Feasibility of Using Automatic Speech Recognition with Voices of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Individuals

09/03/2019

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by   Abraham Glasser, et al.

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Rochester Institute of Technology

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gallaudet

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Many personal devices have transitioned from visual-controlled interfaces to speech-controlled interfaces to reduce device costs and interactive friction. This transition has been hastened by the increasing capabilities of speech-controlled interfaces, e.g., Amazon Echo or Apple's Siri. A consequence is that people who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) may be unable to use these speech-controlled devices. We show that deaf speech has a high error rate compared to hearing speech, in commercial speech-controlled interfaces. Deaf speech had approximately a 78 speech 18 not usable by deaf and hard of hearing people. Therefore, it might be wise to pursue other methods for deaf persons to deliver natural commands to computers.