recognition Software

David Trauterman

The technology that transfers a voice to text or enhances the volume of a voice can be identified as speech recognition software. This technology is used in many different types of fields like in schools, in the military, in colleges, and many other places. Have you ever called someone through the voice command? Well that is a form of this voice recognition software. You are saying some ones name and the phone is recognizing it and automatically dialing the number. If you are a teacher and you have a taken a college course you maybe have been in a class with stadium seating. It is near impossible to hear the teacher if you are sitting all the way in the back. So this technology can help everyone. This system can also help those that are deaf. The person who is capable of talking and hearing could say what they wanted to say and have a machine receive the message and have it displayed as text for the person who is deaf. As we continue to advance with this technology the limits can't really be foreseen.

Felicia, Sarah and Makayla here.

We did our reports on two different things. Felicia and I, Sarah, did the speech recognition and Makayla did hers on handwriting recognition in PDA's.

Sarah - I learned that speech recognition can actually be used in different classroom situations. I had no idea that there were ESL classrooms (English as a Second Language) that were using this. Once I read it though, it made sense. I think that is an awesome way for people to learn English. One other way I think that it could be used, although I didn't find an article on it, is people with speech impediments. They could use speech recognition software to teach themselves to speak properly.

Felicia – I learned that teachers can use the speech recognition software to help the deaf, blind and heard of hearing and seeing learn the things that wouldn't be able to. The blind and hard of seeing can't see so they can't take notes. So this program as the teacher is talking, will take notes and they can use these to study from with the help of a parent. With the deaf or hard of hearing students, teachers will be able to help them understand more than just having them read their lips and they will also be learning more English with the words they would normally miss when they read lips.

Makayla- I learned that PDA Handwriting recognition could be helpful but I think that it also might slow things down. I believe that eventually someone will come up with an improved version. Then I think that people will definitely use it more in the classroom. One way to make beaming as quickly as possible right now is to use the binary tree concept which is explained in my report. It can be used in English as well as math with spreadsheet applications. It's kind of interesting and I would like to see more of it used perhaps if it is developed more.

Speech recognition software

What I learned today about speech recognition software is basically everything. I never knew anything about the software before today. I learned that you control
your computer by your voice. For example when you talk it will turn what you are saying into text. Windows vista has the most powerful speech recognition system available; I also learned that schools use it for students that have trouble composing sentences and students who have physical disabilities. SO today I really learned about this software and think it will come in handy in the future.

Speech Recognition Software

Savannah, Breanne, Rebecca, and Robin

We think that it is really cool the way the software works. It's a great idea to just be able to say something and then have the computer know what you are talking about. It might take a long time for the computer to understand you but in the end it will be worth it. We think that the software could be used for other ways other than people who have disabilities. Another way the software could be used is for people who have a hard time writing their thoughts down. They can just speak into the computer and it will type everything for you. It saves a lot of time and it is less stressful. We think the software is good because it makes using the computer easier to use. A good example of that is for older people. A lot of older people do not really understand how to use a computer or know where everything on the computer is. They could figure it out by simply saying the command instead of looking for a button. Another good reason is in colleges, you could set up the program and when the professor is talking, and your computer will be typing everything the professor is saying. In conclusion we all agree that the software is convenient to have and it can be used in many ways.

Speech Recognition Software

My thoughts on this topic would be that having this is a great thing to have. It would be helpful for those who have difficulty typing or can't type at all. I believe in the near future that all computers will be like this soon. It would be something worth having if I could get it I would just to try it out because you know as well as I do that I make a lot of mistakes on essays, assignments, etc. Having this program to type it out for you and correctly and all would be a great asset and very easy unless you can't talk. I think this is a great thing to have and it should be used more often in the future before we all know it we will no longer have need the use of keyboards.

Mike Williams