Speech-To-Text and Dragon NaturallySpeaking Software

Once the stuff of science fiction, voice recognition technology is now becoming increasingly mainstream. People from all walks of life are coming to realise that they can benefit enormously from the ability to speak naturally and see their words appear on the computer screen.

"Speech Recognition", "Voice Recognition" and speech-to-text are for all intents and purposes the same thing and either phrase can be used to describe the technology.

Highly accurate voice recognition for individuals is only possible now because of recent advances in software and computer technology. If you have been finding that you are too busy to write important documents and don’t have the support staff to take dictation from you, it’s likely that you have considered using voice recognition.

For example, doctors, lawyers, business professionals, students and anyone else who is short on time are turning to speech recognition to instantly transform their spoken words into digital text files. People with disabilities or those who are recovering from illness or injury also find it highly beneficial to use speech recognition to get their work done.

Who Benefits from Speech Recognition?

Anyone who is too busy to type or who doesn’t type very fast or accurately will benefit enormously from voice-to-text technology. Professionals who must process a large amount of information on a regular basis, such as lawyers, physicians and writers find speech recognition particularly useful, as do students and people with disabilities.

Medical Doctors

Busy doctors, often untrained in typing, have historically relied upon professional transcriptionists to take down their comments about a patient’s medical history, diagnosis and treatment. However, it can be very costly to hire transcriptionists, and you still have to wait for the results when a person is transcribing your words.

This can take days, and then you still have to manually check the text for errors. It's becoming more and more expensive to outsource transcription in Australia. Training your office staff to transcribe is also very expensive and time-consuming. And what happens when they leave or take a break?

Wouldn't it be great to be able to independently create documents instantly - just by talking?

In most cases, doctors would prefer to have the transcriptions done much sooner, which is why so many of them are turning to voice recognition software such as Dragon Medical Practice.

The latest version, Dragon Medical One, enables physicians to carry a digital voice recorder with them so they can make their notes in any location, such as while walking or driving from one location to another. Later, they can use Dragon to automatically transcribe the recordings. Alternately, our speech recognition specialists can train your support staff to process your audio dictation and have that turned into text by Dragon. This is a very effective method with the right training, setup and support from Voice Recognition Australia.

Lawyers

Lawyers make their living talking to clients and appearing in court to argue cases, making them great candidates for using voice recognition. Dragon Legal, the latest version, is set up to automatically transcribe what you are saying.

Dictate letters and email directly into Outlook and Word. It's fast and relaxing compared to typing.

The new Dragon Professional Anywhere reduces errors by 15 percent from the last edition, providing up to 99 percent accuracy.

Terms not currently supported are easy for you to import into the program and can be shared among users in your office.

Students

Students are required to write a great deal of information as they do research and write papers and dissertations. Voice recognition speeds up the process and lets students focus on their material instead of the mechanical requirement of typing it all up.

Depending on their needs, students may use Dragon Premium, or the most powerful edition - Dragon Professional (Student). This is an identical product to the full Dragon Professional - just a lot cheaper!

Writers

Writers make their living by typing, and because voice recognition helps them write much faster than they can type, the software can help them make more money by increasing their output. What’s more, authors and journalists use voice recognition to save wear and tear on their hands and wrists, to avoid getting or worsening their carpal tunnel syndrome.

Dragon Professional 12 is particularly useful for writers, as the latest version can record your text three times faster than you can type, with much higher accuracy than any other speech recognition product.

People with Injury, Illness and Disabilities

People recovering from illness, injury or who have a disability stand to greatly benefit from voice recognition. If you cannot easily move your hands to type or you have difficulty seeing, for example, the software will help you interact more easily with your computer and go on the Internet.

Dragon can lower your risk of injury from typing

Not only can you use the software to take dictation from you, you can actually use the program to control your computer. For example, you can issue commands to open a new Web browser window, go to a particular website, or start a new email message. You can also create a new document or open an existing file with a simple verbal command. You can also instruct Dragon to read text back to you as it has built in text-to-speech functionality.

Computer Hardware and Microphones

To get the best out of your voice recognition software, you’ll want to use the latest equipment. Dragon NaturallySpeaking software does come with a basic headset, but for improved accuracy and faster speeds, it’s best to use a high-quality USB microphone made by a third party, such as equipment from Andrea Electronics, Jabra, SuperBeam and VXI.

A wireless microphone lets you get up and walk around while you dictate instead of having to sit in front of the computer. The advanced noise cancelation properties of a headset make it much easier for the voice recognition program to understand you.

When you need to dictate text but cannot get to your computer, it’s a good idea to work with a digital voice recorder, such as recorders made by Olympus and Phillips. This lets you make recordings while you are in a car or while waiting for an appointment, for example, or when doing research while out in the field. Later, you can run your recordings through speech recognition software to get an instant transcription. 

When it comes to selecting a voice recognition system, sorting through all the various options may seem like a daunting task. This is why so many busy people have come to rely on the knowledgeable professionals at VoiceRecognition.com.au.

We are experts in helping people select the right voice recognition products for their particular situation.

How Does Voice Recognition Work?

Voice recognition is now being used throughout society in some form or another. You have probably used voice recognition in your daily tasks without giving it much of a thought. Whether you are interacting with the voice-prompt system when calling a company or asking your smartphone to give you directions while you are driving, a computer is listening to what you are saying and managing to make sense of it.

For basic terms, such as numbers and words like “yes” and “no,” speech recognition can generally function properly no matter who is speaking. However, for more sophisticated writing, such as a memo, document or a book, you will want to use speaker-dependent software, such as that provided by Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

Dragon Naturally Speaking is the most advanced and powerful voice recognition software in the world.

To put it simply, a voice recognition system uses sophisticated software that listens to you while you speak. People typically wear a headset to minimise background noise and to ensure that the program can clearly hear what they are saying.

Once you launch the application on your computer, it is ready to begin listening to you speak. Initially, you will need to train the application to help it better recognise your individual voice and your style of speaking. Typically, you will read a short section of text to your computer, which Dragon will supply as a training text.

Speech recognition uses advanced programming that enables it to use context to tell the difference between words and phrases that sound the same, such as “blue” or “blew” or “water” and the words “what are” in the phrase “what are you talking about?”

As the program becomes accustomed to your accent and the way you form words, it will become increasingly accurate. A great way to train your voice recognition software to better understand your style is to read aloud passages of text that you have already written. The more you use voice recognition, the more accurate the system will be at understanding you.  Another great feature is the ability to load-in previous documents and emails that you have created in the past. This process adds many new words to Dragons vocabulary and this improves accuracy.

All versions of Dragon on this website have a special Australian accent model included, and this has greatly increased accuracy for Australian speakers.

As Nuance Communication Gold Certified specialist advisors with more than 20 years of experience serving Australians, we have the experience and training to assist you with advice and training in installing, setting up and using Dragon NaturallySpeaking products.

From software to headsets and microphones to digital voice recorders, our team is standing by to help you make your selection and help you get the most out of your system. 

For more information on the many benefits of voice recognition,
please call us today on 1300 255 900 or use our Contact Form above.