Voice control of the computer

For quite a long time, the development of programs has been under way, which, according to the idea of their creators, should implement voice control of the computer. But, unfortunately the armies of potential users, including a significant number of people with disabilities, progress in this matter is not moving as fast as they would like.

Nevertheless, the work is underway, new ideas and programs are constantly emerging. I'd like to talk about two programs realizing real computer voice control in this article.

The first program is called "Vocal Joystick", which can be translated into Russian roughly as "Voice joystick". The second one is called "Gorynych Pro".

Let's start with "Gorynycha", since this is an older package with a long "pedigree", it was preceded by the American program "Dragon dictate", from which Russian developers took the core of recognition and added a module with support for the Russian language.

This product is able to perform voice recognition in text for various programs, and in English and in Russian, it gives voice control to equipment that is connected to a computer. After setting up the program, you will be able to "wield" some of the standard actions of the Microsoft Windows operating system, get control over text editors and other software. And also "Gorynych" makes it possible to control the computer voice.

When typing, the speed of dialing varies from 500 to 700 characters per minute, it should be noted that such values are almost limit with the blind method of dialing. So, having mastered this method, you can significantly improve your printing speed.

From the American-Russian product, it's time to move on to a purely American development, the Vocal Joystic package. In the development of this software, which implements convenient computer voice control, students and teachers of the electrical engineering department of Washington University took part.

Unlike the "Gorynych", the goal of the creators of this program was a noble task to enable disabled people with various bodily handicaps to manage the computer.

If a person does not have hands, then his ability to interact with a normal PC is zero. Quite a different situation, if the program "Voices Joystick" is installed on the computer of the disabled person. This package is able to recognize about a hundred sounds of human voice per second with an instant output to the screen of the monitor of the recognized phrase. If there is a need to move the cursor, 8 different vowel sounds will help to move it in the appropriate directions, and the speed of movement is controlled by the volume of the voice. The sounds "Ч" and "К" are simulated by clicking the mouse button.

The developers have created several different versions of the program, each of which is designed for their tasks. So, there is a modification for games, web browsing and other entertainment. And there is a special release for controlling the robotic arm with the help of a voice. According to the creators of the program, with the help of such software people with disabilities (including those who do not have hands) will be able to manage the wheelchair in the future.

The huge advantage of voice control of a computer is that unlike a variety of eye tracking systems , head rotations or both, the software does not require expensive devices to "guess" the user's desires, all that You need is a computer with an installed copy of the program, a microphone and the voice of the person controlling the operation of the device.

It is interesting that with the help of this software you can not only play games, but even draw, as for example the artist Philip Chavez does. For more than 30 years, he was bedridden because of his spinal injury, but thanks to the development of American students, he was able to take up the "brush" again.