We are discussing Dragon Naturally Speaking Speech recognition software. It is “Speaker Dependent” speech recognition meaning that a small training text needs to be read to initially improve accuracy. You speak into a microphone headset and read a story/passage for about 5 minutes. After that you are ready to start using the software. For further speech recognition information please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_recognition and http://speechwiki.org/ or view our introductory video:

Dragon allows you to dictate directly into most applications within Microsoft windows 2000/XP.  So instead of using the keyboard to produce text you can simply speak in the text, it will then appear in front of you in the document as normal text. You can dictate into Microsoft Word, e-mail programs including Outlook, Internet Explorer including chat rooms and internet forums).  Essentially, anywhere you normally put text you can speak the text directly in rather than type.  There are a few exceptions but that is the basic idea.  It is very effective and efficient. At any point keyboard and mouse input will override speech input.  Dragon does not create special documents or special text. It is as if you type it using the keyboard and you save the documents as per normal.

You need to be prepared to make corrections to your dictation as the program will make mistakes from time to time.  It might misunderstand you or hear a noise in your environment that makes it think it heard a different word. If necessary the program will also add new words to its vocabulary when you make these corrections.  The correction process is simple and easy and improves the accuracy of the program over time.  Correcting the program is critical to improving your experience with speech recognition and you need to be prepared to do this from the beginning.  The program has a specific vocabulary built on the Australian dictionary.  However, everyone has different words that they like to use and everyone knows different surnames and even different acronyms. These need to be added to the vocabulary.  Tools to do this built into the program to make it easy to customise the vocabulary to your requirements.

Dragon Naturally Speaking requires you to use punctuation.  This help to improve accuracy. For example, once you use the” full stop” command then the program radically alters its expectation of the next word based on the rules of grammar (certain words are used mostly to begin sentences).  The program is able to differentiate between various numbers and words based on the context that they are used in.  However with commonly used words like two, to, too and 2 you need to correct the program.  It's really easy to use numbers and punctuation.  It's just a matter of learning the basic commands.

Many applications have special commands that make Dragon easy to use, for example Microsoft Word and Internet Explorer.  This means that Dragon can be used not only for dictating text but for actually operating your computer by voice.  For example you can open and close documents, minimise and maximise windows, switch between programs, bold and underline text, insert tables, move the mouse around and a vast number of additional things.
The degree of control you have depends on whether you select Dragon Standard, Dragon Preferred or Dragon Professional.  For more information about the differences http://www.voicerecognition.com.au/dragon_faq.htm#q2

Dragon Preferred and Professional support digital recording input.  This means that if you are using a high-quality recording device you can run that recording through Dragon NaturallySpeaking and it will present the transcribed text.  The user will need to be trained on Dragon which takes approximately 30 minutes and the audio will need to be of high quality for it to work well.  It is a very effective method of using Dragon NaturallySpeaking when on the go and away from your computer. We recommend the Olympus DS Professional Series of recorders located here : http://www.voicerecognition.com.au/olympus_dictation.htm

Dragon can make your computer experience much more productive.  If you're a slow typist or have difficulty typing, Dragon NaturallySpeaking will make your life a lot easier.  It will also mean you're able to dictate at a much greater rate than you can type.  This will make you more productive especially once the program has been trained up and understands your voice more accurately after a some usage.  If you decide to use a digital recorder and you can maintain productivity by creating documents while away from your computer.  Dragon will transcribe them later on.  You can even have a third-party edit the documents created by Dragon. For more on dragons features: http://www.voicerecognition.com.au/dragon_comparison_matrix.htm

Using the Internet can be a lot of fun using Dragon.  You can chat, post on Internet forums that you are interested in.  Generally do most things that you do with the mouse and keyboard.  You can also select the links and images on website by voice minimising the amount of mouse input. We post on our user forum using Dragon see http://forums.voicerecognition.net.au/
You can dictate into most e-mail programs with Dragon.  Everyone spends a lot of time these days writing e-mails.  Dragon will help you cut down the amount of time you need to spend by making your e-mail more productive allowing you to simply dictate the text straight into the e-mail.

Dragon is speech recognition dictation software.  Dragon is not transcription software.  This means that the program will recognise only one, trained, spakers voice but not a meeting or interview involving multiple speakers.  Nor will it recognize an unknown speaker from someone has not trained on the software. Ie, old audio recordings of someone’s voice will not work, the speaker hasn’t trained and the audio may not be clear enough. You can use a digital recorder though. See previous sections.
Dragon requires the user to actually dictate.  This means that you speak in complete sentences using punctuation and commands. You need to think about what you want to say before you speak. An example of the commands you might need to use are “ full stop” and “new paragraph” and so on. Dragon will not recognize an audio recording of a speech or something recorded by someone who is not actually dictating and just delivering speech.  It will attempt to transcribe this but without punctuation and without the user consciously dictating the accuracy will be degraded significantly.
You need to consider what you want to say before you start to speak.  Think about the complete sentence, dictate the sentence clearly and articulate your words carefully.  If you mumble, slow your speech, speak slowly, too quickly or forget to use punctuation then the accuracy will be decreased.  Don't speak to the program like you're having a conversation over a beer at the pub.  You need to dictate.  This is the biggest challenge is speech recognition.  Learning how to dictate.  The program will help you learn how to dictate by playing back your voice when you make corrections.  You can hear what you actually said and what you actually sound like.  This will make you speak more clearly over time.  Most people do not need to concentrate on their dictation that much and can use the program immediately after completing the five-minute training. It’s just important to remember how the program works to avoid frustration.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is licensed on a 'Per-a-user' basis. This means that each copy of the software entitles a single user to use the software. That user may install the software on as many machines as they require so long as they are the only person using it.

Volume licensing and site licensing is available (Minimum of 10 (ten) licenses). For more information regarding volume and site licensing please contact us.

There is no trial version of Dragon naturally speaking.  Nuance Communications, the developers and manufacturers of Dragon NaturallySpeaking do not make a trial version or a demo version.  We understand that this is because most people do not spend the time training demo software, so the trial is a waste of time.  When people purchase Dragon NaturallySpeaking they spend the time to train and learn how to use it properly and therefore gain the most benefit.  We can demonstrate the software for you within the Canberra region or we can discuss the suitability for your purposes if you contact us on 02 6242 4458.