Dragon Naturally Speaking

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is the brand name for a family of software products centring around speech recognition technology. Voice recognition software under this brand label is now available for the PC, Apple Mac and Blackberry platforms. The software is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and most recently Windows 7.

I am currently writing this review using Dragon NaturallySpeaking on an aging Hewlett-Packard G 70 laptop. The reason that I am doing this is to give you an accurate idea of the results you will achieve by using this software.

(Later edit: While producing this document, Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition also produced a couple of errors that I felt I could not leave in. The reason for this is that they would have materially altered the understanding of the document. The errors that the software produced were very simple to edit and so I had said "scratch that" almost without realising. I include this additional comment in the interests of giving an honest review. The total number of errors produced was probably around 10 but I view this is entirely acceptable in a document that is over 800 words in length, for this reason my recommendation of the software remains in place.)

The version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking I am using is the 10.1 Standard Edition.

The software comes in the usual, smartly packaged but overly large, software box.  The contents include a DVD containing the software itself and a microphone headset which is necessary to input voice data.  As I already possess a Plantronics headset from my time playing online games my girlfriend immediately snatched a headset that comes with the software for her own use on Skype!  For this reason all I can say about the headset supplied with the software is that it seemed to work adequately although it was kind of uncomfortable as only one side of the headset has an earpiece.  The other side of the headset is plastic stop-type assembly designed to counterbalance the slight weight of the microphone.

Before I purchased the software I had visited both the Nuance website, Amazon.co.uk and several other review sites. Opinions about the software varied but generally held that it was the product leader in its class, I would have to go along with this viewpoint.

Both in recent times and also several years ago I have tried, tested and discarded a number of voice recognition programs. This is the first time I have used speech recognition software and not found it to be an endlessly frustrating experience.

I write for a living, but my typing speed has always been pretty poor. Perhaps if I learned to use more than three fingers my speed would increase! My guess is that my current typing speed is somewhere in the region of 20 words per minute. In the course of a normal day I type anywhere between 3-6,000 or so words, with the average being more towards the top value. If I trained myself to touch type I could no doubt reach 60 words a minute and so triple my output, but Dragon NaturallySpeaking claim that speaking is three times faster than typing so why do that training?

The software does take a little bit of getting used to, for instance, I still find it strange to speak a full sentence out loud in one breath.  Yes, I know that is how we speak, or at least that is how we think we speak.  The problem is of course that in reality we do not speak in perfectly formed sentences and speech recognition software really highlights this. 

Where I have found which recognition to be the most use is when I need to get an article down quickly and I understand what I want to say before the first sentence hits the page.  If you know what you want to say and how you want to say it Dragon NaturallySpeaking really has no equal.  Another good use of the software is in the preparation of a first draft.  Yes, you will of course have to go through the writing and correct or insert the appropriate punctuation but this is something that you would have to do anyway in a typed document.  Speech recognition does not do away with proofreading! 

If on the other hand, you are researching an article as you go, or rearranging your thoughts constantly then perhaps slower speed is more advantageous.  Speech recognition works best when you speak in full sentences.  If you're having a problem knowing exactly what it is you want to say, or the point you want to put across is, then voice recognition software might not help you very much.

The only aspect of using the program that I have had any difficulty with at all is in correcting a document.  Here I suspect the problem really is the user and not the software itself.  The problem I run into is one of selecting the correct place to insert the cursor.  The way I get around this at the moment is to use a combination of mouse movements and left clicks.  Once I have selected the correct area I then let the program due to typing or corrections for me.  Oops!  Dragon NaturallySpeaking just made its first mistake.  The last sentence should have read "...I then left the program do the typing or corrections for me".

Nuance claim an accuracy rating in speech recognition of 99% for their software.  If you happen to speak like a BBC news broadcaster then I guess this figure would be accurate.  In my own case I live in the Merseyside area and have a reasonably broad Liverpool accent.  Despite this handicap my guess would be that the program produces an accuracy of around 98%, which is more than enough for me.  Maybe the next version of the software will improve this figure further?

I am really very happy with my software and view it as the best £30 (about $45) that I have spent on Amazon in quite awhile. Although Dragon NaturallySpeaking still throws up a few silly errors I don't mind them as it is no different to typing at speed. We all make mistakes.

True to the company's claims, employing Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition software has indeed doubled, or possibly tripled my output as a writer, for this I am grateful and would thoroughly recommend the software to others.