Q: I鈥檇 like to use voice recognition software for dictation, but don鈥檛 want to spend money unless I know it鈥檚 going to work; what would you suggest?
A: Since its humble beginnings in the 1950s, voice recognition technology has made great strides over the years, but there are still many challenges to making it work the way most people envision it should work.
Managing your expectations about what it can and can鈥檛 do will have as much impact on your success as the technology itself.
If you鈥檙e looking for the kind of perfection portrayed in sci-fi movies, don鈥檛 bother looking at anything that鈥檚 commercially available just yet. Frankly, I鈥檓 not sure we鈥檒l ever see an error-free speech-to-text recognition system any time soon.
Understanding Accuracy Claims
You鈥檒l likely see various claims being made about the accuracy rate of today鈥檚 technology, but keep in mind, a 90 percent accuracy rate means that every 10th聽word could be wrong. Even at 95 percent accuracy, every 20th聽word could be wrong.
This means you鈥檒l always have to spend time reviewing and correcting anything you generate, especially when it comes to things like homonyms and punctuation.
If you鈥檙e OK with that, then you鈥檙e ready for the next step.
Hardware Is Crucial
Everything starts with the microphone that generates the sound patterns that the software will attempt to recognize, so trying to use the built-in mic on a laptop or webcam isn鈥檛 going to cut it.
Ambient noise can make recognition even tougher than it already is, so you鈥檒l need to invest in a decent headset mic so you鈥檙e providing the program with the cleanest audio possible.
Cadence Is Key
To get started with any voice recognition program, you always have to go through a training process so the software can get to know your voice and, more importantly, you train yourself on how to talk to the program.
Your cadence is the first thing you鈥檒l need to change, because speaking to the program like you would to another human being is going to generate more errors.
This one area is where I鈥檝e seen most people give up, because they aren鈥檛 willing to go through the learning/training curve in order to make the system provide a reasonable level of productivity.
Let鈥檚 face it, if you鈥檙e spending as much time cleaning up errors as it would have taken to type it out in the first place, it鈥檚 pointless.
Start With What You Already Have
You most likely already have voice recognition capabilities in your computer if the OS is reasonably recent.
Mac users can follow to聽try using the Dictation tool that鈥檚 built in, while Windows 7, 8 and 10 users can go to the Control Panel and click on Ease of Access then Speech Recognition to turn it on.
None of these built-in technologies will compare with what most consider the industry leading software from Nuance called , which can range from $75 to $500.
Nuance also offers a smartphone app called Dragon Anywhere that you can try out for free to see if using your mobile devices works better for you.
Ken Colburn is founder and CEO of.
