The removal of Windows speech recognition and programs that will be affected by it

I too have been trying Voice Access out and like mguy123 the Voice Access program is way way way too slow.

I wrote a novel with Speech Recognition and the response time was always instantaneous in everything I did.

With Voice Access the fastest response I get on lock screen sign-in is 5 seconds (I have timed and it ranges from 5 - 11 seconds) for the desktop.

I have not tried it for writing yet because of slow sign-in times.

When I input by keyboard the exact same credentials for sign-in, when I hit the last key, pop, desktop instantaneously.

Why the delay by voice? Serious work is needed before anyone removes anything.

There should be no delay for the spoken word if it is processed properly by the PC.

My OS is

Edition Windows 11 Home

Version 23H2

Installed on ‎29/‎07/‎2024

OS build 22635.4010

Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22700.1035.0

Device name TeeJay1960

Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5700X 8-Core Processor 3.40 GHz

Installed RAM 64.0 GB

Device ID D6867688-F7AA-4592-9130-26A33FBACB73

Product ID 00326-03100-00003-AAOEM

System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display

More then enough of everything to run what I throw at it.

Oh yeah 5 TB SSD internal + 2 x 1 TB SSD External

While messing around with voice access I can tell you one of the major difficulties with it would be something like typing passwords. If you try to type the letters individually it capitalizes everyone so typing out a password like this: pAsSwoRd1234! is near impossible from what I've tried whereas with Windows speech recognition it takes about five seconds. I use speech recognition mixed with my head tracking mouse so I'm using it to click on stuff constantly. The response for clicking can take up to five seconds with voice access While it is processing so you have to sit and try to hold your head perfectly still until it figures it out. Windows speech recognition response instantly.I also write quite a bit of macros with speech recognition so you have to dictate those a lot of times by letter by letter which is very difficult with voice access.

As for the programs that rely on the speech recognition engine I have one I use called glovepie which is no longer being actively developed. It uses the current speech engine for its voice macros. I did find the download on the Microsoft site for the speech recognition SDK. I don't know if that would keep that program afloat by downloading that after everything is removed but if there was something like that that would be a big help. There are alternatives to that program That works similar but not as well but that would mean redoing about 400 scripts I have already written.

As for speech recognition itself I really don't understand why users can't keep the option to use it if they would prefer it. I know they say they are not going to update it anymore but it hasn't been updated in years anyway. It's less resource heavy and is much more efficient when used for navigating the computer versus voice access. I have contacted the developer team on the feedback hub about some of these issues but I suppose I need to leave some about the concerns involving the removal of the speech recognition even though it probably won't make a difference if that's what they decided to do anyway. But, besides that, I hope this gives you an idea of the concerns I have.

Hi,  mguy123.

Welcome to Microsoft support community.

We understand your concern, it is totally reasonable that you are worrying about some tool which is a crucial for your life will be obsolete in the near future. On the top of that it is pretty hard to make an accessibility comprehensive as developers with full capacity have a hard time put on the other's shoe  ---- as far as my limited web developing experience could tell.

So for your problem:

Could you tell us some example of our concern so we know what part of the new voice access you think is inefficient? The official site just lists the comparison between two function and does not give me relative case.

For the sideloading case, since that change is still about 3 month away, we also does not know exactly how that will get result out. And for the program which rely on that there will be a gradually migration happening because that is the nature of software industry.

Finally for the current case, I suggest you submit a feedback and let the development team know your opinion: | Microsoft attaches great importance to user experience, you can submit your ideas and suggestions through the Feedback Hub, and the development team will regularly review submissions for ideas or fixes.<br><br>Please share the feedback link here after submitting as it will allow others on the forum to vote for your submission, including me. More votes will lead to more visibility and higher priority to the development team. | | --- |

I hope my explanation could resolve some of your confusion; if you have question feel free to ask. Looking forward about your reply.

Best Regards

Benjamin.C- MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist