Implementing Speech Recognition in Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality (VR) is becoming an important tool in the engineering product development process. The virtual environment provides the user with the ability to interact with three-dimensional digital representations of products using natural head and hand motions. While interacting with digital objects in VR seems natural, the use of traditional twodimensional menu systems does not always provide a convenient interface to controlling task specifications in the three-dimensional space. New human-computer-interfaces are needed for this emerging VR design tool. This paper will present the details of implementing a speaker-independent, command and control, speech recognition menuing system for a virtual reality application. The menuing system will be described as it is incorporated into a virtual environment for the design of spatial mechanisms. Design and technical issues involved in the interface creation process are discussed and the resulting interaction system is described.