As the web matures, we can use interfaces and sensors with improved cross browser/device compatibility. However normally we are given access to the raw data and expected to do our own processing. This has made detecting speech in audio data very intensive, and inaccessible for lower end devices.
The formalising of a Web Speech API opens up a realm of possibilities because it moves the processing into the native browser code and out of javascript. We can now access speech input data much easier and efficiently.
