Voice-Controlled Email Management System for Visually

Impaired people
Prof. Amruta Mankawde, Darshan Chordiya, Gauri Deo, Pranav Deo, Samiksha Deokate, Chetana
Ingale

Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune, 411037, Maharashtra, India

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract — Voice-controlled systems are vital in enhancing
accessibility for individuals with disabilities. However, managing The paper Voice-Based Email Assistant for Visually Impaired
digital communication remains a significant challenge for visually presents an innovative solution for visually impaired users to
impaired users. This project presents a Voice-Controlled Email manage emails via voice commands. Utilizing speech-to-text
Management System, specifically designed to provide seamless, (STT) and text-to-speech (TTS) technologies, the system
hands-free interaction for users with limited mobility or visual enables hands-free navigation, composition, and email
impairments. By utilizing advanced speech recognition technology,
the system simplifies tasks such as email navigation, composition,
management. It employs IMAP protocols for seamless email
and organization through intuitive voice commands. It effectively handling and interactive voice prompts for enhanced user
addresses key shortcomings of traditional email systems, including experience. While addressing accessibility challenges, the study
manual navigation, time inefficiency, and complex interfaces. The emphasizes the need for further advancements to improve
proposed solution features a minimalistic and accessibility-focused multilingual support and compatibility with diverse email
design, enhancing usability and efficiency. Developed using servers[3].
Python’s IMAP library, the system is validated through real-world
email scenarios, demonstrating its ability to improve accessibility
and streamline digital communication for visually impaired users. The study Voice-Based Email System for the Visually
This work represents a significant advancement in creating Challenged focuses on the development of an inclusive email
inclusive and efficient digital communication solutions platform that leverages speech-to-text (STT) and text-to-speech
(TTS) technologies. By integrating advanced voice recognition
and natural language processing (NLP), the system allows
I. INTRODUCTION visually impaired users to manage emails through spoken
commands, eliminating reliance on visual interfaces. Utilizing
Effective communication is essential in today’s digital era, yet
IMAP and SMTP protocols ensures seamless email handling,
managing emails can be a significant challenge for visually
while a user-friendly voice-guided interface enhances
impaired individuals. Traditional email systems often rely on
accessibility. The research highlights the limitations of existing
complex interfaces and manual navigation, making them
solutions, such as dependency on specific languages and
inaccessible and time-consuming for users with limited mobility
services, and emphasizes the need for scalable, inclusive
or visual impairments. This highlights the need for an inclusive
designs【17】
solution that addresses these barriers and ensures equitable
access to digital communication tools. This project introduces a
Voice-Controlled Email Management System, designed to The paper Voice-Based Email for the Visually Impaired
enhance accessibility and usability for visually impaired users. highlights a system utilizing speech-to-text (STT) and text-to-
By leveraging speech recognition technology, the system speech (TTS) technologies to enable visually impaired users to
enables seamless, hands-free interaction, simplifying tasks such efficiently manage emails through voice commands. The
as email navigation, composition, and organization. It addresses proposed solution integrates IMAP and SMTP protocols for
key limitations of existing email systems, including their seamless email handling and employs voice-guided prompts for
dependence on physical input, time inefficiency, and overly user interaction. The study emphasizes the challenges of
complex interface. The proposed solution is developed with a traditional email systems for visually impaired individuals and
minimalistic, accessibility-focused design, ensuring ease of use demonstrates how the proposed application improves
while maintaining comprehensive functionality. Implemented accessibility by eliminating the need for visual interfaces and
using Python's IMAP library, the system is validated through providing auditory feedback for email management tasks【23
real-world scenarios, demonstrating its capability to make email 】.
communication more inclusive, efficient, and user-friendly for
visually impaired individuals. This project represents a III. METHODOLOGY/EXPERIMENTAL
significant step toward empowering individuals with disabilities
and fostering a more accessible digital environment. Researching the requirements and challenges faced by visually
impaired users while accessing emails and determining the
necessary features required for the applications such as 4.3 Authentication Module
composing, sending, receiving, replying, forwarding and • Voice-Based Login: Users provide their credentials
