Blind Connect - A Voice-based Email System

Email communication remains a significant challenge for visually impaired Email readers, particularly those with visual impairments, encounter considerable difficulties when using conventional email user interfaces due to their visual nature and reliance on text layout semantics. The paper presents Blind Connect, a voice-based email system designed to enable independent, email management through speech interaction. The system integrates Speech-to- Text (STT),Text-to-Speech (TTS), and Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies to allow users to compose, read, navigate, and manage emails using only voice commands. An Interactive Voice Response (IVR) module guides users through menu-driven interactions, while error detection and confirmation mechanisms ensure reliable command execution. Security features including voice-based authentication protect user data throughout the communication process. Testing with 100 visually impaired participants demonstrated 92% average speech recognition As a result, the system’s average accuracy is over 90% and response times average less than 2 seconds for most voice commands. User satisfaction ratings from the surveys are provided below:Our evaluation showed that 85% of users found the system easy to use, with particularly high ratings for the information search page and the personal health record. For English language interactions. The system achieved over 90% command execution success. Vocalizer 5 received a 4.5/5 rating for speech output clarity. Vocalizer 5’s accuracy was compromised in both noise and silence with all tested voices, when interacting with Franklin, and when accessing text-based applications, as described in detail in the full report noisy environments and with certain Hindi pronunciations, indicating areas for improvement. This work demonstrates that voice-driven email systems can effectively bridge the digital accessibility gap, providing visually impaired users with greater independence in digital communication.