This they attribute to the fact that men “make ‘umm’ and ‘err’ sounds more frequently.”

I can attest to this. It is a common problem in general, and I was guilty of doing this in presentations in between lines as I paused to catch a breath. It’s also common when pausing between words when using voice recognition. A bad habit? Perhaps, but a common habit nonetheless.

In addition, the scientists found that, “Variations in pitch, tone and speed can also cause the system to misunderstand voices” – which goes without saying. No two people talk in the same way or style. If we did, we’d be a very boring species! Dialects and regional variations also come into play, and as such I can certainly see why speech recognition software has its work cut out to achieve results.

My own experience with trying out speech recognition wasn’t great. I think my low toned Scottish accent with plentiful doses of ‘umm’ and ‘err’ didn’t help either, but I did feel a bit aggrieved at its inability to learn my accent. It was some time ago so the software may well have changed and improved a lot since then, but I remember feeling frustrated at the many hours I had sunk into the system hoping it would learn my voice, all for naught in the end. Voice recognition in my mind has always had great potential for relief of over-used arm and hand muscles, but the effort involved in learning how to use the software, ie teaching the software to recognise your voice, for was a soul destroying and futile task!

It’s a sad but true fact that for me there really is no comparable alternative to the keyboard in this day and age!

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