deleting emails using voice instructions. Implement the TTS verbally, which are processed through the STT module
and STT conversion features and test them with sample data to and validated by matching them with stored credentials
ensure accuracy and reliability. .
• Applications: Django is a web framework that is • Voice Recognition: For enhanced security, the system
supported by high level Python which uplifts fast uses voice biometrics, comparing real-time voice input
development and clean, realistic design. Django was with securely stored pre-recorded samples. Python’s
built by skillful developers, it which simplifies task machine learning libraries ensure accurate voice
like database management, URL routing and template pattern matching for reliable authentication.
renting. It’s free of cost and available for everyone. .
• Voice & Text Recognition Library: Speech and text 4.4.Email Management Module
recognition is the ability of device software to • Composing Emails: Users can dictate the recipient’s
recognize words and phrases in spoken language and email address, subject, and message, which are
translate them to human-understandable text. We can processed through STT, formatted, and sent via the
convert voice to text and vice versa in Python using the smtplib library. Error prompts assist in correcting
Voice and Text recognition library. details to ensure successful delivery.
• Play Sound & Play Audio Library: Play sound • Reading Emails: The system uses the imaplib library
library goal is to process audio that simplifies tasks to fetch email details, including the sender, subject, and
related to working with audio files. It is a cross body, which are then read aloud to the user through the
platform and single function module with no TTS module.
dependencies for playing sounds. If you want to play a .
sound file, then this will do it. You can play a sound • Inbox Navigation and Management: Users can
with a line command. navigate emails with commands like “Next,”
• PYTTXS3: It is a module that is used for TTS “Previous,” or “Read,” and perform actions such as
conversion in Python. Unlike many other TTS archiving, replying, or deleting. System prompts guide
libraries, it works without internet and is compatible users through available options at each stage.
with both Python 2 and 3. 4.5.Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System:
• IMAP Client: It actually uses the IMAP library from • Guided Navigation: The IVR system offers step-by-
the standard Python under the hood, it gives a different step guidance to users, ensuring ease of use. It provides
API. It performs extra parsing work, readily usable and context-specific prompts such as "Say 'compose' to
uses sensible Python types. write an email" or "Say 'delete' to remove an email,"
• SMTP: The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) adapting automatically based on user actions.
is the common protocol used for transferring mails • Error Handling: If a command is not recognized, the
over the internet. It's like the postal service for emails, system prompts users with suggestions for valid
ensuring that messages are delivered from the sender commands or requests them to repeat their input.
to the recipient's email server. • Customization Options: Users can adjust the speech
• rate, volume, and language settings to suit their
4.1Requirements/Analysis: preferences
• software requirements include Python with libraries .
like SpeechRecognition, pyttsx3, imaplib, and smtplib,
alongside the Google Speech-to-Text API for enhanced 4.6 Implementation Steps
voice processing accuracy. • Voice Input and Processing:
• hardware requirements are a computer or mobile Implement voice_input_processing.py to capture user
device equipped with a microphone and speaker for commands and convert them into actionable text using the STT
voice-based interaction module.
• Text-to-Speech Conversion:
4.2. Speech Processing Module Develop tts_output.py to provide audio feedback for system
• Speech-to-Text (STT): The system uses Speech-to- responses and email content.
Text (STT) to convert voice commands into text for • Email Management Functions:
tasks like email composition and navigation, enhanced Use email_functions.py to handle operations such as sending,
by noise handling for accuracy. Text-to-Speech (TTS) receiving, and deleting emails.
converts emails and responses into speech, ensuring
• Authentication:
hands-free, accessible interaction.
Execute authenticator.py to verify user credentials through
voice input or biometric matching.
.
• Interactive Prompts:
Configure ivr_prompts.py to guide users through the system intuitive nature of the voice interface and the system's ease of
with contextual audio instructions. use.
Error Management: c)Efficiency and Response Time: The system showed
Develop error_manager.py to manage unrecognized inputs and significant improvements in efficiency, with a 30% reduction in
ensure seamless operation. email composition time compared to traditional methods. Voice
commands reduced the time spent navigating menus or typing,
4.7 Testing and Validation enabling faster task completion. The average response time for
