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People with disabilities can benefit greatly from a wide variety of IT resources. For example, a person who has been injured can still make use of a computer by using voice input. There is software available that allows user to control a computer by means of spoken commands. It is also possible to dictate material which can then be saved as word processed or text file.Such voice recognition software has much potential for helping students and others to perform their tasks. Before voice activated software can be used, the user must first "train" the system. One voice activated control system states in its documentation that it must be run on a computer with a processor of at least 1 GHz.
(a)
- Define the term GHz. [1 mark]
- Identify the component of the processor to which 1 GHz refer.s [1 mark]
(b) Describe two other hardware features that would be necessary for voice activated input. [4 marks]
(c) Explain why the voice activated system must be trained before it can be used. [4 marks]
(d) Discuss how voice activated systems and other IT resources can be of benefit to disabled people. [10 marks]
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[Answers]
(a)
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[Answers]
(a)
- GigaHertz. The speed of processing.
- clock.
(b) One would be a large RAM. Since sound input is a large data, big RAM is needed to make the process smoother and faster. Another one is Analog-to-Degital converter. Sound input has to be converted to digital format so that computer can read and understand the data.
(c) As voice activated system uses user's voice as an input device, the system needs to understand and interpret clearly what the user is speaking. People's voices have different accents, quality, and pitch; the more training, the better accuracy. To interpret what user is saying, A/D conversion takes place. Here, the system basically compare the input data with the pre-stored words in database.
(d) IT resources including the voice activated system help users with disabilities in various aspects. First, these systems help users to interact with technology; this allows people with disabilities to take in part of society: education, jobs, and communication. As disabled people can get jobs with the help of the systems, they can earn money for themselves. They also make users' life easier by helping various tasks that are hard to carry out with the disability (i.e. robots can helps loads). The systems then improve the quality of disabled peoples' lives altogether. The abilities to carry out tasks and performing same activities like other people give them confidence and nurtures independency and individuality.
On the other hand, the disadvantages associate with IT issues of equality of access and people & machines. The cost for the equipment is typically very expensive (although varies with specific disabilities), therefore not all disabled people can purchase them. Also, since these systems are designed for specific disability of a person, it takes significant time to make the systems. The most challenging thing for disabled people is to get used to using the technology. Training needed to smoothly run and master the use of technology.
(c) As voice activated system uses user's voice as an input device, the system needs to understand and interpret clearly what the user is speaking. People's voices have different accents, quality, and pitch; the more training, the better accuracy. To interpret what user is saying, A/D conversion takes place. Here, the system basically compare the input data with the pre-stored words in database.
(d) IT resources including the voice activated system help users with disabilities in various aspects. First, these systems help users to interact with technology; this allows people with disabilities to take in part of society: education, jobs, and communication. As disabled people can get jobs with the help of the systems, they can earn money for themselves. They also make users' life easier by helping various tasks that are hard to carry out with the disability (i.e. robots can helps loads). The systems then improve the quality of disabled peoples' lives altogether. The abilities to carry out tasks and performing same activities like other people give them confidence and nurtures independency and individuality.
On the other hand, the disadvantages associate with IT issues of equality of access and people & machines. The cost for the equipment is typically very expensive (although varies with specific disabilities), therefore not all disabled people can purchase them. Also, since these systems are designed for specific disability of a person, it takes significant time to make the systems. The most challenging thing for disabled people is to get used to using the technology. Training needed to smoothly run and master the use of technology.
