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Monday, June 23, 2008

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9.5 on VIsta

[a few weeks ago I wrote a post about using Windows Vista voice-recognition on an everyday basis and gave it a positive review; however, I did run into one glitch with it that I have not been able to figure out: when I correct inaccuracies in large Word files, and then save, the corrections are not saved. ]

This morning I'm using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9.5, which has been updated for Vista, to dictate this post. after I installed Dragon, or change it (that should be I trained it-for purposes of illustration, on leaving the errors and (in)), and began to use it on the Internet with Firefox. It performed very well, although I had to use the built-in VIsta voice-recognition a few times when Dragon could not perform a few tasks. Other than that, the accuracy was pretty good.

I then went into Microsoft Word and some kind of glitch occurred where Microsoft Word would not recognize Dragon. I turned the Vista voice-recognition back on so that I could close word, fix my gadgets which crashed, reopen Microsoft Word and try Dragon again. Similar to the Web, I discovered that I needed to use assistive devices or a second voice-recognition program to be completely hands-free. once I was in word the second time, the dictation from Dragon NaturallySpeaking was awesome. Hands down, once you are dictating a document, Dragon NaturallySpeaking shines. The difficulty I have is that there are glitches I encounter that frustrate me along the way.

The solution? At this point I am keeping both programs open: Dragon NaturallySpeaking end Microsoft Windows this to voice-recognition (that should be Windows Vesta voice-recognition). Well you get the idea.

[for purposes of illustration, I did not correct the inaccuracies in this post.]

3 comments:

Greg (Accessible Hunter) said...

have you tried dictating in dragon pad, selecting all and copying/pasting into word?

Ruth said...

Greg- yes, thanks for offering that suggestion but actually I get great results once I'm in Microsoft Word 2007. I just find Dragon NaturallySpeaking cant hold a light to the ability of Microsoft vista voice recognition to go from program to program without having to cut copy and paste and all of that. That's so invaluable when you're multitasking and/or are dealing with people and need to be quick! So for now I'm glad to have both programs.

Wheelchair Dancer said...

ooo. interesting...

WCD