Vmail: A Voice-Assistive Solution Enabled with A Chatbot

Because the majority of conventional email systems rely on keyboard interaction and visualization, they are not accessible to blind or visually impaired people on their own. Even with the help of screen readers, writing and navigating emails is still very difficult and takes a long time. This paper describes VMAIL, an email system that enables visually impaired people to use voice commands to accomplish all email functions. VMAIL uses Text-to-Speech to read email content aloud and Speech-to-Text to record user commands. Through OAuth 2.0 authentication, VMAIL gives users safe access to Gmail accounts and the Gmail API. Additionally, VMAIL offers an A.I.-based chatbot to help users with email drafting, formal message rewriting, and content summarization. To avoid mistakes, voice confirmation will be done before any emails are sent. Based on the VMAIL email system's experimental use, we found that it improves digital communication's inclusivity for people who are blind or visually impaired, increases email access, and requires less effort from users when communicating via email.