Ask HN: Typing by saying numbers
Looking at the ascii chart, it seems like nearly all my text input can be done by memorizing 100 numbers.
Would it be possible and would it be useful to have an app/input driver that has an open mic that recognizes numbers and converts to the corresponding ascii code for text input.
I envision something where I can say numbers in rapid succession at the same rate as someone saying a lock combination (no pause between numbers) and the letter is instantly typed in a textbox.
72 69 76 76 79 32 87 79 82 76 68 10
"HELLO WORLD<cr>"
I've started to research speech recognition. I downloaded pocketsphinx and ran it's continuous mode. It was too slow to recognize and the recognition was poor. I read that I can change the 'silence wait time' between words, so that might be one route.
I then started to tinker with spectograms. It seems like there is a slight pattern difference between the numbers 1-10 (six and seven probably look most similar surprisingly). The width of the band might be the telltale sign (since it takes longer to say).
Before going down this rabbit hole further, I'm reaching out to the community for advice since I know there are people who have worked in the area of voice recognition..
Questions:
1. Is it feasible to write something that can instantly recognize numbers with training? For example, it takes me around 7 seconds to say the "HELLO WORLD" above, which seems slow, but is close to the same rate as if I forced myself to pretend like I was typing with a single finger and looking at the keyboard.
2. Would something like this be useful?
Thanks for any advice