ECHO: Hands-Free Computer Interaction using Speech Recognition System for the Debilitated

Computer nowadays is a must-have tool for most people. However, it is not a tool to be used by people with physical disabilities, especially the ones lacking an arm or two. The goal of this paper is to introduce a system that will help computer users perform tasks and make use of computer features and functions despite their physical limitations through the Speech Recognition System (SRS) in the English language. Ideally, this aims to provide users with an alternative way of interacting with the computer system and navigate through its functions using SRS in place of peripheral devices. It can be used to navigate through menus, open and manage applications, open certain websites, browse the internet, and type words, letters, numbers, and symbols using the dictation mode. For the testing phase, the following test cases were used: Functionality Testing, Stress Testing, and Compatibility. The testing phase yielded a result of 94.79% for the functional, 100% for stress, and 100% for compatibility, effectively ensuring that the software is working as intended. The evaluation results conforming to the standards of the ISO/IEC 9126-1 yielded a mean of 3.57 with a standard deviation of 0.52 interpreted as ‘Highly Acceptable', which means that the software can be used as an effective alternative to peripheral devices and can even be used to complement its usage.