🚀 go-pugleaf

Hello,

When I asked about voice recognition software a month or so ago, I said
that I'd prepare some kind of  summary of responses.  (I posted the
original message in various forms to the newsgroups comp.speech,
bit.listserv.easi, misc.handicap, and to the InterNAF mailing list.)

Firstly, let me begin with (an approximate version of) my original
message:

--------------- 
From: Chris Fama <chris@maths.uq.edu.au>
Subject: dictation s/ware for slightly arthryxic voice? [Friedreich's
ataxia]
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 00:33:09 +1000

Hello,

Does anyone have any information about the suitability of - better yet,
experience with - various voice recognition products for speech disabled
users (slow. a little slurred, voice more variable than normal I
imagine)? 
(I have a neurological disability which affects, among other things, my
speech - full hand control is unnecessary though).

I have tried Dragon NaturallySpeaking 2 with ~60% accuracy (admittedly
after < an hour training); I suspect discrete may be the way to go
[though am rather unsure].  I've tried [the discrete s/ware] Dragon
Dictate for a longer time; performance was reasonable to good and
improving, but I'd like to hear about the use of its competitors (IBM
VoiceType [discrete but allows a sot of "speak-ahead"] & ViaVoice
[continuous], .........) by other voice/breathing disabled users. 
Thoughts?  Comparisons?

In the absence of a particularly Australian-accent-aware version, an
English or perhaps South African accent understanding version would be
preferable......?

Email replies welcomed; please indicate if you do not want me to
include  your name in any follow ups/summaries.  Unless you explicitly
say so I won't include your email address, either.

Cheers and thanks,
Chris [sick of a 10 w.p.m. typing speed when it was 5 times that 5-7
years ago!]
..................  end of quoted bit

Since that time, I've been using DragonDictate with a desktop microphone
, which I find immeasurably better than the provided headset--provided
with a demo version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, that is: before
obtaining a copy of a  cut-down version of DragonDictate, I'd tried a
vision of NaturallySpeaking with a headset microphone, and found that it
hardly worked at all for me.(I've since bought the "Classic" edition of
DragonDictate, as opposed to the "Solo" edition, which doesn't have any
macro-editing capabilities).

As I suspected, DragonDictate copes with my dysarthria (awkward speech)
much better than does NaturallySpeaking.  In fact, I more recently
bought a headset microphone (a cheap one--I suspect that a more
expensive one may perform significantly better, but I'm not prepared to
spend the money to find out, at the moment) along with a trial version
of NaturallySpeaking--the same one that I'd tried out before, but for
only a short amount of time, and on a different computer than my own. 
Unfortunately, NaturallySpeaking performed even worse than previously--I
could hardly get any recognition whatsoever.  I also tried using
NaturallySpeaking with the cheap desktop microphone that I damn using at
the moment, but it appears to deliver a weaker signal or something,
because I never managed to get the "Audio Setup Wizard" to register more
than a weak signal.

Anyway, DragonDictate DOES perform quite well, even with my dysarthria. 
The recognition rate is around 90%, and the choice list that's displayed
in the top right corner of the screen after recognition of a word,
usually contains the correct word even if there was a misrecognition. 
It's then just a matter of saying "Choose <n>" to select the correct
word--and there's no need to do this after each word; the last 30 or so
words can be  corrected at will.  I timed myself the other day, and
managed to dictate at around 40 words per minute with reasonable
accuracy (in fact, that figure of 40 words per minute was including the
time needed for correction).  That's quite an improvement over my
previous  speed!

So, in summary I would say that DragonDictate works extremely well for a
wide range of voice "qualities", and in particular for a rather
dysarthric voice such as in one with reasonably advanced ataxia.  Highly
recommended!

Chris

(P.S.: I just [half an hour ago] answered the front door to take
delivery of the "Classic" edition of DragonDictate... I'm quite looking
forward to getting in to it...
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Fama <chris@maths.uq.edu.au>            Phone:(+617/07) 3870 5639
Brisbane, Australia    Fax: same; 9am-10pm GMT+10 on this number please
The autumn leaves are falling like rain. / Although my neighbors are   
all barbarians, / And you, you are a thousand miles away, / There are  
always two cups at my table.            - A T'ang Dynasty poem