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The useVoiceSearch hook provides the logic to build a custom voice search component using the Web Speech API.

​
Import

import { useVoiceSearch } from 'react-instantsearch';

​
Parameters

​
searchAsYouSpeak
boolean
default:"false"
Whether to trigger a search on every interim result (partial results during speech).
const hook = useVoiceSearch({
  searchAsYouSpeak: true,
});
​
language
string
The language for speech recognition (e.g., ‘en-US’, ‘fr-FR’).
const hook = useVoiceSearch({
  language: 'en-US',
});
​
additionalQueryParameters
(params: { query: string }) => PlainSearchParameters | void
Function to add additional query parameters based on the voice input.
const hook = useVoiceSearch({
  additionalQueryParameters: ({ query }) => ({
    filters: `category:${query}`,
  }),
});

​
Returns

​
isBrowserSupported
boolean
Whether the browser supports the Web Speech API.
const { isBrowserSupported } = useVoiceSearch();
if (!isBrowserSupported) {
  return <p>Voice search is not supported in your browser</p>;
}
​
isListening
boolean
Whether the voice search is currently listening.
const { isListening } = useVoiceSearch();
console.log(isListening); // true/false
​
toggleListening
() => void
Function to start or stop listening for voice input.
const { toggleListening } = useVoiceSearch();
toggleListening(); // Start or stop listening
​
voiceListeningState
VoiceListeningState
The current state of the voice recognition.
const { voiceListeningState } = useVoiceSearch();
console.log(voiceListeningState); // 'idle' | 'waiting' | 'recognizing' | 'finished' | 'error'

​
Examples

​
Basic Voice Search Button

import { useVoiceSearch } from 'react-instantsearch';

function VoiceSearchButton() {
  const { isBrowserSupported, isListening, toggleListening } = useVoiceSearch();

  if (!isBrowserSupported) {
    return null;
  }

  return (
    <button
      onClick={toggleListening}
      disabled={!isBrowserSupported}
      className={isListening ? 'listening' : ''}
    >
      {isListening ? '🎤 Listening...' : '🎤 Voice Search'}
    </button>
  );
}

​
Voice Search with Status

import { useVoiceSearch } from 'react-instantsearch';

function VoiceSearchWithStatus() {
  const {
    isBrowserSupported,
    isListening,
    toggleListening,
    voiceListeningState,
  } = useVoiceSearch();

  if (!isBrowserSupported) {
    return <p>Voice search is not supported in your browser</p>;
  }

  const getStatusMessage = () => {
    switch (voiceListeningState) {
      case 'idle':
        return 'Click to start voice search';
      case 'waiting':
        return 'Initializing...';
      case 'recognizing':
        return 'Listening...';
      case 'finished':
        return 'Processing...';
      case 'error':
        return 'Error occurred';
      default:
        return '';
    }
  };

  return (
    <div className="voice-search">
      <button onClick={toggleListening}>
        {isListening ? 'Stop' : 'Start'} Voice Search
      </button>
      <p className="status">{getStatusMessage()}</p>
    </div>
  );
}

​
Voice Search with Animation

import { useVoiceSearch } from 'react-instantsearch';

function AnimatedVoiceSearch() {
  const { isBrowserSupported, isListening, toggleListening } = useVoiceSearch();

  if (!isBrowserSupported) {
    return null;
  }

  return (
    <button
      onClick={toggleListening}
      className="voice-button"
      style={{
        position: 'relative',
        width: '60px',
        height: '60px',
        borderRadius: '50%',
        backgroundColor: isListening ? '#e74c3c' : '#3498db',
        border: 'none',
        color: 'white',
        fontSize: '24px',
        cursor: 'pointer',
        animation: isListening ? 'pulse 1s infinite' : 'none',
      }}
    >
      🎤
    </button>
  );
}

​
Search As You Speak

import { useVoiceSearch } from 'react-instantsearch';

function LiveVoiceSearch() {
  const { isBrowserSupported, isListening, toggleListening } = useVoiceSearch({
    searchAsYouSpeak: true,
  });

  if (!isBrowserSupported) {
    return <p>Voice search not supported</p>;
  }

  return (
    <div>
      <button onClick={toggleListening}>
        {isListening ? '🔴 Recording' : '🎤 Start Voice Search'}
      </button>
      {isListening && (
        <p className="live-indicator">
          Search results update as you speak...
        </p>
      )}
    </div>
  );
}

​
Voice Search with Language Selector

import { useVoiceSearch } from 'react-instantsearch';
import { useState } from 'react';

function MultilingualVoiceSearch() {
  const [language, setLanguage] = useState('en-US');
  const { isBrowserSupported, isListening, toggleListening } = useVoiceSearch({
    language,
  });

  if (!isBrowserSupported) {
    return null;
  }

  return (
    <div>
      <select
        value={language}
        onChange={(e) => setLanguage(e.target.value)}
        disabled={isListening}
      >
        <option value="en-US">English (US)</option>
        <option value="en-GB">English (UK)</option>
        <option value="fr-FR">French</option>
        <option value="es-ES">Spanish</option>
        <option value="de-DE">German</option>
      </select>
      <button onClick={toggleListening}>
        {isListening ? 'Stop' : 'Start'}
      </button>
    </div>
  );
}

​
TypeScript

import { useVoiceSearch } from 'react-instantsearch';
import type { UseVoiceSearchProps } from 'react-instantsearch';

function VoiceSearchButton(props?: UseVoiceSearchProps) {
  const { isBrowserSupported, isListening, toggleListening } = useVoiceSearch(props);

  if (!isBrowserSupported) {
    return null;
  }

  return (
    <button onClick={toggleListening}>
      {isListening ? 'Stop' : 'Start'} Voice Search
    </button>
  );
}

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