Using voice recognition in education, especially advanced learning, is a relatively recent development. Voice technology has progressed incredibly fast during the last few years, and what used to be cutting-edge experimental software is now commonplace.
Pretty much everyone these days uses a smartphone capable of speech processing. You can not only look up things on the internet using voice input but also communicate with the AI such as Google Assistant.
With voice recognition algorithms getting better and more libraries appearing on the market, educational apps are starting to dip their toes into the sea of opportunities that is voice tech.
Make Education More Accessible
Voice recognition in education gets a lot of attention lately, and for a good reason. For some people, it can be a neat way to take notes. For others, it opens the classroom door.
People with certain disabilities (dyslexia in one example) often find it difficult to take notes or do homework, because it involves typing and/or writing. This is where speech-to-text enters the stage. Transcription makes previously difficult tasks come naturally and boosts academic performance.
A beneficial side effect is that seeing the words appear on the screen during dictation can help students with reading and writing deficits to better grasp the relationship between letter and sound.
As for the students with conditions that affect mobility, voice recognition can be the only means of writing/typing available to them.
For deaf students, voice recognition is used to visualise speech using speech-to-text conversion. Again, this can be their only option.
Always Learning
Education welcomes individual approach, and voice recognition makes it easy in many areas.
So far the most popular application of speech processing is foreign language learning, especially learning pronunciation.
The student is prompted to repeat after a recording. If the pronunciation doesn’t match, the computer gives feedback and prompts the student again. Basically, this is the (dramatically) improved language lab – the lab that can fit in your pocket.
Apps like Rosetta Stone, ELSA Speak, and many others are very good at teaching pronunciation by using speech recognition to identify mistakes. This opens horizons to the people who cannot afford language courses, feel like they need more than lessons can offer – or prefer their learning bite-sized.
Implementing Voice Recognition in Education
With voice technology showing good results in a classroom setting, implementation is the next logical step.
Luckily, voice processing doesn’t require specialised equipment. A regular computer is all you need. Software, on the other hand, needs to be installed, and most of it is heavily licensed.
At this stage, awareness is the real challenge. Free licences for schools and universities, special learning programs, and voice technology options for disabled students would become far more accessible if teachers and learners knew about and asked for them.
Raising awareness about voice technology in education is an important task. As a company developing speech-to-text note-taking solutions, we hope more people experience the advantages voice technology can offer. To learn more about us, visit the Senstone homepage.
