Credit: Project Euphonia.
Voice assistants have a reputation for misunderstanding people with accents, stutters, or slightly slurred speech. It's even worse when the person has conditions such as Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, or ALS.
While some brands are slowly including users with non-standard speech in their speech recognition models to make their voice assistants more inclusive, Google has stepped it up a notch with Project Euphonia.
In the voice-first era, businesses know that having a distinct brand voice makes them more personable and memorable. Similarly, individuals also express themselves and channel their personality using their voice.
For Sean, who lost his voice due to throat cancer, speaking is no longer a way for him to do that. In a way, losing his voice also fizzled his sense of identity. Sure, he can use speech-to-text technology to communicate and maintain his social life, but hearing yourself sound like an ATM can dampen conversations and take a sharp dig at your self esteem.
Accessibility, Speech recognition,
The brightly lit cafe in Google's building is empty when Dmitri walks in, phone in hand. He greets the young woman patiently waiting behind the counter, who kindly returns the greeting and asks what he'd like to order. Dmitri watches her lips move soundlessly, as if she were speaking on a TV set to mute, then raises his phone and watches as her words fill the black screen in large, white text. After a pause he looks up at her and, with some difficulty, asks with a smile if he can have some tea.
Conversational design, Accessibility, Wearables
Since many of you prefer your information in writing, we've decided to convert some of our favorite episodes of our Inside VOICE podcast into bite-sized blog posts so you can scroll and skim at your own pace.
Credit: Voicipe
Using your phone or tablet to follow a recipe can be more stressful than the cooking itself. If it's a video, you'll spend half the time rushing to pause it or repeatedly replay the previous step. If it's a written recipe, well, we hope you like food smudged all over your screen.
“The world will forgive you if you can’t ride a bike, play the violin, or kick a soccer ball, but society won’t forgive you if you can’t spell, read, or write well.”
Virtual assistant, Accessibility,
One of the fastest growing audiences for virtual assistants isn't Millennials or Gen Z, as many would predict, it's actually adults aged 55 and over.
These adults are using smart speakers and virtual assistants for everything from medication management and accident prevention to keeping in touch with their families. But an intriguingly personal form of virtual assistance is now making a dent in the AI market: hearing aids.
Natural language processing, Voice technology, Accessibility
When someone says "smart speaker," most think "Alexa".
It's a reasonable association since many consider Amazon Alexa the glowing face of voice technology; a crown earned for its relentless progress in the last few years. But Google Assistant is catching up, stepping on Alexa's heels while Samsung's Bixby power-walks a few miles behind.
And Cortana? Well, Cortana is hobbling along with no real intent of running. (Let's spare Siri from the race altogether.)
But Microsoft could jump to the front with its latest voice-first innovation. One that could change how we interact with voice-enabled devices in the future—particularly in public.
"If voice is the future of computing, what about those who cannot hear or speak?"
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