A voice is a powerful thing: each person, of all the billions on our planet, has a unique sounding voice. Each voice carries its own inflection, its own areas of dipping and falling, and its own tones. Before anything was ever written or drawn– before there were symbols to represent our understanding of the world– communication happened through sound. Stories were told audibly and sometimes through song. In some mythologies, stories told through voice actually creates things, sets them into motion. In a world with so much technology as the medium for our communication, it can feel like a return to a kind of authenticity just to hear someone’s voice and be present with that person.

We use our voices in all kinds of ways to communicate these days, from expression of thoughts to business correspondences, and technology has caught up to how important voice is in our everyday lives. Voice-recognition software takes the pitch of each particular voice and memorizes it, learns to recognize it. Transcribing something with your voice onto a tiny, efficient device, leaves your hands free; it’s particularly helpful in times of travel and transit. That way, instead of thinking about the long list of things you have to do while you’re driving, you can either dictate the list to the device or actually tackle some of those very tasks through transcription.

Voice recognition software means you can talk directly into the phone or computer and the words you say will appear. You can write emails while driving and sipping coffee. You can take notes down for an upcoming meeting or reflections on a previous one. In short, you can keep in touch with your tasks in a tangible and easier way than having only to type or punch numbers on a phone.

Technology has realized how vital our voices are and has adapted to help us utilize them in even more ways in today’s world.