Comments on: Dragon NaturallySpeaking – Speech Recognition That Works

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 09:47:33 +0000

Thanks for sharing your experience BMW.

I’m surprised, as I’ve had hardly any problems getting Dragon to understand me. Even when I had to reinstall Windows after a virus and start from scratch again training Dragon, I didn’t really notice any problems.

I guess we’re still waiting for the perfect software application.

By: BMW

BMW — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 03:10:32 +0000

As someone who has major problems with my hands when using a computer keyboard I purchased Dragon Preferred but am having major problems with it understanding me. I guess what I will do is to go back to my Selectric typewriter(which does NOT hurt my hands) where I type about 100 words per minute.

The dealing with Dragon slows me down to a crawl so I will just stay in the slow lane and keep on typing and not trying to work with a program I want to take and throw out the window.

Yours in frustration.
BMW

By: Are You Ready for Sixth Sense Technology?

Are You Ready for Sixth Sense Technology? — Wed, 05 May 2010 19:55:02 +0000

[...] Maybe you’d rather talk to your computer than wink at it? In which case, it may interest you to know that I’m writing this article without touching the keyboard. For months now, as I wrote on Lateral Action, I’ve been doing most of my writing using speech recognition software. [...]

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:39:40 +0000

Greg – I found Dragon surprisingly easy to pick up. I’m very nit-picky about writing, but on the whole I’m very satisfied with it. I’d definitely recommend getting a ‘wireless’ version – i.e. with a bluetooth headset instead of a lead.

If you’re having difficulties with vision, you could do what I do – compose using a large font, then shrink it before posting on your blog. I do this so I can walk around the room and write, but I’d imagine it would help with vision problems.

Also have a look at this video of Jonathan Morrow demonstrating speech recognition software (and hardware): http://www.problogger.net/archives/2009/11/21/speech-recognition-for-bloggers-the-ultimate-guide/

By: Greg Barr

Greg Barr — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:33:26 +0000

Very insightful post.I havge only recently dioscovetred Dragon,as a recomend from my neurologist.I suffer from Multiple Sclerosis and over the past 12 months mhave become all but blind.I run a blog and am seriouslym interested to know if dragon is that easy to pick up.I am having difficulties as to what version to purchase.Obviously as money is paramount I thought that the standards may be suffienct to write my blog posts.

Any suggestionsm from you or your readers will be of immence benefit to me.The thought of giving up my blog scared me,but now Ieel there is a way,
Best Regards
Greg

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:56:28 +0000

I have been using Dragon NaturallySpeaking since 2005. I used version 6 to get through grad school. It was very helpful but prone to error. I upgraded to version 10 approximately 6 months ago it has been extremely helpful. I work in a documentation intensive environment, which requires a considerable amount of typing. I can consistently type around 45 words per minute and without a shadow of a doubt, I believe that I am more productive now. Using Dragon in conjunction with a digital voice recorder has made what was traditionally idol time (i.e. commuting to and from work), productive time. Initially, it was difficult to reconditioning myself to proofread looking for the types of mistakes that Dragon NaturallySpeaking will make and to learn to gather my thoughts before they were spoken. However, this was a very brief learning curve and I have been able to complete this posting far faster than I would have by typing it.

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 09:44:33 +0000

Tom – I don’t know anyone with a lisp who has tried the latest version of Dragon. Yours sounds a very frustrating experience, if the latest version can’t accommodate a lisp then I agree that’s a serious limitation.

Kim — thanks for sharing your experience of the transition. I had a similar experience years ago when I taught myself to touch type — I had a couple of weeks of being frustratingly slow, but once it ‘clicked’ I was much faster than before. For some reason I found the transition to speech recognition much smoother.

By: Kim Patch

Kim Patch — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 13:31:04 +0000

I’ve been using speech recognition for a long time, and when I first started using it I was working as a journalist. At the very beginning my experience was similar to several people who have posted. It seemed more difficult to organize a story when I was writing by speech, which didn’t make any sense to me at the time.

I also had the feeling in the beginning that the words were going from my brain to my fingers and then back up again to my mouth. It felt like I had to do a little something extra all the time.

I had to use speech because I had RSI’s, and kept with it, and after a couple of stories the organization problem went away. And after a little longer — a couple of weeks — things adjusted and it felt like the words were going directly from brain to speech without the fingers detour.

I think getting used to the logistics of writing by speech took up more brainpower and while I was adjusting there was less available for other things like organization.

Now, after having used speech as my primary means of typing for years, on the once-in-a blue moon occasion when I type — usually showing something to a friend on the friend’s computer — it feels like I’m doing just a slight something extra having to think about how to spell something at the same time as writing.

By: Tom C

Tom C — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:08:17 +0000

My question is… what about those with a lisp?

I tried to use version 6 a long time ago and it could never get anything right, even after I spent a ton of time teaching it my voice. The time spent was a waste.

By: Adam Di Stefano

Adam Di Stefano — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:52:00 +0000

Thanks, Mark. Looks like I’ll be opening up the pocket book after all.