Typing is
not just slow and tedious, but it is the main cause of repetitive-stress-related
injuries. People have turned to Speech Recognition and OCR software to reduce
typing, repetitive stress injuries, and improve office productivity for years.
Speaking to computer with
Speech Recognition, or scanning documents into computer with OCR software have
been around since the early 80. If your office has tried any speech recognition
or OCR software in the past, but were not happy with it, now is the time to
upgrade to the latest version of these productivity software again. Quality and
reliability of Speech Recognition and OCR software have been greatly improved
over the past ten years.
Speaking to computers has
become much more reliable with the latest version of
Naturally Speaking 9.0. The
increase in recognition accuracy, the ease-of-use and the price points of this
new round of Dragon Naturally Speaking are enough to make you want to give it
another try. It really can save you a lot of time while improving your
productivity.
Dragon Naturally Speaking 9
offers 20% more accurate than version 8, and is now up to 99% accurate. It is
more flexible, and accepts input from more sources than ever before. It works
with Bluetooth headsets, digital voice recorders and even Palm Tungsten and
Pocket PCs. This means you can get now more works done by recording while on the
move and then dump your sound files to Naturally Speaking on your desktop PC
later.
It is now possible to start
dictating without completing the training process. To reach the best accuracy
possible, you'll still need to train the software by reading from a choice of
tutorials to help it get used to your voice and pronunciation, all of which is
customized. The more you read the more
accurate it becomes, in addition you can choose to scan your My Documents folder
and/or emails to pick up typical phrasing and word order.
This all results in
impressively accurate results and, while you have to make an effort to speak
clearly, you can talk at a natural speed and still have the software pick up
just about everything you say.
Aside from basic dictation, every
action or command you’d usually perform with a mouse or keyboard can
be carried out by speaking preset command words. You can even add your own commands
to create custom voice macros so common actions can be performed
with ease.
A variety of applications can be
controlled (depend on the version of Naturally Speaking you are
using) without touching your keyboard or mouse. The Professional,
Medical, and Legal version of Naturally Speaking work with more office application,
support Macro recorder, scripting commands, import/export macros and
additional vocabularies, and Section 508 certified. If you don't
need these advanced features, you can simply go with the Preferred
version of Naturally Speaking.
Use it to reduce cost, to
improve productivity, or to protect your organization from the costs associated
with repetitive stress injuries; almost anyone can benefit from Speech
Recognition software.
