March 25, 2006
Woman's disability is no distraction
The East Tennessee Technology Access Center modified Wilson's workspace to fit her needs. They replaced the computer mouse with a trackball and provided a headset for her dictation program. She uses voice recognition software for typing and laughs because it has a penchant for mistaking words for profanity.
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December 16, 2005
Down syndrome barriers falling: College opportunities expand for disabled
In the past, the educational road for students like Brown came to an abrupt halt after high school. But in recent years, young adults with developmental disabilities are finding a burst of opportunities--from Maine to Elmhurst--that once would have been unthinkable.
...Each program is different. Though the courses are demanding, they are taught differently. Less "chalk and talk," more hands-on experiences and technology, such as voice-activated computers.
"This isn't some watered-down curriculum," Johnson said. "We push our students somewhere between frustrating and challenging ... that's where true learning happens."
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December 05, 2005
Command Control
A simplified voice recognition programme that can control a computer with a few commands has been developed by US assistive technology firm RJ Cooper and Associates. 'Speak to Me' responds to frequently used commands such as 'save,' 'open,' 'copy and paste,' and users can ask to be directed to web pages. It costs $109 (around 50 pounds).
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November 11, 2005
Military Bloggers Compete to Support Wounded
In recognition of the continuing need to supply voice-activated laptops to wounded military personnel, Valour-IT has mounted a fundraising drive among major military and civilian bloggers. Representing the Air Force, Marines, Army and Navy, military and civilian bloggers with thousands of readers have raised over $40,000 in the first 5 days of a 10-day drive.
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November 09, 2005
Symposium to showcase voice-operated wheelchair
Every Tuesday morning for nine months, four UNM students have been working to make a voice-activated wheelchair a reality.
"This can really help people in the end. It can really serve a purpose later on and help somebody's life out," said Patrick Thomas, a UNM senior.
SAATI--a speech activated, all-terrain, interactive wheelchair--is one of 468 projects to be showcased at the University on Nov. 21 at the Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium.
Thomas and his team members, Chris Martinez, J.P. Sena and Leanne Storey, have been working on the prototype for their senior design class, which is a two-semester course in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. The wheelchair is operated with a microphone and speaker that recognizes distinct commands from the user, Martinez said.
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November 06, 2005
BBC launches website for disabled
The BBC, working with computing and disability charity Ability Net, has launched a site designed to help people with disabilities get the most out of the World Wide Web.
My Web, My Way is intended to equip anyone using their computer with the tools and understanding to enable them to make the most of the internet, whatever their ability or disability, and regardless of the operating system (Windows, Mac or Linux) they use.
The site provides help to people who would benefit from making changes to their browser, operating system or computer by giving advice on a wide range of specialist hardware such as alternative keyboards and mice, and software such as voice recognition, screen reading and word prediction.
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Expo showcases aids for the disabled
Seebacher, 40, learned how she can borrow a voice recognition device that will allow her to dictate rather than type at her computer.
...At Thursday's event, she discovered the Assistive Technology Lending Library. The program, based at Temple University, offers 3,000 items, such as an oversized computer keypad for people with vision problems or limited motor skills.
The free program is available to all Pennsylvanians with disabilities. It lets them try devices before buying them.
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October 26, 2005
Speak and the computer listens
Sitting at his laptop at Toronto's Bloorview MacMillan Children's Centre, a rehabilitation hospital, Adam recently demonstrated SpeakQ, believed to be the first speech-recognition software designed for students with learning disabilities.
...SpeakQ, developed at Bloorview MacMillan with funding from the U.S. Department of Education, is the latest technology to help students who have learning disabilities. It combines speech recognition and word prediction in a single product.
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October 21, 2005
Right on Track: NaturalPoint scores big with a product that puts game players in the middle of the action
Formerly known as Eye Control Technologies, the firm was founded to make hands-free control devices for handicapped computer users. Its flagship product, known as SmartNAV, allowed users with limited use of their limbs to control a computer cursor by moving their head rather than manipulating a hand-held mouse. Commands can be executed in a variety of ways, from foot pedals to voice recognition to dwell clicking, which triggers an action after the cursor rests on a button for a second or two.
The inspiration for TrackIR came from a man with Lou Gehrig's disease who used his SmartNAV unit to run a flight simulator program and discovered the head-motion control vastly enhanced his field of view.
"He sent us an e-mail that said, 'Hey, did you guys know about this?' We said, 'No, but thank you,' and within six months we had developed this product,” recalled Jim Richardson, the company's president and chief technology officer.
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October 20, 2005
Making Webcasts accessible to the deaf
Unlike most of his deaf peers, Kanevsky has the skills and opportunity to do something about the problem. A Russian immigrant who became deaf at age 1, Kanevsky has spent much of his career as a mathematician inventing speech-related technologies.
Kanevsky, who holds 78 patents and has the title of master inventor at IBM, today is part of a team researching ways to make captioning easier, cheaper and faster by automating the process using voice recognition software.
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September 20, 2005
Speaker tells of learning disabilities
With the help of books on tape, voice-recognition software and other alternative avenues to learning, he graduated from Brown University with honors in English literature. The university, he said, was obligated to make academic accommodations to enable him to overcome his limitations.
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September 06, 2005
A gift of freedom
The house boasts roughly $35,000 in electronic equipment to help Gomez reclaim some freedom. From a voice-operated computer in his bedroom, Gomez can send e-mails, make phone calls and work his DVD player. He also will be able to monitor his front door through a Web cam posted on the stoop.
