Speech Accessibility Project
Coming together to expand voice recognition
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has announced the Speech Accessibility Project, a new research initiative to make voice recognition technology more useful for people with a range of diverse speech patterns and disabilities.
Coming together to expand voice recognition
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has announced the Speech Accessibility Project, a new research initiative to make voice recognition technology more useful for people with a range of diverse speech patterns and disabilities.
We will soon begin recruiting U.S. and Canadian adults who stutter or who are deaf or hard of hearing!
Join our email list to be alerted about these new phases of the project. Unfortunately,
we cannot recruit participants from Illinois, Texas, or Washington at this time because of their state privacy laws.
Our progress
As of the end of September 2025, about 2,000 participants submitted recordings to the project. Microsoft announced 18% to 60% accuracy gains using our data.
Our progress
As of the end of September 2025, about 2,000 participants submitted recordings to the project. Microsoft announced 18% to 60% accuracy gains using our data.
Submit a proposal for using our data
We are now accepting proposals from nonprofits and companies who want to use our data to improve their own speech recognition tools.
Learn moreSubmit a proposal for using our data
We are now accepting proposals from nonprofits and companies who want to use our data to improve their own speech recognition tools.
Learn moreAbout the project
The project has unprecedented cross-industry support from Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, as well as nonprofit organizations whose communities will benefit from this accessibility initiative, to make speech recognition more inclusive of diverse speech patterns.
Today’s speech recognition systems, such as voice assistants and translation tools, don’t always recognize people with a diversity of speech patterns often associated with disabilities. This includes speech affected by Lou Gehrig’s disease or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, and Down syndrome. In effect, many individuals in these and other communities may be unable to benefit from the latest speech recognition tools.
Speech Accessibility Project
405 N Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801