Artificial intelligence (AI) may soon provide more help to people with speech problems.
Future of AI – Automatic Diagnosis of Speech Disorders with Machine Learning Algorithms
Major tech companies are teaming up with the University of Illinois to form the Speech Accessibility Project to improve AI’s understanding of people with disabilities or unusual speech patterns. The project will collect a set of high-quality, diverse speech samples that will help improve speech technologies.
“Because we can develop new interventions and screening tools, we can be more proactive in early detection of childhood conditions and tailor more specific therapies to a patient's condition,” Karen Panetta, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Tufts University and an IEEE Fellow who is not involved in the project, told Lifewire in an email interview.
Speech recognition, found in many software programs and voice assistants, has become a part of many people's daily lives. However, experts say these systems don't always recognize certain speech patterns, especially those associated with disabilities.
