"You can use voice recognition to access your account", they said. "No, that wouldn't work for me", I said, or rather croaked. "Oh, but it's more secure than remembering passwords and access codes and memorable information," they said. Me: "croak, whisper, cough". Them: "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"
One of the most inconvenient aspects of the combination of chronic conditions I have is the unreliability of my voice. After having pneumonia last year I completely lost it for over a month, and that was very difficult. You can't respond to people who are calling to you from a different room, or walking away from you while asking you a question, or not looking at you when you nod or shake your head. Phone calls are not always possible.
My voice has returned, but it isn't great. It is non-existent first thing in the morning, it improves a bit during the day, it is not great in the evening. Sometimes it suddenly returns at full strength and it is then too loud and sounds aggressive. Sometimes what comes out is a weird bark like an angry duck. Because people can't understand me I am constantly being asked to repeat myself, and as talking can make it all worse I am learning not to initiate unnecessary conversations or make light-hearted throwaway remarks that were only mildly amusing in the first place and don't stand up to multiple repetition.
Voice recognition is one of the tech industry's new toys, however, and none of the institutions investing in it seems to want to hear about the downside. I would like to think that, happily, there are not many people living with this annoying and inconvenient condition, in which case I will be in a minority, shut out of accounts (apparently even HMRC are using it), and maybe the whole Internet one day.
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