This looks really useful; were any alternative designs considered? Can they be documented in the Explainer (per our usual format)?
Best, Alex On Thursday, May 28, 2026 at 10:24:52 AM UTC-7 Chromestatus wrote: > *Contact emails* > [email protected] > > *Explainer* > > https://github.com/WebAudio/web-speech-api/blob/main/explainers/unspoken-punctuation.md > > *Specification* > https://webaudio.github.io/web-speech-api > > *Summary* > Adds the unspokenPunctuation boolean attribute to the SpeechRecognition > interface of the Web Speech API. When enabled (true), this attribute > directs the speech recognition engine to automatically infer and insert > punctuation marks (such as periods, commas, and question marks) based on > the user's natural pauses, grammatical structure, and prosody, without > requiring explicit spoken punctuation commands. > > *Blink component* > Blink>Speech > <https://issues.chromium.org/issues?q=customfield1222907:%22Blink%3ESpeech%22> > > *Web Feature ID* > speech-recognition <https://webstatus.dev/features/speech-recognition> > > *Motivation* > Currently, developers building voice-enabled web applications—such as > casual dictation tools, automated transcription services, or conversational > assistants—receive raw, unpunctuated text streams from the Web Speech API. > To make this text readable and polished, developers are often forced to > implement and maintain complex downstream NLP models to infer basic > formatting. Additionally, from an end-user perspective, having to > explicitly dictate punctuation (e.g., stopping to say "comma" or "period") > disrupts the natural flow of continuous speech and significantly increases > cognitive load. Introducing the unspokenPunctuation attribute solves this > by moving automatic, prosody-aware punctuation directly into the browser's > speech recognition engine. This provides an intuitive, conversational voice > typing experience for users out-of-the-box, while dramatically lowering the > barrier to entry for developers building voice-driven web apps. > > *Initial public proposal* > *No information provided* > > *TAG review* > *No information provided* > > *TAG review status* > Not applicable > > *Goals for experimentation* > None > > *Risks* > > > *Interoperability and Compatibility* > *No information provided* > > *Gecko*: Positive ( > https://github.com/WebAudio/web-speech-api/issues/187#issuecomment-4479796822 > ) > > *WebKit*: No signal > > *Web developers*: No signals > > *Other signals*: > > *Ergonomics* > N/A > > *Activation* > N/A > > *Security* > N/A > > *WebView application risks* > > Does this intent deprecate or change behavior of existing APIs, such that > it has potentially high risk for Android WebView-based applications? > N/A, Not supported on Android > > > *Debuggability* > None required. > > *Will this feature be supported on all six Blink platforms (Windows, Mac, > Linux, ChromeOS, Android, and Android WebView)?* > No > On-device Web Speech is only supported on Mac, Windows, and Linux. > > *Is this feature fully tested by web-platform-tests > <https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/main/docs/testing/web_platform_tests.md>?* > Yes > > > *Flag name on about://flags* > *No information provided* > > *Finch feature name* > WebSpeechUnspokenPunctuation > > *Rollout plan* > Will ship enabled for all users > > *Requires code in //chrome?* > True > > *Tracking bug* > https://bugs.chromium.org/b/514764702 > > *Measurement* > N/A > > *Adoption expectation* > Feature is used by specific partner (Google Meet) to provide functionality > within 12 months of launch in Chrome. > > *Estimated milestones* > Shipping on desktop 151 > DevTrial on desktop 150 > > *Anticipated spec changes* > > Open questions about a feature may be a source of future web compat or > interop issues. Please list open issues (e.g. links to known github issues > in the project for the feature specification) whose resolution may > introduce web compat/interop risk (e.g., changing to naming or structure of > the API in a non-backward-compatible way). > > https://github.com/WebAudio/web-speech-api/pull/188/changes#diff-5e793325cd2bfc452e268a4aa2f02b4024dd9584bd1db3c2595f61f1ecf7b985 > > *Link to entry on the Chrome Platform Status* > https://chromestatus.com/feature/4785284026859520?gate=4835184634626048 > > This intent message was generated by Chrome Platform Status > <https://chromestatus.com>. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "blink-dev" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/blink-dev/c346dc48-c82d-4bc8-af4e-0a37e53845can%40chromium.org.
