RE: Request for Assistance Finding FLOSS Speech Recognition Software

[Bryen M Yunashko <a11yrocks bryen com>]

On Mon, 2012-06-25 at 22:59 -0500, meg ford wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am writing on behalf of my brother, Joseph. Joe was born with severe
> spastic-athetoid cerebral palsy. Joe grew up at home with the rest of
> my seven siblings and myself in the severe poverty in inner city in
> Chicago. Because my family has always believed in the tenet of least
> restrictive environment, Joe attended mainstream schools and
> eventually graduated with a Bachelor's degree from Harvard University.
> He is currently completing his PhD in Political Science at the
> University of Chicago. 
> 
> It has taken a lot of very hard work on Joe's part to get where he is
> today. Because Joe is not physically able to write, it will not be
> possible for him to seek employment after he finishes his PhD. Over
> the years Joe has participated in various studies in an effort to find
> speech recognition software that can adjust to his significant
> fluctuations in muscle tone. Here is the reason I am writing, in Joe's
> own words:
> 
> "I have dysarthria -- it matters that I have spastic - athetoid
> cerebral palsy. The researcher in Boston said that this is ideal
> because the researcher needs persons with spasticity for muscle tone
> and with athetosis for intelligence level. I tried the different
> versions of Dragon. I tried one of them for an extended period of time
> -- they didn't work at all. In Boston I participated in a study of
> speech but they didn't actually try to design a program. The head of
> the study wanted to try to find someone at MIT but that did not work
> out. Then I participated in a study at University of Illinois
> Champaign in which they were actively trying to design individualized
> software for people with dysarthria. The software didn't work and then
> I think they moved on to other things. I might be able to get my
> speech samples from at least the U of I and / or to figure out how to
> give new samples. I know that U of I had some strange video component
> to their grant / research -- I think they videotaped me, but I don't
> remember for certain. All these people stressed that any software
> would have to be designed for me particularly -- for any person with
> dysarthria, individually, actually -- at least for now."  
> 
> 
> Joe is wondering if anyone knows of a FLOSS project that is producing
> software that could be adapted for his needs, or of research that is
> being done in this area. We would appreciate any and all information
> in this regard.
> 
> Thanks very much for your time and patience.
> Sincerely,
> Meg Ford

Not sure if this is useful, but there is an effort to collect voice
samples for use in speech-to-text engines.  Voxforge.org

I have no idea how active or successful the project is.

Bryen