Voice Dictation Software -- Talking Instead of Typing News & Views Software Review

by Mike Hendry Senior Technical Writer Interdigital Communications Originally published in News & Views January, 1998 issue. Copyright 1998 STC-Philadelphia Metro Chapter. For permission to reprint this article, contact the Managing Editor.

I got a new toy this weekend and I'm having a ball. I've installed Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice recognition software, and we're both taking time to get used to one another: I'm trying to remember all its commands, and it's trying to understand my accent. Dragon NaturallySpeaking is dictation software, WordPad with voice recognition. You cannot use it to control your computer by voice, nor does it work with the software of your choice; you dictate into its word processor, then cut and paste the text into your application. This can be done by spoken command. NaturallySpeaking comes with a headset microphone, an excellent multimedia help file, and a list of approved sound cards. My sound card was, of course, not on the list, and since I already had a microphone setup I decided to use my own. So I gave the software every disadvantage I could think of, and it still performed admirably. The manufacturer specifies that you can dictate up to 160 words per minute, with 95% or better accuracy. I don't talk that fast, and I didn't see that accuracy unless I concentrated on my enunciation. Getting ready Before using the software, it must get to know you and your system. This is accomplished by wizards. The first wizard takes you through your audio system, adjusting volume and testing your system. My sound card, which was not on the list, was rated "below average," and I was warned that performance would be below-average. The next wizard trains the software to recognize your voice. This consists of two steps. In the first, a short training, you're forced to read the company's marketing material. This is annoying. In the second, a long training, you read a 30 minute excerpt from one of two books they provide. This can be tedious, but you are warned ahead of time and can take breaks whenever you want. After the training, you're ready to use the software. In addition to dictation, there are commands to move around the document, edit the document, and insert punctuation. There are even pre-programmed emoticons, such as smiley face, frowney face, and winky face ;-). I'm not making this up. If the software gets your dictation wrong, you say "select (text)," and try again. I find myself doing this quite a bit, but I know my enunciation isn't very good. This may be good speech training for me, too. The bad part is that nothing is misspelled, so a spell checker won't help you correct mistakes. Does it help? The question is, then, is the software for you. Like me, most of you probably have exceptional typing skills. And while the software is pretty amazing, it's not Star Trek yet (I notice "Star Trek" is in its vocabulary, but I still have to train in my favorite expletives). I can type much faster and much more accurately than the software can take dictation. To be fair however, the software is constantly training itself, and it should get better and better. This could be a great boon to non-typists, and if you suffer from repetitive stress injury, this could be a job-saver. Just don't cough into the microphone. Minimum system requirements: Pentium 133, 32 Mb RAM (Windows 95), 48 Mb RAM (Windows NT 4.0), Approved Sound Card. Price: $349. Visit www.dragonsys.com for more information.

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Posted February 1, 1998 (rst)