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Debugging voice command accessibility features on Linux: inconsistent behavior across distributions

πŸ‘€ Views: 86 πŸ’¬ Answers: 1 πŸ“… Created: 2025-09-13
linux accessibility WCAG speech-recognition Python

I'm prototyping a solution and I need some guidance on I've looked through the documentation and I'm still confused about I'm working on a project and hit a roadblock... In the process of enhancing voice command features for a web application, I’ve hit a snag with the accessibility tools available on Linux. The goal is to make sure these features comply with WCAG 2.1 standards. However, while testing on Ubuntu 22.04 and Fedora 36, I've noticed inconsistent behavior with the speech recognition library, `SpeechRecognition`. For instance, the commands like 'open menu' work seamlessly on Ubuntu but fail to trigger any action on Fedora. Here's the snippet I’m utilizing to register voice commands: ```python import speech_recognition as sr recognizer = sr.Recognizer() with sr.Microphone() as source: print('Listening...') audio = recognizer.listen(source) try: command = recognizer.recognize_google(audio) print(f'You said: {command}') except sr.UnknownValueError: print('Could not understand audio') except sr.RequestError as e: print(f'Request failed: {e}') ``` I made sure to install the same version of `SpeechRecognition` (3.8.1) and the necessary dependencies using pip on both systems. Yet, the audio input seems to be less responsive on Fedora, as if it’s not picking up the microphone sensitivity correctly. I’ve also toggled the ALSA and PulseAudio settings without any improvement. To further diagnose, I ran some audio tests using `arecord` and confirmed that the microphone is functioning properly on both distributions. Additionally, I've verified the microphone permissions in the system settings. Despite checking everything, the issue remains elusive. Has anyone faced similar discrepancies when working with accessibility features on different Linux distributions? What steps could I take to ensure consistent performance across platforms? I'm working on a CLI tool that needs to handle this. Has anyone else encountered this? For context: I'm using Python on Ubuntu 22.04. Is there a simpler solution I'm overlooking? I'm using Python stable in this project. Thanks for any help you can provide!