Breaking Down Barriers: Improving Accessibility for Virtual Meetings

Webex & Voiceitt enhance accessibility in the workplace for people with non-standard speech

Accessibility is crucial in the workplace. In virtual meetings, it ensures that everyone, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, can participate fully and engage with the discussion. But according to a survey conducted by the Disability:IN, over 60% of respondents reported experiencing accessibility barriers in virtual meetings. ^[1] In order to create a more accessible workplace that values diversity and ensures everyone’s voices are heard, Webex is excited to share a step towards more inclusive meetings.

Beginning today, Webex is launching a new integration that gives people with non-standard speech a better way to participate in meetings. To accomplish this, Webex has partnered with Voiceitt, a leading speech recognition technology for non-standard speech, to bring new accessibility capabilities to meetings.

The new integration gives people with speech impairments a way to speak and be understood during virtual meetings through innovative AI captioning and transcription from Voiceitt, which can be easily embedded into the Webex meeting experience.

“Cisco’s commitment to inclusive collaboration is aligned with Voiceitt’s mission to make voice AI accessible to people with non-standard speech,” says Sara Smolley, Voiceitt co-founder and Vice President, Strategic Partnerships. “The integration with Webex is game-changing because it creates more independence for users with disabilities, while increasing the potential for more collaborative, inclusive work environments. True collaboration means everyone at the table has a voice.”

Voiceitt’s web-based application uses proprietary speech technology to allow non-standard speakers or users with disabilities, degenerative disease or brain injuries, developmental disorders, aging-related speech changes, and even challenging dialects to communicate accurately and flexibly. The technology is adaptive; it learns the patterns of an individual user’s speech and applies machine learning algorithms informed by a growing database of proprietary non-standard speech recordings.

Voiceitt for Webex is available now in the Webex Hub, and can be used to make Webex meetings even more inclusive today.

And beginning later this year, the Voiceitt experience will be further integrated into the Webex platform to enhance closed captioning capabilities for transcription accuracy for all Webex users with non-standard speech patterns.

Accessibility in the workplace ensures that all employees, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, have equal opportunities to perform their tasks effectively and contribute to the success of the organization. Webex is dedicated to collaborating with innovative partners and building accessible products to meet the evolving needs of our customers.

^[1] Disability Equality Index Report, 2022, https://disability.IN.org