Fact · Accessibility and health
In a 1995 study of 29 university students with learning disabilities, essays written with a speech recognition system received significantly higher holistic scores than essays written without assistance.
Checked against its source on October 16, 2026
In the source's own words
“University students with learning disabilities (n=29) wrote essays either without assistance, using human transcribers, or using a speech recognition system. Students received significantly higher holistic scores using speech recognition than without assistance”
Compensatory Effectiveness of Speech Recognition on the Written Composition Performance of Postsecondary Students with Learning Disabilities, Eleanor L. Higgins and Marshall H. Raskind, Learning Disability Quarterly (ERIC record EJ516141), 1995, ERIC abstract.
Open the original- What it measures
- A holistic score is a single overall rating of an essay's quality. The abstract adds that text analysis suggests speech recognition may have encouraged the use of longer words. A third condition used a human transcriber (scribe).
- What it does not show
- Small sample from a single study and mid-1990s speech recognition software, far less accurate than current dictation tools. The ERIC abstract does not report effect sizes.
Source
Cited on
- Speech to Text for Accessibility, RSI and DisabilitiesTopic
- Dictation for Work: Doctors, Lawyers, Writers, StudentsTopic
- Speech to Text for Dyslexia and DysgraphiaGuide
- Speech to Text for Students With DisabilitiesGuide
- Does dictation help students write better?Question
- Is text to speech or speech to text better for dyslexia?Question
- Is voice recognition software an assistive technology?Question
- What typing speed do you need for law school?Question
- DysgraphiaGlossary
- Section 504 planGlossary