Speech Recognition: The Writing Magic Bullet?

This is part of a series of blogs our Director, Alan Knue, has composed to help people increase their reading and writing efficiency

Wanting to try speech recognition software is a popular request from students at our AT Demonstration and Lending Library. These software programs have come a long way from when they were first introduced in the 1980s. The recognition accuracy has significantly increased and at the same time, the amount of time and effort to train a speech recognition program for a specific user has decreased. But there are considerations to be made if you believe speech recognition is for you.

Once a voice file has been created- the student needs a good quality microphone and your computer needs to be sufficiently powerful to run both the speech recognition program and word processor simultaneously. But a student should be aware that every word that is recognized is correctly spelled. However, a correctly spelled word does not mean the correct word choice. The student needs to be able to detect and make corrections. This is where reading with text-to-speech (TTS) comes in. A student can listen for the words and make the correction by voice in some programs (preferred since this improves recognition over time) or by using the mouse and keyboard. Additionally, some programs can play back a recording of your dictation so the student can actually hear what they said.

If hands free computer control and navigation is your goal, some dictation programs can make this a reality but with a lot of training and technical assistance from qualified professionals. The cognitive load is very high since making corrections would involve learning and remembering a large number of verbal commands. However, using a speech recognition program to be totally hands free isn’t always important or necessary for everyone. 

Besides the popular, reliable, and powerful DragonNaturallySpeaking and the new Dragon Dictate for Mac, all Microsoft Windows operating systems since Vista have very good speech recognition built into the Ease of Access. This built-in option has less navigation controls and a smaller vocabulary than a stand alone program. However, is a good option for many users and has the benefit of being free. 

Finally, SpeakQ is a speech recognition add-on to WordQ that is specifically targeted at students who have difficulty with writing. It is especially useful for students who cannot fluently dictate at a natural speaking rate, remember verbal commands, and/or get through the initial training. It is not meant to be a full feature speech recognition tool as it lacks navigation and editing commands. However, it works seamlessly with WordQ’s word prediction, combining the benefits of both of these features, and is especially useful in picking the correct homophone.

If you are interested in speech recognition, contact our ATSpecialist for a demonstration of the available options.

Web Accessibility Tip: Large Clickable Targets

Some mouse users have may have difficulty with fine motor control, so it is important that clickable targets be sufficiently large. Radio buttons and checkboxes should include properly-associated labels (using the element). Small icons or text, such as previous/next arrows or superscript links for footnotes, should be sufficiently large or combined with adjacent text into a single link.

Web Accessibility Tip: Voice Control Software and Image Alternative Text

To activate links on a page, users of voice control software, such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking, speak the visible link text. When an image is linked, the alternative text of that image can be spoken to activate that link. When an image presents graphical text, the alternative text of the image should match the visible text to ensure voice control software users can easily activate that link.

Last Minute AT Holiday Gift Ideas

Iris 9000 Voice Control Unit 

Looking for last minute ideas for the holiday season? Check out WATAP's past webinars including the AT Holiday Gift Buying Guide for lots of cool ideas for people with varying abilities and varying interests. Great AT accessory ideas as well as products for everything from gardening to gaming to modifying your home environment. Get simple, low cost, low tech ideas or explore ideas for the techies in your life.  

Happy Holidays from WATAP!

Web Accessibility Wednesday: Skip Link

This is part of a continuing series of web accessibility tips for IT personnel, web managers and web development groups. These tips can be used to review current website accessibility and to utilize in developing new websites with the hope of improving web accessibility for everyone.

"Skip to main content" or "skip navigation" links provide a mechanism for keyboard users to jump over repetitive navigation directly to the main content of a page. These links must be one of the first links on a page and must be visually apparent in order to provide quick access to the main content for keyboard users, including screen reader users. They can be intrusive to visual design. However, because "skip" links are really only useful to keyboard users, they can be
ATAP Web Accessibility Tips Page 11
hidden from view until they receive keyboard focus, at which point they are presented visually and prevalently within the page - thus maintaining high utility to both sighted and blind keyboard users, but having no impact on other users - they probably won't even know that the link exists.
Read more about hiding "skip" links visually.

