How to talk to your computer, literally

Voice I/O is a rapidly growing technology. The techniques are still in the formative stage and thus are still somewhat primitive. However, useful tasks can be accomplished within the limitations of today's hardware. No reference to specific hardware will be given, but guidelines for selecting and using hardware will be provided. The guidelines include vocabulary size, method of training, upload/download capabilities, user control of recognition parameters, package form-factor, and information returned to the user. Hints will be given for working with hardware limitations. Some current and proposed uses for voice I/O at Los Alamos National Laboratory will be described. These applications include personnel identity verification, instrument control, data entry, alarm annunciation, and issuing operating system and editor commands.