What really good computer programs are there for converting dictation to print?

Forums: Computers, Dns, Software, Voice To Type Software, Speech Recognition
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I have big problems writing longhand for a long time, or typing, so I find it very hard to do casenotes and such. (Neck and upper back problems make it very painful.)

I am interested in reasonably affordable software that would let me dictate to my computer.

I know you have to train it and all, but does anyone have experience with a good program?

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@dlowan,

Via Voice is a famous one and so is Dragon NaturallySpeaking, and Microsoft has some speech recognition software that they use in various software (like Office), here's a link on how to get it working through Office:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306537

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http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1270/1387129922_01870b22e1.jpg?v=0

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@dlowan,

Dragon Naturally Speaking. I use it for some of my transcription work. If there is only one speaker and not a lot of distracting noise, I can have the DNS program automatically transcribe the audio for me. You would just need to print it out.

I've also used it for doing my own original dictation. I can verbally compose something and then copy and paste it anywhere.

For those transcription jobs that have more than one speaker or a lot of distracting noises, I am still able to use the DNS program at times but it takes more focus. I hear the audio in the ear piece of the headset, stop it and then repeat what I heard into the microphone of the headset. DNS then converts my voice to text.

Here's a link to a topic I started several months ago.

http://able2know.org/topic/114977-1

I have a relatively new PC so didn't need to add any of the extra hardware that I wrote about in that thread. Just needed to buy the software (a headset comes with it but I recommend buying an upgraded one for more comfort and accuracy).

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@dlowan,

Dragon Naturally Speaking actually works and pretty nicely. Within my experience nothing else really does.

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There are some free voice recognition/dictation programs out there too.

http://www.nch.com.au/software/dictation.html

I use several of other NCH programs for transcriptions and prefer them to some others. Don't have any experience with their voice recognition software so can't vouch for it but will say that the tutorials and help for their software isn't something to write home about. You have to play around with it and figure things out for yourself.

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@Robert Gentel,

Thank you both...Dragon is one I have been aware of.

Any comments re the relative merits of Via and Dragon?

Rob, are you saying Microsoft has its own program that will type out speech?

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@dlowan,

no love for the secretary Sad

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@dlowan,

By the way, the DNS program has a dictation function too. You can record your reports into a digital recorder, save them as an MP3 or wav file and then have DNS convert the audio to text.

The program gives you the opportunity to correct the text it converts so that eventually your accents and speech patterns get added to the dictionary. If you use a lot of medical terminology, they have a dictionary for that also.

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@djjd62,

djjd62 wrote:

no love for the secretary

I'm a humourless feminist.

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@Butrflynet,

Free GOOD ones?

DNS?????

I thought voice recognition was just being able to tell the computer to do stuff by voice commands?

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If you have Windows XP, you can access the Windows Voice Recognition utility via Control Panel. Click on the Sounds and Audio Devices link. It isn't nearly as accurate or versitile as the DNS program but it is something you could try to see if the whole voice recognition thing will work for you.

Here's an article from the Windows Knowledge Base that will give you some info on the Windows Speech Recognition utility:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306901/en-us?FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH#

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@dlowan,

dlowan wrote:

Free GOOD ones?

DNS?????

I thought voice recognition was just being able to tell the computer to do stuff by voice commands?

DNS = Dragon Naturally Speaking

The NCH site I linked to above has some free software.

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@dlowan,

dlowan wrote:

Rob, are you saying Microsoft has its own program that will type out speech?

Doh..yes you are.

Is it any good does anyone know?

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Quote:

Hi Deb. I am using Dragon naturally speaking to compose this to you. I am wearing a headset and dictating the content of this post into the microphone while watching the program convert my audio words to text on the screen. As I am dictating, I am inserting punctuation and correcting spelling and transcription errors on the fly. I usually use Dragon naturally speaking only for transcription, and dictation, but you can also use the software for voice commands such as open file and save a file as well as browser commands and many other examples. I'm going to stop now, and copy and paste this post on to A2K.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_recognition

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Quote:

Hi Deb! For this example, I recorded my speech and saved it to an MP3 file and then asked the Dragon naturally speaking software to convert the audio file to text. This is the result. I will probably need to make a few corrections for recognition and spelling errors, but this will demonstrate how it can be used. With this method, you can record all your reports during the day and then use the Dragon naturally speaking program to convert them into text for printing. Okay, I am going to have it convert this file and then copy and paste the text on to A2K.

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@Butrflynet,

Dragon looks good.

How long did it take you to train it?

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@dlowan,

It is ongoing. It is useable after about 30 minutes of training and the accuracy improves as you continue training it. You can also increase or decrease the accuracy/speed ratio using a toggle that sacrifices some accuracy for faster conversion speed, or if accuracy is more important, slow down the speed so it takes more time to match your voice to vocabulary saved in the dictionary.

You can also have it scan all the documents in a folder on your hard drive so it learns your writing style.

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@Butrflynet,

I used to work for the company that makes DNS but on the corporate end of things.

Training is better if you spend some time to do it. Be aware of things like background noise, and also of your voice going up and down, either in volume or in pitch. A lot of people clip the beginnings or endings (more common) of words, or smoosh them together or leave too much time in between them (so the software thinks you want to add a period and start a new sentence). Men's dictation works better than women's too (it's the pitch), and in the US, Midwesterners do better than any kind of strong accent.

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What really good computer programs are there for converting dictation to print?

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