Speech-to-text software has come on in leaps
and bounds with regards to accuracy, while the number of competitive products
has declined until Dragon NaturallySpeaking is the only real option for those
looking to dispense with the keyboard.
The Nuance software is now up to version 12
with Home, Preferred and Professional flavors. This review is based on the
Preferred version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking on a Windows 7 system.
Dragon
NaturallySpeaking 12
Although Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12 will
install and run on a system with less than 4GB of RAM, it is recommended that
this amount of memory is available for optimum performance. You will need to
enter an 18-character serial number as part of the installation and activate
the software via an online link.
As part of the initial setup, Dragon
NaturallySpeaking creates a profile that holds information such as username,
age range, country region and type of communication device. Nuance provides a
HC-GEN-C headset with a rotating, bendable boom microphone with this product.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking contains routines to test the volume level and audio
quality of your setup as you to read a few words from a set passage. In total I
had to read just over 50 words to complete both tests.
At one time it was compulsory to read
through at least one of the supplied training exercises to enable the speech
recognition software to adapt to your voice and dictation style for reasonable
accuracy, but now this stage is purely optional. I decided to work through one
of the exercises, which, including the time to analyze the data gathered, took
ten minutes, which I felt was worth the effort. Dragon NaturallySpeaking can
analyze your existing documents, including emails, to better understand your
vocabulary and style of writing. All this information will be integrated into
your profile.
Nuance
provides a HC-GEN-C headset with a rotating, bendable boom microphone with this
product.
Nuance has added an interactive tutorial to
this latest version of its product. You can run this tutorial prior to entering
the main program or from the help menu as you dip into tasks categorized as
Basic, Dictation, Correction, Spelling and Editing.
By default Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12
places its DragonBar at the top of the screen. Along with standard drop-down
menu offerings for Profile tools, Vocabulary, Audio and Help, the DragonBar
provides the ability to turn the microphone on/off. You can also activate the
microphone by pressing the “+” key and put the microphone in sleep mode with a
voice command.
Voice Commands are an important aspect of
Dragon NaturallySpeaking. You can issue these commands using natural language
to instigate a range of editing features or carry out tasks such as running
applications, conducting searches and composing emails.
Despite this extra functionality, the main
role of Dragon NaturallySpeaking is to convert your spoken word into text. When
dictating a document, I find it best to ignore what is happening on the screen
entirely. It can be off-putting waiting for the text to appear on screen.
Taking this approach also removes the temptation to carry out editing
immediately.
When you do carry out editing, it should be
using Dragon NaturallySpeaking so that the software can learn from its
mistakes. In tests, I was able to achieve an accuracy level of 99% as I
dictated this review into Dragon
NaturallySpeaking. Due to a lack of the
appropriate devices I was unable to test the software’s ability to work with
apps available for iOS and Android devices.
Continuing to raise the standard of
speech-to-text recognition accuracy
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Details
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Price:
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$238 (Upgrade $160)
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Manufacturer:
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Nuance
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Website:
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www.nuance.com
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Required spec:
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2.2GHz dual-core CPU with 2GB L2 cache,
4GB RAM, 3.2GB HDD space, sound card supporting 16-bit recording, Windows XP
or later.
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Quality:
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9
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Value:
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9
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Overall:
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9
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