🚀 go-pugleaf

>>     The horrors of multi-person offices are too numerous to mention.  Not
>>to mention shouting "rm *" into a room crowded with voice recognition
>>terminals.
>
>The microphones could be insensitive ones (that don't pick up anything
>more than a foot away, and clipped on your lapel, or one of those boom
>arrangements that telephone operators use.  No problem.

Given that speaker-independent VR is harder than -dependent, I would
assume that a one-user voice profile would be common, for reasons both
of security and increased accuracy.

As a matter of fact, telephone operators work in conditions much more
crowded than professional programmers (roughly equivalent to the
typical student terminal room).  They use voice input devices, i.e.
their telephone headsets.  Chances are the earphones help in terms 
of their not distracting one another, but the microphones are
unshielded--there are no partitions between stations-- and crosstalk 
seems to be no problem at all.

Modern operator headsets are quite improved over those of even 20 
years ago, by the way.  They are not particularly onerous to wear 
for fairly extended periods of time.  One could imagine a headset 
connected to one's workstation that provided one's favorite music
as a background to whatever interface was appropriate.

--JoSH