Windows Speech Recognition

Speech Recognition

A component of Microsoft Windows
Windows Speech Recognition tutorial included with Windows Vista.
Details
Included with	Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10
Related components
Microsoft Speech API

Windows Speech Recognition is a speech recognition component developed by Microsoft and introduced in the Windows Vista operating system that enables the use of voice commands to perform operations, such as the dictation of text, within applications and the operating system itself.

Speech recognition relies on the Speech API developed by Microsoft, and is also present in Windows 7,Windows 8,Windows 8.1, and Windows 10.

Microsoft has been involved in speech recognition and speech synthesis research for many years. In 1993, Microsoft hired Xuedong Huang from Carnegie Mellon University to lead its speech development efforts. The company's research eventually ultimately led to the development of the Speech API, introduced in 1994. Speech recognition technology has been used in some of Microsoft's products prior to Windows Speech Recognition. Versions of Microsoft Office, including Office XP and Office 2003, included support for speech recognition among Office applications and other applications such as Internet Explorer. Installation of Office would enable limited speech functionality in Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98 and Windows ME. The 2002 edition of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition would also include support within the Tablet PC Input Panel feature, and the Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP expansion package enabled voice commands to be used in Windows Media Player. However, this support was limited to individual applications, and prior to Windows Vista, the Windows operating system did not include integrated support for speech recognition.