4 System control in applications
4.1 Voice commands for mobile devices

Mobile devices are currently the most used piece of consumer computing technology. They cover a wide range of possible usages, from making a simple call to work tasks to media creation and consumption. Even though most use cases rely on a touchscreen display as the primary command input method, there are situations in which hands-free control is necessary.

Driving

In a vehicle, the driver is obliged to pay visual attention to the situation on the road. This means he/she cannot control the phone using hands, as they are on the steering wheel or other car control. Utilization of voice commands comes in several areas:

The biggest players in the field include Apple, Google, Microsoft or Amazon whose speech driven assistants can access information located in the device memory, as well as on the Internet. This allows to place a call, launch a map application with pre-set destination, perform play, pause, next or previous song task and many other basic functions. Interaction with either of the assistants is mostly fluent and successful in performing the desired command, with each of them understanding the inputs in various forms of utterance.

Obtaining information

Speech assistants are able to perform search on the Internet and report the results in a logical, fast and comprehensive way via the speech synthesizer. Tasks can be uttered in a sentence-like, complex way and the neural network will deduce the intention.

Home automation

The mobile device may well serve as a home control hub. While connected to the home network, the speech driven assistants can receive commands to control various aspects of one’s home, given that these aspects are connected on-line. Common tasks may include switching (specific) lights on or off, closing the curtains, up to setting a specific mood with combination of several smart devices.

Special needs

People with special needs often require interfaces adjusted to their physical condition. When there is difficult to use keyboard or touch enabled devices, such as visual impairment or damage to the limbs, voice-controlled environment is an essential aid in operating any multimedia or information system. Such system usually consists of both speech command recognizer and speech feedback.