Comparisons of past and current product from Dragon Systems, Inc., IBM, and Kurzweil. Criteria for success and failure are presented. Speech recognition technology has changed a great deal every two years since about 1990. Some past successes and failures continue to be instructive today.
Cognitive limitations can prevent success.
Changes in technology may have ramifications for people with disabilities as the products become easier to use for people without disabilities. Different vendor's interfaces required different skills. Therefore, an understanding of the differences between current products can determine an appropriate fit for a particular user. Speech recognition has been the path to independent access for people with various motor impairments acquired as the result of accident, injury, neurological disease, brain injury, or other causes including repetitive stress injuries. Speech recognition can allow complete control of a computer and all its software and everything that software can access.