Voice recognition software

[Dswissmiss]

Hi guys,
My mother is increasingly becoming interested in voice recognition software. She has limited use of her hands, and can only type with one finger on a typewriter. She writes quite a few letters, but I end up having to retype and correct them on my comp.
She wants to start using a pc, and I was wondering if voice recognition software is good enough these days to substitue for a keyboard. If you have any other suggestions or options let me know.
Anything leading me in the right direction would help a lot, such as software brands or any other technologies.

I also use linux, so if there's anything in that department let me know.

Thanx a lot
Dswissmiss

[Spartan]

A good friend of mine used to rep for Dragon. He gave me a copy of it to play with. It was pretty neat and worked pretty well. For the right user I could see it being a very helpful tool. Here is a link to Dragon and I'll bet there are alot of others to check out also.

http://www.dragontalk.com/

-Spartan

[Hi Ho]

I have Dragon Naturally Speaking 5 and it works quite well. You can do just about anything with it. It does take quite a bit of time to train but once it "knows" your voice the error rate decreases dramatically. It can effectively replace a keyboard and almost even a mouse. The newer versions are probably even better. It works best with a headset. I have tried it both ways and with the headset I can even listen to music at a moderate level while using the program.

[Spartan]

I agree Hi Ho. When I switched to a headset accuracy improved greatly. I used it in ver. 3 and it is now in ver. 7 so one would think 2 stages of evolution would improve it.

-Spartan

[Kov-Ice]

You can also go HERE to another link on this topic for some added opinions. I actually went ahead and ordered Dragon NS7 yesterday. I'll post back after we get it up and running for my wife and let you know the results if you're interested.

[Dswissmiss]

Thanx Kov-Ice, I'm definately interested in how it works out for you...btw, does this work with windows 98?

[Punked Out Comp]

Originally Posted by Hi Ho I have Dragon Naturally Speaking 5 and it works quite well. You can do just about anything with it. It does take quite a bit of time to train but once it "knows" your voice the error rate decreases dramatically. It can effectively replace a keyboard and almost even a mouse. The newer versions are probably even better. It works best with a headset. I have tried it both ways and with the headset I can even listen to music at a moderate level while using the program.

can u use it during class to take notes of what the teacher says? I was just thinking about how kewl that would be

[Kov-Ice]

D, it should be here Tuesday, so I'll try to post back a few days after having seen my wife use it.

punked, I'm guessing your teacher probably wouldn't go for that. He/she may think you were mocking them or something... My wife plans to tape record class lectures, and then dictate them into notes later. Repeating them should be a good study tool as well.

[Dswissmiss]

Any news yet on how its working?

[Kov-Ice]

Long story short, the place I ordered it from hadn't gotten it to me by last Thursday so I called. They goofed up, so I cancelled and ordered it from amazon. Tracking it says it will be here tomorrow for sure. I will post back maybe Friday or Saturday after my wife has a few good days with it. Sorry, hope that will help.

[Web Gecko]

Howdy

I used to follow the developments of new voice stuff back in the 80s
( have heard of Dragon Soft ). Quite complex technology.
Interesting stuff.

Most people I have come across don't think our recognition stuff
is good enough yet i.e. need for faster real time stuff which requires less training. From what I hear Dragon etc is getting better. I know people who say "Oh noone will want to talk to computers" but I don't think they are right.

They are not thinking of all the amazing ways vr will be used in the future.
Like an office worker\exec can transpose their own documents then edit, print email all by voice. There is a lot of other stuff that will become possible.

I am not aware of what Dragon Soft can do. Maybe someone could help as to what functionality it has.
i.e. do you use it mostly for word processing or can it be used with
other programs, like email or say as a command interface for various programs ?

Like can I run a program ( and if I had visual impairment ) and say
File Open etc etc.. will that work ?

IBM had their own VR software a ways back. I wonder if they are still doing that ?

I would like to get into VR software myself. So I guess I will check out the latest Dragon Soft offering etc..

Any recommendations\info would be welcome.

thanks

Web Gecko

[Hi Ho]

Dragon can do a lot more than simply dictate. To give you an idea, when I first got it I opened the help file and found a list of commands. I hit print and the first page said "page 1 out of 160". I cancelled the print. This program can do just about everything. Say you want to open a word document. From your desktop you can say "start Microsoft Word". It will open Word. You can use all the menu bar and toolbar items. You can also edit your document usin your voice. Word processing is only the tip of the iceberg. You can conrtol just about any program. You can surf the web, do email, navigate Windows, and just about anything else that doesn't require a mouse/keyboard (such as a game). If you really can't use a mouse you can use the "mouse grid". Simply say "mouse grid" and it shows a grid on the screen with numbers. Now say the button you want to click is in section one. You say "1". It comes up with several new sections inside section one. You continue to say numbers until the mouse pointer is over the item you want to click. Then you simply say "click". Now that sounds complicated but it really isn't all that difficult. In practice it's more like "mouse grid, 1, 2, 6, click" within a few seconds. There are so many more things that this program can do but I probably don't know half of them. My version 5 is also a couple years old. The improvements in the newest version probably increased the capability by quite a bit.

