Speech input is a technology which allows a spoken voice to input information into systems (Unuth, 2014).

The voice recognition feature in Microsoft Windows 8, is one of the best available for navigating Windows and dictating in to a word document. This can be used with the built-in voice output screen reader Narrator.  Apple Mac’s dictation function is called Mountain Lion with the built-in voice output screen reader VoiceOver. Voice input is also increasingly used on mobile devices such as, Google Now on Android or Siri on iOS (iPhone, iPod touch or iPad). See customising mainstream technologies for more information.

Other speech input devices:

The Livescribe Smartpen: seems to have replaced the dictaphone as a tool for recording information. The Livescribe Smartpen looks like an everyday ballpoint pen. It includes a microphone, speaker and internal flash memory to record, store and convert audio recordings to digital format (Netherby, 2011) to be stored or emailed to others (Livescribe, 2014). The Smartpen is “inexpensive, user friendly and portable” (Samuel, 2014, p. 1).

 

 

Dragon Dictate : Specialised products such as Dragon Dictate, Winscribe and Salmat speech can also be purchased to works both on Windows and Mac computers.  A technology assessment is useful to check which product will best suit your client.

 

 

 

References: 

Livescribe. (2014). What is Livescribe paper and how does it work. from https://www.smartpen.com.au/livescribe/help/faq/what-livescribe-paper-and-how-does-it-work

Netherby, J. (2011). The pen that’s smarter than the pen: you’ve heard of smartphones–now smartpens are taking a familiar classroom tool into the digital age. Technological Horizons In Education, 10, 16.

Samuel, T. (2014). Survival 101. Distance Learning, 11(2), 7-10.

Unuth, N. (2014). What is Speech Recognition? Using Your Voice as Input Method. Retreived from http://voip.about.com/od/voipbasics/a/What-Is-Speech-Recognition.htm