Making Windows 10 Accessible

Using Speech Recognition

Have you ever imagined spraining your wrist and not being able to use a keyboard to enter text in apps on your computer? Speech Recognition is a feature built in to Windows that you can use to provide speech input to your computer when you’re using an application such as a word processor and then let your computer carry out entering the text you’ve spoken. When you activate Speech Recognition, you need to ensure that your microphone is set up and that the app begins to learn your spoken patterns. When you’ve performed this basic setup procedure, you can then use this app to provide input to your computer.

Set up Speech Recognition

1. In the Cortana search box, type Speech Recognition.

2. In the results, click the Windows Speech Recognition Desktop App.

   

3. Click Next.

   

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4. Choose the type of microphone that you will use, and then click Next.

   
5. Proceed through several more screens of the wizard to make settings choices.

CAUTION

Speech recognition technology has come a long way since it was created, but it’s still a technology that’s evolving. When you dictate something using this feature, be sure to proofread it for any errors, which can range from your computer entering “to” when you meant “two,” or missing a word in a sentence.

TIP

After you set up Speech Recognition, you can type the phrase speech recognition in the Cortana search box and then press Enter. Speech Recognition opens in Listening mode. Speak a command such as “Open Excel,” or, if you have displayed a document, you can speak words, numbers, or punctuation that you want to enter. To close the feature, click the Close button (X) on the Speech Recognition controls that appears near the top of the screen, or the – symbol to minimize it.