Webinar: A Holiday Assistive Technology Buying Guide

Join the Washington Assistive Technology Act Program (WATAP) and the Washington Access Fund for a free webinar on AT gifts on November 17th! Learn about adaptive gizmos, gadgets and practical ideas that make great gifts for people of all ages this holiday season. We will be going over both low-tech, less expensive devices to more high-tech and expensive gadgets. The webinar will include a range of mainstream devices (items that may not be specifically designed as AT) and others will be actual AT products. WATAP's AT Specialists will explore devices for people with a range of functional needs and abilities that will make great small gift ideas to fabulously wrapped presents with a bow. Please join us on November 17th, from 10:00am-11:15am for a gift guide webinar on assistive technology. To register for this free webinar, please send an email to Leann at leann@washingtonaccessfund.org, or by phone at (206) 328-5116 or TTY (888) 494-4775.

Web Accessibility Wednesday: Keyboard Accessibility

This is part of a continuing series of web accessibility tips for IT personnel, web managers and web development groups. These tips can be used to review current website accessibility and to utilize in developing new websites with the hope of improving web accessibility for everyone.

Ensuring that your web page is fully accessible using only the keyboard is a vital component of web accessibility. All interactive elements, including links, buttons, form fields, media controls, etc. should be accessible using only the keyboard. Use the Tab key to navigate through page elements. Shift + Tab will navigate backward. The Enter key will typically activate links, buttons, etc. The navigation order of interactive elements should be logical and intuitive. It should generally follow the visual presentation order (left to right, top to bottom). Particular care should be taken to ensure that forms can be completed and submitted using only the keyboard. If you must press the Tab key a significant number of times to interact with a page, consider adding a "Skip to main content" or "skip navigation" link.

Web Accessibility Wednesday: WCAG 2.0

This is part of a continuing series of web accessibility tips for IT personnel, web managers and web development groups. These tips can be used to review current website accessibility and to utilize in developing new websites with the hope of improving web accessibility for everyone.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 is a W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) specification for measuring web accessibility. WCAG 2.0 is based upon four core principles - perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust; or as an acronym - POUR. Ensuring POUR content across disabilities will ensure highly accessible web content. These guidelines are most useful as tools for implementing and evaluating accessibility, but true accessibility is determined by the end user experience, not by compliance to a set of rules. Level AA conformance with WCAG 2.0 is a common standard measure of good accessibility.

Audio Note Taking: Pulse Smartpen

The Livescribe Pulse Smartpen is a helpful tool for anyone. It is a note capturing device that conbines the use of a pen with a built-in digital recorder and special dot matrix paper. It can make taking notes, making a list, or planning an essay much easier. The Smartpen records what you or anyone else says while you are writing.

I found this pen very useful when taking notes for a lecture. I always have a hard time writing down everything my professors say because they can talk faster than I can write. When using the Smartpen I am able to just write key words or sentences and later listen to that key point by just tapping the word on the matrix paper with the pen. It also helps with class participation to be able to follow the lecture instead of focusing on capturing everything that was said by hand.

This pen would be helpful for individuals who don’t write fast or write legibly. Individuals who have difficulty with spelling or just want to be able to connect what was actually said at the time the note was written will also find it to be a helpful tool. The Pulse Smartpen could also be used as a memory aid by using audio recording with written cues. If someone cannot remember what a written note was regarding they can listen to the recorded audio to trigger their memory. Your notes and audio can also be uploaded to your computer so you can save and replay them as often as you need. The Smartpen is Mac and PC compatible.

If you're a Washington resident interested in borrowing the Pulse Smartpen to try at school, work or home, visit the WATAP Assistive Technology Lending Library.

