Assistive Technologies for the Disabled
From: Speech Technology Magazine - Nov/Dec 2010 - page 10
By: Leonard Klie

Speech as an enabler has room to grow.

Twenty years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA),
speech technologies are assisting people with disabilities “in ways that are
limited only by our imaginations,” says Robin Springer, an attorney and
president of Computer Talk, a consulting firm specializing in the design and
implementation of speech recognition and other hands-free technologies. 

Springer, along with many other advocates for the disabled, says speech
recognition, text-to-speech, and speech-to-text technologies, in particular,
have come a long way in ensuring full integration and equal opportunities for
people with disabilities. They also say the technology has plenty of room to
expand and grow even further. 

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New Law to Require Greater Use of Speech

Among other steps at making the Internet, smartphones, television programs,
and other modern communications technologies accessible to people with vision
or hearing loss, the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act
requires closed captioning of television programs and online videos. That
would require companies to provide, either via speech-to-text technologies or
human transcriptionists, a visual representation of all audio content within
videos. Remote controls will need to provide a button so the deaf can easily
access the captioning. 

Read the entire articles at:
http://www.speechtechmag.com/Articles/Editorial/FYI/Market-Spotlight-Assistive-Technologies-for-the-Disabled-71015.aspx

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Nuance Has a Dragon for Every Need
From: Speech Technology Magazine - Nov/Dec 2010 - page 12
By: Kathleen Savino

New releases of Dragon NaturallySpeaking software cover the legal, medical,
and Mac user communities. 

Nuance Communications has released version 11 of Dragon NaturallySpeaking,
which the company says takes less time to train and is faster and easier to
use. 

Since Dragon 11 can recognize more speech at a rate that is 15 percent higher
than the previous version, the company says users won’t need to expend as
much energy correcting mistakes. The system also uses shortcuts and voice
commands for opening applications or searching the Internet, which Nuance
says will consolidate user actions. The way the new version learns is also
more flexible since corrections can be made by typing—not just voice. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.speechtechmag.com/Articles/Editorial/FYI/Nuance-Has-a-Dragon-for-Every-Need-71019.aspx