A voice command device is a device controlled by means of the human voice. By removing the need to use button

Button

In modern clothing and fashion design, a button is a small fastener, most commonly made of plastic, but also frequently of seashell, which secures two pieces of fabric together. In archaeology, a button can be a significant artifact. In the applied arts and in craft, a button can be an example of...

s, dials and switch

Switch

In electronics, a switch is an electrical component that can break an electrical circuit, interrupting the current or diverting it from one conductor to another....

es, consumers can easily operate appliances with their hands full or while doing other tasks.

The first examples in home appliance

Home appliance

Home appliances are electrical/mechanical machines which accomplish some household functions, such as cooking or cleaning. Home appliances can be classified into:*Major appliances, or White goods*Small appliances, or Brown goods...

s are washing machine

Washing machine

A washing machine is a machine designed to wash laundry, such as clothing, towels and sheets...

s that allows consumers to operate washing controls through vocal commands

Command (computing)

In computing, a command is a directive to a computer program acting as an interpreter of some kind, in order to perform a specific task. Most commonly a command is a directive to some kind of command line interface, such as a shell....

, and mobile phones with voice-activated dialing.

Newer VCDs are speaker-independent, so they can respond to multiple voices, regardless of accent or dialectal influences. They are also capable of responding to several commands at once, separating vocal messages and providing appropriate feedback

Feedback

Feedback describes the situation when output from an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or occurrences of the same Feedback describes the situation when output from (or information about the result of) an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or...

, accurately imitating a natural conversation. They can understand around 50 different commands and retain up to 2 minutes of vocal messages.

Voice command software products

• Microsoft Voice Command
  Microsoft Voice Command
  Microsoft Voice Command is an application which can control Windows Mobile devices by voice. The first version was announced in November 2003. The latest version is 1.6, for the United Kingdom, United States, France, and Germany and is a free upgrade for users of previous versions.As of May 20,...
  
   for PDA
  Personal digital assistant
  A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
  
  s
• Speech recognition in operating systems such as Windows Vista
  Windows Vista
  Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
  
   and Mac OS X
  Mac OS X
  Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
  
  
• Dragon Naturally Speaking for Windows