Talkmaths over the web : A web-based speech interface to assist disabled people with mathematics

Abstract

Difficulties in accessibility to resources for, and writing documents in, mathematical notation, has limited the educational and career opportunities of people with disabilities such as visual impairments and/or limited (or no) use of their hands or arms. In this paper, we describe a system, TalkMaths, aiming to help address these issues. TalkMaths is a speech interface allowing users, particularly those with the type of disabilities noted, to dictate and edit mathematical text, using relatively simple natural language commands. Although a PC-based version of TalkMaths was developed a few years ago, the latest version uses a web-based client-server architecture, which reduces the demands on the user's own computer, and potentially making the system usable on mobile devices. We discuss the technology - including automatic speech recognition, statistical language models for prediction and correction, and novel parsing strategies - underpinning TalkMaths, and present results from some initial evaluations of its use both as a dictation/editing system and as an instructive tool.