Voice & Speech Recognition Solutions for Your Product. Does It Pay off?

Once voice recognition features were associated with disabilities, now, they are empowering. More and more people appreciate smart apps and devices that can listen and respond. Moreover, over the next few years, the global speaker market is expected to grow by more than 15 times, filling homes, offices, and manufacturing facilities with IoT devices and apps.

We’re used to voice assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri, but with time, they will expand into every corner of our routines, starting with light switches, thermostats, appliances, and more. Thus, you might question yourself whether to integrate voice recognition into mobile app now to get a competitive advantage?

At Devox Software, we’re dealing with several voice & speech recognition projects per year. This material has gathered our practical insights and professional tips and tricks to let you know when and how to integrate voice recognition in app. Ready to dive in? Let’s get down to the details.

What Is Voice & Speech Recognition Exactly?

Voice recognition technology allows devices to understand and interpret human speech. As a result, voice-enriched apps let users give commands, ask questions, or make requests hands-free.

Speech recognition, on the other hand, is a step up. It processes not just commands but comprehends the full context of spoken language, including accents, tone, and intent. Both technologies have made significant strides thanks to advancements in AI, machine learning, and cloud computing.

Although voice & speech recognition features are closely intertwined with smart speakers, the market is moving far beyond those. New products, such as microwaves, alarm clocks, and even light bulbs, are being launched with voice control. That’s why many producers seek to integrate voice recognition into mobile app of their hardware. Let’s consider what for.

Voice Features Use Cases

Today, there are many ways to use voice technology in your product. However, if you want to integrate voice recognition into mobile app, you must keep in mind the need for its hardware-supporting components, including microphones, digital signal processing chips, etc. In most cases, the product managers define the following use cases of voice features:

• Hands-Free Device Control: Voice control can be as simple as commanding “turn on/off” or any. Moreover, you can integrate voice recognition as authorization into mobile app. All of these interactions often don’t require an internet connection or even an advanced processor.
• AI Assistant Integration: Integrating voice interaction can also connect a device to popular AI assistants, enhancing functionality with full assistant capabilities.
• Environmental Sensing: Microphones capture more than just speech. They can detect environmental sounds, measure noise levels, and even create rules based on these measurements, allowing for more dynamic interactions and smart automation.
• Accessibility and User Engagement: Voice recognition enhances app usability for individuals with disabilities, providing easier navigation and control, while creating a more interactive and dynamic experience, boosting user satisfaction and engagement for everyone.
• Faster Execution: Voice commands enable quicker completion of tasks, like searching for information or sending messages, compared to typing.
• Personalization: Voice-enabled apps can be tailored to recognize specific user commands, making interactions more intuitive and seamless.

Although the usage of voice features is versatile, let’s break down what benefits it brings for developers and users.

What Benefits Does Voice Recognition Bring?

As we’ve described above, voice interaction isn’t just about turning devices on and off. It unlocks a new level of user experience and product value.

Multi-Device Sessions

Voice allows seamless continuity across devices. For example, a user could begin a conversation with an AI-powered voice assistant in the living room and pick it up in the kitchen without missing a beat. This level of interaction creates a more natural, uninterrupted experience, especially in systems equipped with multiple connected devices.

User Insights

Apart from listening, microphones can teach you about your users. Voice-enabled products capture usage patterns like command frequency and question types. As a result, you get more data to refine UX, uncover unmet needs, and build more intuitive products based on real-world behavior.

Environmental Sensing

Voice technology also lets products become more context-aware. By detecting ambient sound, devices gauge room occupancy, adapt to noise levels, or identify specific sound events. This capability improves automation and opens up new ways to personalize the experience. In particular, it could be lowering the volume when someone enters a quiet room and vice versa.

Now, let’s move to the main part, namely, when to integrate voice recognition into mobile app of yours.

When to Integrate Voice & Speech Recognition

Nevertheless, adding voice has its challenges. For instance, as for hardware, you’ll face increased bill of materials (BOM) costs, longer development timelines, and potential legal issues around data privacy. No need to mention hardware updates, tooling, certification, and liability.

Security is another major concern. To comply with standards, devices need physical mute buttons, visual indicators when listening, data encryption, and robust authentication protocols to avoid hacking risks.

Furthermore, there’s also a brand concern. If your product responds to “Alexa,” it adds brand scores to Amazon, not your company.

As a result, when deciding whether to incorporate voice, you need to weigh the pros and cons of the decision to integrate voice recognition into mobile app or not. All in all, voice recognition is just another input method. Like touch, gesture, or other control interfaces, voice recognition must add to the user experience, not reduce it.

Use it if it simplifies product control for users, breaking down barriers between different AI assistants by consolidating them into one device. And avoid it, if it feels like an additional feature that devours your budget.

Final Thought: Voice as One of Many Interfaces

If you seek how to integrate voice recognition in app with different tones, think of voice not as a replacement, but as one part of a modern interface stack. Since voice and speech recognition needs more developed hardware, it could be a wrongful decision to implement it without enough time and budget support. Moreover, voice and speech recognition could boost user engagement only if it adds functionality, not exhausts it.

So, if you’re considering voice, now’s the time to plan strategically — not just to keep up, but to stay ahead.