A "Voice-Controlled Telecommunication Terminal for the physically handicapped" has been designed at the research department of the "Forschungs- und Technologiezentrum" in Darmstadt and Berlin. It is based on an IBM-compatible PC supplemented by a speaker-dependent speech recognition board, a telephone interface with modem, microphone and loudspeaker, a hands-free unit with an acoustic echo canceller and an infra-red environment control With this configuration it is possible to ensure not only the functionality of a hands-free telephone, but also access to a telephone dictionary and a pager call provided by an interactive videotex service. A window-oriented, ergonomic user interface was implemented using a modular structured, object-oriented software system. About 80 commands can be given either by voice or by keyboard. These commands are kept in synchronisation by a context-sensitive vocabulary control. A disabled person needs assistance only for the first session to train the vocabulary needed for the training dialogue itself. With respect to this group of users we have taken into account that manual operation is not necessary any more. The training can be executed by voice commands and, to improve the usability, it refers only to the active group of words of a modal dialogue. The vocabulary can be switched over to several users. At present the integration of an audio response system is under investigation.
Cite as: Runge, F., Schultheiß, U. (1993) A voice-controlled telecommunication terminal. Proc. Speech and Language Technology for Disabled Persons, 153-156
@inproceedings{runge93_sltdp,
author={Fred Runge and Ulrich Schultheiß},
title={{A voice-controlled telecommunication terminal}},
year=1993,
booktitle={Proc. Speech and Language Technology for Disabled Persons},
pages={153--156}
}