/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24397183/DSC08288.jpg "New HomePod reviews show the tech media has some work to do when it comes to judging affordability")
The arrival of the second generation HomePod provides another opportunity to recognize the accessibility of the smart speaker for people with disabilities. In addition to ecosystem-based services such as Handoff, Apple supports various device accessibility features; includes VoiceOver, touch positioning and more. This is an important distinction to make, as I have already made in this area. This column is just a forum for that.
This is important to note because frankly, most reviewers don't.
As a lifelong stutterer who has always felt that digital assistants and smart speakers in general have been left out of their voice-centric interface paradigm, I'm disappointed that my peers in the review racket consistently undervalue the component's current vocal use. . these devices. . This is understandable. it is difficult, if not impossible, to consider a point of view that you may not fully understand. Still, there is room for empathy , and indeed empathy is ultimately what serious DEI initiatives must reflect, how privileged most journalists (and their readers) are to effortlessly shout on air and have Alexa or Siri: or Google Assistant working quickly .
Check out the HomePod 2 reviews that were released earlier this week ahead of the product's general availability starting Friday. Each, both in print and on YouTube, focuses only on sound quality. While this makes perfect sense, it's frustrating to see how everyone doesn't say a word about speaker accessibility or how verbally accessible Siri can be to someone with a speech delay. Again, experience is hard, but empathy is not. In other words, there are very real and very important features of Apple's new smart speaker that are largely overlooked because it is assumed (albeit correctly, given how language patterns are usually learned) that one can intelligently interact with it. The elephant in the room is something that can tell a lot more about the HomePod story. It's counterintuitive to many, but it's not just about sound quality, intelligence, computer voice or the ecosystem.
Of course, the responsibility does not lie only with the technical press. Smart speaker manufacturers such as Apple, Amazon, Google, Sonos and others must contribute on a technical level to make HomePod more accessible to people with speech impairments. In early October, I reported that tech heavyweights Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft were teaming up to "make Voltron blush" as part of a University of Illinois initiative to make audio products more accessible to users. people with speech disorders. The Speech Accessibility Project is described as "a new research initiative to make speech recognition technology more usable for people with different speech patterns and disabilities." The basic idea here is that modern speech patterns favor typical speech that makes sense to the masses, but critically exclude those who speak in atypical speech patterns. Therefore, it is extremely important for engineers to make the technology as complete as possible by transferring the most diverse data sets to artificial intelligence.
“There are millions of Americans who have speech disorders or disabilities. Most of us find it easy enough to communicate with digital assistants, but for people with less understanding there can be a barrier to access," Clarion Mendez, clinical professor of speech and hearing sciences and speech therapist. before the report in October. " This initiative [Speech Accessibility Project] reduces the digital divide for people with disabilities. Expanding access and removing barriers means improved quality of life and greater autonomy. As we embark on this project, the voices and needs of people in the disabled community will be central as they share their reactions."
Astute readers will notice what Mendes ends up expressing: compassion.
It should be noted that the purpose of this article is not to throw my colleagues and friends under the bus and discredit their work. They are not insensitive people. The point here is that as a person who stutters, I feel extremely marginalized and underrepresented when I look at, say, MKBHD shortcuts for Syria or whatever without problems. Overall, the smart speaker category has long seemed remarkable to me just because of the speech problem. The anxiety doesn't go away just because Apple's HomePod lineup sounds great and fits my HomeKit usage perfectly. These are issues that Apple (and its contemporaries) will have to deal with in the long run in order to create the most complete digital assistant possible. Software tools like Siri Pause Time, a new feature in iOS 16 that allows users to tell Siri how long to wait until a person stops talking to respond, are limited in their current effectiveness. The problem is that he works around the problem instead of meeting it at the source. Put a panel on something that needs more complex care.
Overall, the new HomePod reviews show so well that the tech media still has a long way to go, despite the great strides made recently, to truly embrace accessibility as a core component of everyday coverage. . Lead reviewers should not be expected to suddenly become experts in assistive technologies for material evaluation; it is not realistic. However , it is too realistic to expect editors and writers to seek knowledge they do not have. Conceptually (and in practice) this is no different than the media's investment in other social justice programs such as AAPI and black communities, which is especially important these days given recent events.
If reviewers can complain endlessly about Siri's apparent stupidity, it would not be an exaggeration to acknowledge Siri's lack of grace when analyzing atypical speech. Nor should it be like pulling teeth when journalists are asked to regularly publish more detailed accounts of products and more reviews. The disability view is not esoteric. it is important . The inclusion of people with disabilities (and journalists with disabilities) has long been prominent in the technical departments of newsrooms around the world. Affordability also deserves a seat at the table.
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