Voice-enabled internet radio Android application

Abstract

Smartphones had become such an essential item of our modern society that almost everyone in the world owns a smartphone. One of the reason smartphones had become so popular was due to the mobile applications that can be used in the smartphones. Applications were constantly being developed by developers and placed in the App Store or Google Play Store. A look at Google Play store revealed that the marketplace had countless of mobile applications. Despite this, there were hardly any application that was designed for the needs of the visually handicapped.

Like anyone of us, the visually handicapped deserved to enjoy the privileges of a smartphone, to enjoy music etc. However, the currently applications out in the market were developed more for the normal users. These applications were operated solely by touch and it requires the sight of a human being in order to operate the application smoothly. With the current advancement in technology, it is possible to create an application that suits the needs of the visually handicapped users. An example of such technology which can be made use is the speech recognition.

This project attempts to design an entertainment application which integrates with the speech recognition technology to enable visually handicapped users to listen music, podcast and radio stations without the need of complicated step by step of clicking.

The application shall leverage on the advanced technology of a smart phone, namely the speech recognition. With the integration of other technology, such as the media player, the application shall provide an entertainment player for visually handicapped users to use at ease and may this application inspired more developers to develop application for the needys.

Programming of the application was done using the Android SDK in the Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE). The application was written using Java Language. The application is successful in providing speech recognition as a replacement for the normal touch and clicking to operate the application. It also fulfilled its objective of providing the visually handicapped users, an entertainment player which allows them to listen to music by the command of speech. An entertainment player with a simple GUI yet user friendly. However, there are some functions of the proposed design that have yet to be added. Owing to the limitations of Android, certain potential features could not be developed. Thus, this provides a gateway for the future growth of the application.