I have a writer friend who loves to write, but is no longer able to spend long hours typing up her thoughts on the keyboard without pain in her hands. Instead of giving up writing, which many of us might have considered in the past, she uses speech recognition software to tell her stories. The software records her voice as she speaks, translating it into words on the page. Later, she can go back and proof and edit, catching any translational errors without overexerting herself and feeling that intense agony in her hands.

Speech recognition technology is evolving quickly in attempt to keep up with the constant advances of the current technological revolution. You can’t go anywhere these days without seeing someone voice dialing their iPhone or giving an audio command to the software in their car to dictate which songs they feel like listening to.

As a society, we are all about making our lives easier so we can multitask to the greatest extent, and speech recognition technology seems to be one of the answers to crafting this reality.

Imagine yourself at your work desk on the phone with a client. You need to access an important file, but searching through your computer for said file is distracting. You command the computer by voice to pull up the file. In the meantime, your boss wants to get in on the call, so you command the phone to dial Mr. Bossington’s office and integrate him into the call.

The applications of voice recognition technology extend well beyond interoffice communications. In fact, in some courtrooms, voice activated software is now taking the place of transcribers. Military officials and police officers are integrating voice-activated tablet devices to record and translate information from one party to another. Virtual schooling through the use of voice activation software connects students and teachers in a hands free environment allowing both parties to concentrate on learning without typing.

Before you know it, we’ll be hopping into taxi cabs and telling the virtual driver to take us home, ordering robot bartenders to mix us up a Manhattan and telling our bionic masseuse to go easy on the deep-tissue massage. It all sounds very futuristic, but with as quickly as technology advances these days, I have a feeling we’ll be voice commanding everything around us.

Imagine… a world where I can call my coffee pot from bed at 6 a.m. and say, “Make my coffee.” I could live with that.

(Image via inewscatcher)