The study of the sounds of human speech. Phonetics examines how speech sounds are produced, transmitted, and perceived.

Phonetics plays a key role in how we interact with technology, especially in voice recognition and speech-to-text tools. For Black, Indigenous, immigrant/refugee, and disability communities, phonetics can help ensure technology accounts for diverse and culturally specific speech patterns and communication styles. Historically, voice recognition systems have been designed around standardized accents, often leading to the erasure of these communities’ speech patterns. The challenge is that these systems may fail to recognize the cultural specificity or diversity of accents, dialects, and speech. However, planning ahead by preparing phonetic breakdowns of names, terms, and phrases that are culturally specific or unfamiliar to mainstream tools can support more accessible events. This preparation can assist access support teams like captioners, notetakers, and ASL interpreters, ensuring they can better follow and represent the speech of participants. By incorporating these nuances into event planning, technology and human support systems can align to create more improved experiences for various users. This approach can help voice technologies and access tools better reflect the cultural and linguistic diversity of participants, ensuring smoother communication.