Usability Testing: composing, reading, and sending emails was consistently low,
Conducted with visually impaired users to evaluate the system’s even on devices with limited computational power.
accessibility and functionality. D)Error Handling and Robustness: The system demonstrated
Feedback was collected to refine prompts, improve voice robust error-handling capabilities, where misinterpreted
recognition accuracy, and enhance navigation. commands or unclear speech inputs were addressed by re-
Performance Metrics: prompts, minimizing user frustration. The system performed
Measure the accuracy of the STT and TTS modules under well under various user conditions, including different speech
varying conditions such as different accents and background patterns and accents, showcasing its adaptability.
noise.
Evaluate email operation success rates and system response
times. f)Comparison with Existing Solutions:
Cross-Platform Testing: • When compared to existing assistive technologies,
Ensure compatibility across multiple platforms, including such as screen readers and traditional voice-to-text
desktops and smartphones applications, the proposed voice-based email system
outperformed in several aspects, including task
completion speed, user accessibility, and accuracy.
• The system's integration with popular email platforms
(e.g., Gmail, Outlook) allowed users to not only
compose and send emails but also to perform more
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS advanced tasks such as reading received messages,
The objective of this research was to design and develop a organizing emails into folders, and searching for
voice-based email system for visually impaired individuals, specific content—all via voice commands.
aiming to improve accessibility and efficiency in email
communication. The proposed system integrates speech
recognition, natural language processing (NLP), and text-to-
speech (TTS) technologies to enable hands-free email V.CONCLUSION
composition, reading, and management.
This research developed a voice-based email system to address
Experiments were conducted across a variety of scenarios to the communication barriers faced by visually impaired
assess the system’s performance in real-world environments, individuals. By integrating speech recognition, natural language
including varying noise levels, user characteristics, and device processing, and text-to-speech technologies, the system allows
types. The evaluation was based on multiple performance users to independently compose, read, and manage emils hands-
metrics such as recognition accuracy, response time, user free. The results show high accuracy, user satisfaction, and
satisfaction, and error rate. increased efficiency, outperforming existing assistive
technologies. This solution significantly enhances digital
Key Findings: accessibility and independence for visually impaired users, with
a)Accuracy and Speech Recognition: The voice-based email future work aimed at refining its capabilities and expanding its
system demonstrated an average transcription accuracy of 92%, use across various platforms.
even in challenging environments with background noise. The
system effectively recognized user commands and transcribed
voice inputs into text with minimal errors. Accuracy was REFERENCES
particularly high for basic commands (e.g., composing and
sending emails), but slight challenges remained in handling 1. Dr. B. Esther Sunanda, Mallajyosula Sai Asritha, Matcha
complex sentence structures or highly technical vocabulary. Aruna, Mohammed Afsana Parveen, Mudunuri Keerthi
b)User Satisfaction: Post-test surveys and user feedback Tejaswi, Nallamothu Keerthi. Voice Based Email Assistant for
revealed a high level of satisfaction among visually impaired Visually Impaired. SSRN, 2023. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.4850424.
users. Approximately 85% of participants rated the system as 2. Satya Prakash, Kartikey Agrawal, Siddharth Dosaj,
“extremely useful,” citing the ability to send and manage emails Shatakshi Singh. Voice Based Email System for the Visually
independently as a significant enhancement to their Challenged. Amity School of Engineering and Technology,
dailyroutines. Participants expressed appreciation for the 2023. DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2982553/v1.
3. Aishwarya Belekar, Shivani Sunka, Neha Bhawar, Sudhir
Bagade. Voice Based E-mail for the Visually Impaired.
International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887),
Volume 175, Issue 16, September 2020. DOI:
10.5120/ijca2020920657.

4.P. A. Tiwari, P. Zodawan, H. P. Nimkar, T. Rotke, P. G.

Wanjari, and U. Samarth, “A Review on Voice based E-Mail
System for Blind,” Proceedings of the Fifth International
Conference on Inventive Computation Technologies (ICICT-
2020), IEEE, pp. 435-439, June 2020. DOI: 10.1109/ICICT-
2020.2020.9315394.

5. A. Suresh, B. Paulose, R. Jagan, and J. George, “Voice

Based Email for Blind,” International Journal of Scientific
Research in Science, Engineering and Technology (IJSRSET),
vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 93–97, May-June 2016.