Hands-free typing for the web: voice dictation for RSI, motor impairments, and dyslexia

If typing hurts, is slow, or is simply not an option, voice dictation is the most practical way to use the web. Speaking is three to four times faster than average typing, it removes the repetitive motion that aggravates RSI, and it bypasses the spelling and sequencing difficulties that make typing hard with dyslexia. The catch has always been coverage: dictation only helps if it works in the field you are staring at. That is the problem a browser extension solves.

Why does field-by-field coverage matter so much?

Most people who need hands-free input do not write long documents. They write dozens of short things all day: a reply in a support queue, a Jira comment, a Slack message, a form field on a government website, a search query. Accessibility features that only work in one specific app leave most of that day untouched.

An operating system dictation tool helps, but it frequently fights with web apps: focus jumps, the wrong field receives the text, or the recognition overlay refuses to appear inside a browser at all. The reliable pattern is a mic button attached to the field itself. You click the field, you click the mic, the text lands exactly where your cursor is. tautau works this way on every site Chrome can open, including the obscure internal tools and legacy portals that never get accessibility love.

Who benefits, and how?

Different conditions make typing hard for different reasons, and dictation helps each of them in a slightly different way.

• RSI and carpal tunnel: the goal is reducing keystrokes and mouse travel. Dictating the bulk of your text removes thousands of keystrokes a day, and a mic button means you are not hunting through menus to start it. Many people with RSI keep a hybrid rhythm: dictate the prose, tap the keys for the edits.
• Motor impairments: if fine keyboard control is limited or fatiguing, speaking replaces the most demanding interaction on the computer. One click to start, one to stop.
• Dyslexia: typing forces you to spell correctly at speed while watching your own mistakes pile up in red. Speaking separates composing from spelling entirely. Modern speech models produce correctly spelled output, so you can say what you mean and fix the occasional wrong word instead of wrestling every sentence.
• Temporary situations count too: a broken wrist, holding a baby, a shoulder injury. Accessibility needs come and go.

Practical tips for hands-free web use

A few habits make dictated browsing dramatically smoother, whatever your reason for using it.

• Pair dictation with keyboard navigation. Tab and Shift+Tab move between fields on almost every form, so you can move, dictate, and move on without touching the mouse.
• Speak punctuation as you go: "comma", "full stop", "new line". It feels odd for a day and then becomes automatic.
• Dictate in short bursts of one or two sentences. Recognition is faster and more accurate, and a mistake in a short clip costs seconds to fix.
• Keep a quiet baseline. A headset or dedicated USB microphone improves recognition a lot, and it also keeps shared offices and homes happier.
• Do a quick read-back before sending anything formal. Dictation is fast to produce and fast to proofread, and the proofread is where the polish happens.
• Expect an adjustment period of a day or two. Speaking your thoughts uses a slightly different muscle than typing them, and the first few dictations feel self-conscious. Most people report that by the end of the first week they reach for the mic without thinking, and the keyboard starts to feel like the slow option.

What about privacy?

Audio is sent over HTTPS only to be transcribed: it is not used to train models and not sold. Without an account, nothing is retained beyond the request. Signed-in users get a private, deletable history of transcripts and audio. The privacy policy on tautau.xyz spells it out in plain language.

Getting started

Install the extension from the Chrome Web Store, click into any field, and press the mic. The free tier gives you five dictations a day signed in, which is enough to find out whether hands-free browsing changes your working day. For heavier use, Base is $3 a month for 200 minutes and Pro covers 600. Your hands will notice the difference before your wallet does.