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 10 Legal |
| asin: B001E5Q83S |
| Specialised with legal vocabulary. |
|
 | recommend Amazon⇒Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 Medical |
| asin: B000GAMXC2 |
| Specialised with medical vocabulary. Amazon does not yet stock the new 10 version, but they do stock an upgrade to 10. |
|
 | recommend Amazon⇒Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 Professional |
| asin: B001E5Q81K |
| Supports programmable macros. This is the version progammers would use. |
|
 | recommend Amazon⇒Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 Preferred |
| asin: B001B5J7LQ |
| Intermediate level. |
|
 | recommend Amazon⇒Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 Standard |
| asin: B001B5J7T8 |
| 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 ©1996-2009 Canadian Mind Products
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