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| Google helps people with speech disabilities |
Google has launched an experimental app that people with speech disabilities can use as a voice assistant, while contributing to a multi-year research effort to improve the search giant's speech recognition capabilities.
The company's goal is to make Google Assistant Voice Assistant and other features that use speech-to-text and speech-to-speech technologies more comprehensive for users with neurological conditions that affect their speech.
The new app is called Project Relate. Volunteers can register. To participate, volunteers must be over the age of 18 and have difficulty understanding others.
You will also need a Google account and an Android phone running OS 8 or higher.
It is currently available to native English speakers in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Your task is to record 500 sentences and the recording will take 30 to 90 minutes.
After sharing audio samples, volunteers can access three new features through the Project Relate app.
Your speech can be transcribed in real time. It also has a feature called Repeat, which allows to repeat what the user says in a clear and complex voice.
Based on the Euphonia . project
It can help people with speech disabilities to speak or use voice commands from home appliances.
Project Relate also connects to the Google Voice Assistant so users can turn on lights or play songs in their own voice.
Without enough training data, people with conditions like ALS, TBI, or Parkinson's can't access the company's other apps like Translate and Assistant.
In 2019, the company launched Project Euphonia, a massive effort to improve artificial intelligence algorithms by collecting data on people with speech disabilities.
Google is also training its algorithms to recognize voices and gestures to better serve people who can't speak.
This work is still in progress. It appears that Google and its partners are still collecting separate patient votes for Project Euphonia.
"When people don't understand what I'm talking about, I usually look in their faces," Aubrey Lee, brand manager for a company with muscular dystrophy, said in a blog post. Project Relate can distinguish between confused expressions and friendly, agreeable laughter.