Apple Accessibility Improvements: Private Voice, Live Speech, and More

Yesterday saw the announcement of Apple’s flurry of accessibility improvements, including new “Access Assisted” interface options, Live Speech, and Private Voice. This was welcomed by people who rely on accessibility features, although they would like to see greater ambition for one of those features.

The Private Voice feature was the feature that received the most attention, requiring only 15 minutes of training to allow iPhone users to play speech in their own voice

Steven Scott is blind and the creator and host of the show Double Tap, a daily radio show about how technology can be used by the blind. The show airs daily on AMI-audio across Canada at 12 noon Eastern, and is also available as a podcast.

He said that sometimes it is difficult for ordinary people to understand how revolutionary simple-sounding technology can be.

Being able to identify all the different buttons on my microwave seems pretty mundane to most people, but often when you’re blind you’re shown what you need to know and nothing more, so you might not even know your microwave has defrosting. . function. With something like the new Point and Speak feature, I can find out for myself what functions a microwave and other kitchen appliances have.

But he said that some accessibility features could also benefit everyone.

The beauty of accessibility features is that they often help more people than is often intended. Assistive technology will be of great help to many people who just want a simpler experience using their device.

This year I’m looking forward to the much-rumored Reality Pro and beyond. Apple is known for its commitment to accessibility across its product line, so I’d be amazed to see how they translate that into a whole new category.

Colin Hughes, a former producer of Drita and an advocate for accessible technology, says that as a disabled person, hands-free control of technology is key.

As someone living with severe physical limitations, who relies on voice to get things done, the Apple accessibility feature that made the biggest difference in my life is Voice Control, and all the hands-free features that Siri has to offer.

I was pleased to see Apple improve Voice Control by adding phonetic suggestions for text editing so users can choose the right word from a number of similar-sounding words, such as “do”, “should” and “dew”.

Also, Voice Control Guide, a Windows-like Voice Access feature, where users can learn tips and tricks on using voice commands will be very helpful, especially for newcomers to Voice Control.

He has previously shared with us how Apple’s technology has helped him, with everyday videos showing how HomeKit in particular provides immense freedom.

Hughes is also amused by the Personal Voice announcement, though he doesn’t need one himself yet.

For people with progressive disabilities like myself, it’s great that new features like Live Speech and Personal Voice will be available one day when we need them. It’s reassuring to see Apple acting so inclusively.

However, he thinks Apple needs to set more ambitious goals for Voice Control.

The new text-editing feature sounds great, but feels like locking the stable door after the horse has bolted. Companies should double down on accuracy by using AI so that less editing is required.

Apple should also use AI and noise-isolating microphone technology to block background noise when dictating with a Mac or iPhone in noisier environments. Voice Control Dictation doesn’t come close to the 98 – 99 percent accuracy that users achieve with apps like Dragon Professional, which unfortunately is now only available on Windows computers.

Voice Control still struggles with proper nouns, and foreign names. Even if you add the correct noun to your Voice Control vocabulary, the app ignores the capitalization of the name.

Again, more powerful dictation features benefit everyone, not just people with disabilities.

I’d love to hear more from the company about how they’re working to improve dictation accuracy for everyone.

Hughes also suggested next steps for Voice Control.

I’d love to see Apple do more for the roughly 250,000,000 people who speak non-standards and have trouble getting their words understood. You can’t currently train an app to recognize words as you say them, so I’d love to see a personalized speech recognition element in Voice Control in the future.

With greater accuracy and personalized speech recognition, Apple will be able to help more people be heard.

Apple has often said that it wants to make its products useful to as many people as possible, and does not seek a financial return on its investment in accessibility technology.

If you have a disability, please share your thoughts on Apple’s announcement of accessibility improvements yesterday – and if not, do you see any of them having broader appeal?