Voice Recognition FAQ
There’s no doubt that typing out notes and documents takes an extensive amount of time, even if you’re a fairly proficient typist. Typing can also lead to injuries.
Problems are compounded when you need to get notes down in a hurry, whether to send to a partner or customer. This is where speech-to-text comes into play – and the reason so many doctors, lawyers and other professionals use the software on a daily basis.
Before diving in, however, take a look at five frequently asked voice recognition software questions.
1) Is it faster than typing?
This is something that most people will wonder before switching over to voice recognition, especially after typing for several years. The fact is, this software is indeed faster than writing, and with practice you can write well above what’s possible with a keyboard. Watch one of our YouTube speech recognition videos to see an example of this – located on our home page.
2) Is it accurate?
Accuracy is key when typing, especially for medical, legal and professional documents. As a result, everyone considering the software in a professional capacity will be thinking about accuracy prior to using it.
The British Journal of Educational Technology studied just how accurate the software actually is, and found that there were no substantial differences between documents written with a keyboard and those transcribed through voice. Shorter sentences and the use of the first-person pronoun were the only differences when using voice software.
3) Can it pick up difficult words?
Voice recognition has evolved substantially in the past few years, and while it may have been basic at the early stages of development, the products available now are extremely capable when it comes to picking up words.
Entire products have been developed for this purpose, such as Dragon Medical Practice Edition 4, which can identify medical terminology common among doctors.
4) Is it easy to install?
Another common question, voice recognition software is as easy to install as any other PC or Mac (OS X) program. Simply follow the instructions to install it, and then follow the brief guide to set it up perfectly. With further training, the software becomes even more accurate. Voice Recognition Australia can also walk you through the install / setup process remotely to make it really easy.
5) What microphones does Dragon support?
It is critical to use a high quality microphone with speech recognition software. If the program cannot hear you clearly then accuracy will suffer. Most Dragon products come with a basic microphone, but about 80 per cent of our customers select an optional USB noise canceling digital microphone or a wireless microphone – as they prefer the best accuracy from day one. We can advise you about this.
Voice recognition software is easy to use and powerful – and it will save you a substantial amount of time at work and at home.
Important: If you are a medical doctor then you require highly specialized medical speech to text software.