the present invention provides a speech recognition system combined with one or more alternate input modalities to ensure efficient and accurate text input . the speech recognition system achieves less than perfect accuracy due to limited processing power , environmental noise , and / or natural variations in speaking style . the alternate input modalities use disambiguation or recognition engines to compensate for reduced keyboards , sloppy input , and / or natural variations in writing style . the ambiguity remaining in the speech recognition process is mostly orthogonal to the ambiguity inherent in the alternate input modality , such that the combination of the two modalities resolves the recognition errors efficiently and accurately . the invention is especially well suited for mobile devices with limited space for keyboards or touch - screen input .