A Speech Recognition and Synthesis Tool

Many of the new technologies designed to help worldwide communication – e.g. telephones, fax machines, computers – have created new problems especially among the hearing and visually impaired. A person, who has severe hearing impairments, particularly to the extent in which deafness occurs, may experience difficulties communicating over a telephone as he or she is unable to hear the recipient’s responses. Conversely, someone with visual impairments would have little inconvenience using a telephone but may not be able to communicate through a computer because of the difficulties (or, in the case of blindness, impossibility) in reading the screen. The goal of this project is to develop a Speech Recognition and Synthesis Tool (SRST) that provides a solution to the communication between the hearing and visually impaired. SRST is free and does not require any additional equipment besides a computer. Additionally, SRST can be used in educational settings, regardless of students ’ or teachers ’ disabilities, as a teaching aid