Peer-reviewed research

Comparing Speech and Keyboard Text Entry for Short Messages in Two Languages on Touchscreen Phones

Sherry Ruan et al., Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (IMWUT), 2018 · DOI 10.1145/3161187

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Read on October 16, 2026

What it is: A controlled laboratory study from Stanford University and the University of Washington that timed people entering short messages on an Apple iPhone 6 Plus, once with the built-in iOS keyboard and once with Baidu's Deep Speech 2 speech recognizer, in English and in Mandarin Chinese. It measured entry speed in words per minute and error rates during and after entry.
How much weight it carries: Peer-reviewed in an ACM journal and widely cited as the reference comparison of speech and phone typing. Its limits: a small sample, short phrases rather than long documents, a quiet lab, and a 2016 recognizer. Modern recognizers are more accurate, so the measured speed gap is more likely a floor than a ceiling.

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The Ruan authors say that results in non-laboratory settings still need study, for both speech and keyboard entry.
“further study is required to quantify performance in non-laboratory settings for both methods” (Abstract)
The revised Ruan paper says upper-bound speech recognition performance has greatly improved compared with prior systems.
“upper-bound speech recognition performance has greatly improved compared to prior systems” (Abstract)
In the same study, Mandarin Chinese entered by speech reached 123 words per minute, against 43 words per minute with the Pinyin keyboard, 2.87 times faster.
“the Mandarin Chinese input rate was 2.87 times faster (123 vs. 43 WPM) than the keyboard for short message transcription” (Abstract)
In a controlled study on an iPhone, English text entered by speech reached 153 words per minute, against 52 words per minute on the built-in keyboard, 2.93 times faster.
“the English input rate was 2.93 times faster (153 vs. 52 WPM)” (Abstract)
In the same study, Mandarin Chinese text entered with the built-in Pinyin keyboard reached 43 words per minute, against 123 words per minute by speech.
“the Mandarin Chinese input rate was 2.87 times faster (123 vs. 43 WPM)” (Abstract)
In the same controlled study on an iPhone, English text entered on the built-in QWERTY keyboard reached 52 words per minute, against 153 words per minute by speech.
“the English input rate was 2.93 times faster (153 vs. 52 WPM)” (Abstract)
Speech produced fewer errors during entry than the phone keyboard (5.30% vs 11.22% corrected error rate) but left slightly more errors in the final text (1.30% vs 0.79% uncorrected error rate).
“although speech made fewer errors during entry (5.30% vs. 11.22% corrected error rate), it left slightly more errors in the final transcribed text (1.30% vs. 0.79% uncorrected error rate)” (Abstract)

Comparing Speech and Keyboard Text Entry for Short Messages in Two Languages on Touchscreen Phones

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Comparing Speech and Keyboard Text Entry for Short Messages in Two Languages on Touchscreen Phones

Facts taken from this source

Pages that rest on this source