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 CPU (Central Processing Unit)s
have gotten a lot faster, RAM (Random Access Memory) 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 (Personal Computer) 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 (Universal Serial Bus) 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 (Liquid Crystal Display) 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 11.5 Home |
| asin: B003VNCRNQ |
| Comes with specialised vocabularies. |
|
| Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock |
 | recommend Amazon⇒Dragon Naturally Speaking 11.5 Premium |
| asin: B003VNCROU |
| Supports programmable macros. This is the version programmers would use. |
|
| Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock |
 | recommend Amazon⇒Dragon Naturally Speaking 11.5 Professional |
| asin: B003VNCRUO |
| Includes headset. |
|
| Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock |
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.
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©1996-2012 2008-02-18 Roedy Green, Canadian Mind Products
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