Written by Julia Ladner

Web Accessibility Wednesday: Assistive Technology

This is part of a continuing series of web accessibility tips for IT personnel, web managers and web development groups. These tips can be used to review current website accessibility and to utilize in developing new websites with the hope of improving web accessibility for everyone.
Assistive Technologies, or AT, are technologies that help one overcome some physical issue or limitation so they can function in ways they otherwise would be unable to. AT includes both software and hardware. It can range from screen readers which convey information audibly to those who have visual or cognitive disabilities, to captions for the Deaf or hard-of-hearing, to refreshable Braille devices which present content to those who are deaf-blind, to screen enlargers for those with low vision, to physical devices to assist those with varying levels and types of motor function. For a web site to be accessible, it must be compatible with varying assistive technologies.

Web Accessibility Wednesday: Considering Various Disabilities

We will be posting a continuing series of web accessibility tips that IT personnel, web managers and web development groups can use in reviewing current website accessibility and in developing new websites. These tips were developed in partnership between the Association of Tech Act Programs (ATAP) and WebAIM with the hope of improving web accessibility for everyone.

Web accessibility is about reaching the broadest range of users regardless of age or disability. A web site can always be made more accessible, and thus, will always be inaccessible to someone. Guidelines, policies, and laws provide measures of accessibility that can be useful in establishing goals and in evaluating accessibility. Viewing web accessibility as a continuum on which improvement can always be made will help ensure that accessibility is continually improving and that it is about people, not merely compliance with law or guidelines.

Web accessibility affects the following disability categories
 Visual disabilities - blindness, low vision, and color-blindness
 Auditory disabilities - deafness and hard-of-hearing
 Motor disabilities - difficulty using a mouse or keyboard
 Cognitive or learning disabilities
 Photo-sensitive epilepsy

While care should be taken when grouping anyone into a category, when approaching web accessibility issues, it's often useful to consider the distinct needs of users with each of these types of disabilities.

Smartphone Accessibility Comparison

Join us on Wednesday, June 8th from 10:30am-12:00pm for a consumer focused webinar on selecting a smartphone! This webinar will focus on the increasing accessibility of smartphone technologies, specifically the built-in accessibility features and some readily available apps that make using a smartphone accessible. Register today.

Fastest “Hands Free” Typist

Hank Torres, a C4-5 quad, challenged the rest of the world last month as the fastest hands free typist. Using SWYPE on-screen keyboard, Sip-N-Puff mouth switch, and TrackerPro head mouse, Hank demonstrated his mad keyboarding skillz to the folks at Guinness World Records and officially set the record as the fastest hands free typist. No small feat, considering the phrase he was required to compose. Congratulations to Hank for showing us how it’s done!

Hands-free Bluetooth

For many of us, a Bluetooth headset provides additional freedom and hands-free convenience when using a cell phone. However for anyone with an upper extremity motor impairment, it can be difficult or sometimes impossible to access the small button to activate a standard Bluetooth headset.

One product that I recently tried with a client with limited upper extremity function is the NoButtonsHeadset.

The NoButtonsHeadset is a Voice Command Bluetooth headset that is designed to make and receive cell phone calls without having to push buttons. The user activates the headset by tilting their head near a magnet that is mounted on a flexible rod. The flexible rod can be mounted on a wheelchair. The user has to hold the headset near the magnet for a few seconds to activate it. Once it is activated the user will hear voice commands that will prompt them to make a call.

The client I worked with had some challenges with locating the magnet to activate the headset. Since he was not a wheelchair user, finding a functional location to mount the magnet was challenging and affected access to the magnet. Activating the headset also required some practice but after a few attempts the client was able to activate the headset independently.

This client chose to look at other hands-free options since he did not have a permanent location to mount the magnet. However, for consumers who are wheelchair users and are looking for a hands-free cell phone option, the NoButtonsHeadset would be a good product to try. Keep in mind that you should have a good mounting location for the magnet so the user can easily reach it once the headset is on the ear. Also, an individual with limited head/neck control would most likely find it challenging to use this device.

Maria Kelley, OTR/L, Senior Assistive Technology Specialist