Unlocking Fun Experiments: Exploring the Web Speech API

Anna is a frontend developer at the agency Hattar and a member of the IndieWeb community. She spends her free time blogging and experimenting with web technologies.

The talk is about creating a gamified karaoke experience in a browser using the Web Speech API, focusing on speech recognition and its challenges and potential.

The Web Speech API is a browser API that includes speech recognition and speech synthesis functionalities. It is used for applications like form input, continuous dictation, and control.

Anna faced challenges with browser support, as the Web Speech API is not supported by all browsers and often requires server-based processing, which can cause privacy concerns and offline limitations.

The purpose of Anna's karaoke project is to create a more interactive and gamified karaoke experience using web technologies, particularly the Web Speech API, to enhance user engagement.

Limitations include lack of support across all browsers, reliance on server processing for some browsers, inability to work offline, and issues with privacy concerns.

Alternative projects include Tony Edwards' talk on using the Web Speech API for jotting down rhymes and Stephanie Eccles' 12 Days of Web Dev Challenge. There are also polyfills and projects like the Common Voice from Mozilla.

Anna advises that side projects don't need to be monetized or become open source to be valid. Building "useless" things can be fun and educational, and it's okay to create for personal satisfaction.

While it may not be widely used at work, the Web Speech API can be utilized for accessibility, voice interfaces, and experimental projects that explore the capabilities of speech recognition in web applications.

Anna mentions the Rasmus as a personal anecdote that inspired her to create a karaoke project since there was only one Rasmus song available at karaoke, which wasn't her favorite.