A software program that lets you type at 160 words per minute by speaking to
your computer in perfectly natural continuous speech. I saw a demo of this circa
1999, and even then it was finally ready for prime time. Since then computer
CPUs have gotten a lot faster, RAM a lot bigger and cheaper, and the software
even more clever. In the demo, it never once made an error, even when the
members of our Vancouver PC user Society audience tried to give it difficult
phrases. It is ever clever about homonyms like to, too and two.
To work well, you need a high quality noise-cancelling microphone and a USB
microphone pod. A pod is a
external sound card that attaches to a USB port. This way the analog-to-digital
happens outside the electrically noisy computer case. Even the pod leaves you
susceptible to electrical noise from your monitor. You might go for an LCD
monitor to reduce that interference further.
You need a 700+ MHz computer and 256+ MB ram, in other words almost any PC less
than 5 years old will do. You also need an approved
microphone.
Your productivity is greatly magnified by voice macros. You can arrange that any
word type any series of keystrokes. Further you can create macros with
parameters, loops and other logic. Unlike keystroke macros, there is no
practical limit to how many macros you can define or how many you can remember.
It can be used for word processing, programming, filling in tables and
spreadsheets, anything you might do with a keyboard. The only things it can’t
do are mouse intensive tasks like Paint shop Pro. Speakeasy
Solutions create macro packages and special purpose interfaces to Dragon
Naturally Speaking Pro. They also sell headsets, pods and handheld solid-state
digital recorders. You can wander off, record your thoughts, then plug your
handheld into the computer for transcribing.
For an app to permit voice editing, it needs to link with the voice interface.
Usually all you must do to make an app fully voice aware is link it with an
object file the Speakeasy people will give you. You don’t have to write
any special code. Without this, you can still do data entry, but editing is not
as clever. I unsuccessfully tried to talk the makers of my favourite software
packages into doing this.
It comes in over five editions:
 |
recommend Amazon⇒Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 Legal |
| Specialised with legal vocabulary. |
|
 |
recommend Amazon⇒Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 Medical |
| Specialised with medical vocabulary. |
|
 |
recommend Amazon⇒Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 Professional |
| Supports programmable macros. This is the version progammers would use. |
|
 |
recommend Amazon⇒Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 Preferred |
| Intermediate level. |
|
 |
recommend Amazon⇒Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 Standard |
| Bare bones entry level. |
|
. The less expensive versions have fewer feature
and can run on smaller machines.
Downsides
- You need an office by yourself. Your babbling will disturb others, and other
people talking will interfere with your work.
- It is a strain on your voice. You can’t talk non-stop all day long without
strain. You need then to alternate between voice and key entry to give your
voice a rest.
- The transcription will have perfect spelling, but perhaps totally the wrong word.
This makes proofreading a quite different from proofreading typing.
2008-02-18 by Roedy Green ©1996-2008 Canadian Mind Products
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