# When Drawing Is Not Enough: Exploring Spontaneous Speech with Sketch for Intent Alignment in Multimodal LLMs

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.11964 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.11964/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in VLM benchmarks and visual reasoning, one of 16 directions in Multimodal LLMs / vision-language models.
- Builds on 6 of its 15 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 13 Apr 2026.

## Placed in

- Multimodal LLMs / vision-language models / [VLM benchmarks and visual reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/mllm/vlm-benchmarks-and-visual-reasoning/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [MLLM-as-a-Judge: Assessing Multimodal LLM-as-a-Judge with Vision-Language Benchmark](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.04788/) (2024)
- [Humans or LLMs as the Judge? A Study on Judgement Biases](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.10669/) (2024)
- [A Neural Representation of Sketch Drawings](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.03477/) (2017)
- [Inkspire: Supporting Design Exploration with Generative AI through Analogical Sketching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.18588/) (2025)
- [TalkSketch: Multimodal Generative AI for Real-time Sketch Ideation with Speech](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.05817/) (2025)
- [A Taxonomy of Human--MLLM Interaction in Early-Stage Sketch-Based Design Ideation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.22171/) (2026)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [VoCa: Designing Speech-Canvas Interaction for Voice-Based Conversational Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.04706/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Early-stage design ideation often relies on rough sketches created under time pressure, leaving much of the designer's intent implicit. In practice, designers frequently speak while sketching, verbally articulating functional goals and ideas that are difficult to express visually. We introduce TalkSketchD, a sketch-while-speaking dataset that captures spontaneous speech temporally aligned with freehand sketches during early-stage toaster ideation. To examine the dataset's value, we conduct a sketch-to-image generation study comparing sketch-only inputs with sketches augmented by concurrent speech transcripts using multimodal large language models (MLLMs). Generated images are evaluated against designers' self-reported intent using a reasoning MLLM as a judge. Quantitative results show that incorporating spontaneous speech significantly improves judged intent alignment of generated design images across form, function, experience, and overall intent. These findings demonstrate that temporally aligned sketch-and-speech data can enhance MLLMs' ability to interpret user intent in early-stage design ideation.