Discussion
and Conclusions -
Future Research
IBM's research focusing on 'natural'
speech as the most effective method of speech input would, on the
surface, appear to be the most user-friendly option, but may not necessarily
the best method of input for all dyslexics, as yet. 'Continuous speech'
as it is otherwise known, needs much more training than the Discreet
speech method, as the software still does not allow for strong regional
accents - in this case West of Scotland - which has a fairly fast,
and sometimes indistinct dialogue. This would seem to substantiate
the theory put forward by the previous study (O'Hare, 1999, 4, 38)
that the natural method of continuous speech is less suitable in this
respect.
As the different types of dyslexia produce different symptoms and
therefore need to be given different options, it would seem fair to
suggest that the user-interface - in particular the training dialogue
- need to be designed to be more flexible. There is already the option
of using the built-in assistant to read back highlighted sections
of text to the user - but there is no option to read back the training
dialogue - which has to be completed before the system can be used.
This seems to be a major design fault that has been overlooked by
designers when considering usability (Shneiderman 1998, Nielsen, 2000).
It also seemed to be one of the main obstacles for respondents of
the survey in trying to use the system; therefore if IBM are trying
to increase accessibility and accuracy, this is one area that needs
to be addressed.
There are many software programs, and input devices being developed
which are being claimed to help Dyslexics, both for their diagnosis
and teaching, but there are very few published reports on how effective
they are. More research needs to be done just in this area alone,
to substantiate why some dyslexic children produce such positive results
with voice dictation, while others, with a similar reading age, produce
such poor results.
Thank you for taking the time to read this report.
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The Full Survey and Test Results
