Speech based user interface for users with special needs

The number of people using computers is permanently increasing in last years. Not all potential users have all capabilities that allow them to use computers without obstacles. This is especially true for handicapped and elderly users. For this class of users a special approach for design and implementation of user interfaces is needed. The missing capabilities of these users must be substituted by capabilities that these users have. In most of cases the use of sounds and speech offers a natural solution to this problem. In the paper the outline of problems related to special user interfaces will be discussed. In further the examples of application of user interfaces using special forms of speech and related acoustic communication will be given.