I just got a copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 9. The copy that I've had was version 7.
The new version is a huge improvement. The company is advertising that you do not have to do any voice training, but I always choose to do some readings first since I use the voice recognition to control the mouse and open and close programs. In order to avoid chaos, I don't mind spending 10 minutes getting more accuracy.
What I can attest to is that this version is much more accurate. I simply did a reading of the humorous Dave Barry excerpt, which took me less than seven minutes. So far in this blog post, I've had one error and I can tell you I dropped my voice on that word.
Of course, I'd like to say that I represent Dragon NaturallySpeaking and get their products for free! But I don't.
What I'd like to write about is how important the right technology is to a person with a disability. Currently I am working on quite a bit of writing in my day job and after hours. I can tell you right now that my productivity will shoot right up because this product is so much better than the one I was using.
My alternatives to voice recognition are not pretty. Basically I can use assistive devices to tap in individual letters, but it is slow and painful. I can also use an on-screen keyboard with word prediction software, but that is pricey and I think slower for most things. (Although if your voice recognition software isn't working well, it can be a better choice ).
So I want to thank Howard for recommending that I update my voice recognition and Meredith for encouraging me to spend the money. This is definitely a 9.5 on a scale of 10.
1 comment:
I'm glad to hear that the upgrade has been such an improvement. It's really wonderful the help that technology has been able to give the disabled toward living productive and independent lives.
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