Voice-activated artificial intelligence (like Siri or Alexa) is becoming a regular part of daily life at school, work, and in healthcare. Unfortunately, these systems often do not work well for people who stutter. Many voice AI tools struggle to understand stuttered speech, which can lead to frustration, exclusion, or missed opportunities.
In this presentation, you will learn about HeardAI, an interdisciplinary project working to make voice AI more accessible for people who stutter. We will share what we have learned so far from survey research, experimental studies, and speech data collected from people who stutter, as well as ongoing projects focused on improving how voice technology transcribes stuttering. The goal of this work is to ensure that people who stutter are heard, understood, and included as voice AI becomes more common in everyday life. There will also be plenty of time for questions and discussion!
Dr. Caryn Herring, PhD, CCC-SLP is a person who stutters and a speech-language pathologist. She currently is the Executive Director of Friends: The National Association for Young People who Stutter. She graduated with her PhD from Michigan State University, her MS from Purdue University, and her BA from the University of Pittsburgh. Caryn’s research interests include the process of desensitization, reducing adverse impact, and enhancing accessibility for people who stutter. Caryn has presented at conferences and universities across the country, as well as taught and clinically supervised undergraduate and graduate students at Michigan State University, The University of Pittsburgh, Gannon University, and Duquesne University.