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September 01, 2005
Sprint wins contract for deaf phone service
Sprint Communications has been approved by the Tennessee Regulatory Authority to provide Captioned Telephone Service (CapTel) in Tennessee.
CapTel is a service that enables deaf people to use telephones through a relay service. The software uses voice recognition software to create a caption that will appear on the user's telephone, allowing the user to either hear or read the communication.
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Injured Wrists or Hands? Discover Your Typing Alternatives
While Pogue cut back on the latter, he looked for another writing solution. He tried dictating to a stenographer. "It was fine for laying down the text," he said, but polishing his work proved a nightmare for both him and his assistant. Ultimately, he found an answer in what was then only an emerging technology: computer software that transforms speech into electronic text. Pogue suffered through several generations of primitive programs that required him to speak slowly and haltingly into his computer. But he adapted, and the technology improved. Today, he said, voice-recognition software allows him to turn out clean and error-free copy at nearly twice the speed the typical person types.
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August 25, 2005
Effect of High-Frequency Spectral Components in Computer Recognition of Dysarthric Speech Based on a Mel-Cepstral Stochastic Model
Computer speech recognition of individuals with dysarthria, such as cerebral palsy patients, requires a robust technique that can handle conditions of very high variability and limited training data. In this study, a hidden Markov model (HMM) was constructed and conditions investigated that would provide improved performance for a dysarthric speech (isolated word) recognition system intended to act as an assistive/control tool.
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August 23, 2005
For Battle-Scarred, Airborne Backup
The Washington Post has another article about Soldier's Angels, the organization that (among other things) is providing computers with voice recognition software to wounded soldiers.
When Ziegenfuss emerged from the fog of pain medication, Soldiers' Angels got him a computer--and, because of his heavily bandaged left hand, where he lost a pinky, added voice-activated software. He got back online with his popular blog, www.Tcoverride.blogspot.com. It's gotten 90,000 hits in the past three months.
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August 22, 2005
Friendship inspires cycling fund-raiser
Matteliano hopes the ride will raise enough money for Barnhard to buy some of the things she needs to "get on with her life." High on the list is a voice-activated computer.
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August 12, 2005
Injured Troops to Receive Voice-activated Laptops
Soldiers' Angels is proud to announce the unveiling of Project Valour IT (Voice-activated Laptops for OUR Injured Troops), as begun on August 10, 2005. Valour IT will provide voice-controlled software and laptop computers to wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand and arm injuries or amputations at major military medical centers in the United States and Germany.
As the Project Valour IT test site, The National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD will be the first to receive the specially-equipped laptops. In the succeeding project stages, a fully-equipped laptop will be provided to each servicemember for use throughout in-hospital recovery at six different military medical centers, and copies of the voice software will be available to severely wounded servicemembers as they leave the treatment facility.
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July 12, 2005
Australian Caption Centre Speaks Its Mind With Sysmedia Wincaps
The Australian Caption Centre has purchased and installed the company's WinCAPS subtitling technology – specifically its SpeakTITLE speech recognition solution.
The technology was first used for the live subtitling of the Hopman Cup tennis competition.
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July 10, 2005
Speech Recognition Technology: Aid for those with dysarthria
Soon sufferers from dysarthria and others who have difficulties communicating clearly and completely will be able to communicate understandably and also control appliances using special tools and a newly developed speech-recognition system and speech-synthesis module.
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Voice-activated dream
A voice-activated Apple computer that would allow a severely paralyzed Biloxian to write more children's books, access research materials and hopefully turn on the lights and answer the telephone independently may be in Jan Ruehling's future.
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May 30, 2005
Improved technology opens door
A blind person can work a computer by using voice recognition; a quadriplegic can do the same with eye movement.
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May 28, 2005
Group to build vet a special house
As Kenneth Adams recuperates from an Army accident in Afghanistan that blinded him, one organization has promised to build him a house constructed to meet his special needs.
The house will be voice-activated, meaning Adams can adjust the lights, unlock the door or turn on the shower by speaking.
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May 20, 2005
Orange postpones Wildfire closure
Orange has been forced to delay the scrapping of its Wildfire voice recognition system by four weeks after being rocked by criticism from unhappy punters.
The mobilephoneco had blamed "declining numbers" for its decision to ditch Wildfire at the end of May. But after much public criticism of its decision - especially from blind and visually impaired users who rely on Wildfire to make their calls - Orange agreed to postpone the closure of the voice activated digital personal assistant for a month.
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May 19, 2005
'Million Dollar Baby' was Oscar-winning fiction; here’s the truth
Communication is also vital, aided now by tremendously improved, voice-activated software. It allows writing books, surfing the Web, using the phone, and — O, joy! — even paying bills. Voice-activated e-mail allows quadriplegics the same opportunity to read and write letters and receive spam as the rest of us.
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May 10, 2005
Exciting New Feature for SmartNAV
NaturalPoint Inc. is proud to announce built-in support for voice controlled commands in SmartNAV. This revolutionary new feature delivers the best of both speech recognition and head tracking technology in one integrated package. You can now send mouse clicks and activate other SmartNAV features using only your voice.
This feature is currently undergoing beta testing, and we wanted to offer the community a chance to test this cutting edge technology. Please click on this link for detailed instructions of how to install support for this new feature.
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