[Web Gecko]

Hey HIHO

Your DragonSoft 5 sounds amazing. I didn't know it could do all that
stuff. I will definitely be checking out the latest version.

If they say have a run time programming package
( you probably know about this stuff but if not : it's just say a
Dragon Soft executable [say a core program which executes the speech commands etc] and maybe libraries of other software which do add ons or other stuff]. These programs could be called from C++ or maybe VB
programs that a user could write for maybe windows or DOS.
I was into commercial programming years ago)
then people could write their own speech applications for windows
or DOS etc.. That would be neat.
I'm just guessing on this i.e. that DragonSoft may have such functionality
( or a run time package for speech application development).

A lot of the old speech systems were just too slow and awkward to
train and use which put people off speech. Of course the developers
and investors who could see the big potential for speech stuff way back just kept on improving the technology.
Speech is on the verge of becoming one of the next BIG things in IT
and technology in general. It won't only be used on PCs
( examples are ncurrent implementations in kids toys and more advanced stuff in industrial, scientific and robotics [which is advanceing very rapidly now]).

Don't know if you've heard about neural network technology
( brain mimicking electronics ) but that stuff may produce the first
hybrid computers\machines which can almost do what we can
( think for real ). Current computers don't do anything like we do
with thought. They are really about as intelligent as multi function popup
toasters. Each program is an intelligent sequence but it has only so much
flexibility which is kind of "set in concrete".

Then there are related technologies like fuzzy logic, genetic logic etc etc..

Machines that think like we can are still probably decades away.
If they can make a machine that thinks as well as ( a non dysfunctional
intelligent human at least ;O) ) humans this century they will be doing well.
But they are working on the stuff that will do that right now.

Real intelligence such as humans have is virtually infinite in it's flexibility
or ability to change ( which explains why in the real world humans mess up so much. Like computers we are extremely complex and flexible so we can fail in almost an infinite number of ways. Computers are the same.
BUT humans are way way MORE SO than our most complex machines ).

Anyway, this stuff will be part of an exciting and brave new world.
I want to be one of the folks that's up with some of the new stuff.

Anyways, thanks for the great info on Dragon Soft ( off to the PC shop today
to check it out ).

cheers

Web Gecko

?8O)}

[Web Gecko]

Hey again HIHO

Do you know how punced out comp ( above ) puts the IP address
into his JPEG image below the post ( can't remember the term for
that thing ) ? Is that like an Internet Explorer function accessable via
HTML on the page or sumthin ?

His JPEG seems to change evry time I look at it as well.
How does he do that ( very cool punced out comp ( que ? )).
Maybe he could help us out

I know it's harmless, just curious

On the speech stuff. I bought one of the first versions of CREATIVE LABS
ISA Sound Blaster card speech synthesis and 16 bit sound cards ( back in 1989 for my Intel 8088 based IBM PC XT clone with MSDOS 3.3 and a
MONSTER ( NOT ) 20MB [microdrive ;O) ] hard drive. I think I had maybe
640K or maybe 1MB of RAM and I thought I was in HOG heaven
( you should have seen the old CGA graphics for games - yech !!!!
and talk about SLOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW ). 8 or 10MHZ tops
I think.

But the speech stuff was GREAT. You could feed text files to the card
and it would read to you ( in that weird robotic voice - the type that UK
genius guy in the wheelchair uses [ Hawking ?]). You could also make your own programs speak by using a programming run time package
( you could set up DOS batch files to speak when things happened).
There was also a program called Dr Sbaitso which was kind of like a
"dumb" robot doctor which would ask you questions and appear to respond intelligently but would often make hilarious mistakes
( ROFLMAO type stuff ).

You could make Sbaitso mess up easily by making nonsense statements
and asking even crazier questions. Good party entertainment which
got a few laughs from people ( it's OK I do have some real parties
and a real life ). Was a fun little package ( the only thing that I kept from my 1ST IBM clone computer ).

Speech stuff can be a lot of fun and have serious applications.

cheers

Web Gecko

?8O)}

[Hi Ho]

The IP thing is some sort of script. I don't know where it comes from. Sorry. About the speech synthesizing, there is a free program called ReadPlease 2003. I mess around with it once in a while. It can be quite entertaining.

[Web Gecko]

hey again

have you noticed how your number of posts doesn't seem to advance by one
with each post ? ( mine too )

I am looking at punced out comps jpeg again
Big Hairy guy holding a sign ( Spandex is a privelege ??? )
but you may not see this as it keeps changeing
( maybe random function in script ).

cheers

Web Gecko

?8O)}

[Hi Ho]

Post's in the General Discussion forum do not count. Therefore, no one's post count will rise when posting here.

[Web Gecko]

Hey HIHO

Yeah that seems reasonable. That script or whatever punced out comp
is using seems quite smart. Also picks up on your IE version.
Some funny variations each time you take a peek.

This is maybe a dumb Q and I shouldn't really bother you with it
BUT i haven't useed the Quote function before. Is it just like
copy and paste ? Like if I sitting here ( entering my post )
cdan I quote in more than one quote ? I mean I can go quote from
a previous post I know but how do I do it with multiple quotes ?
I know the clip board can have multiple entries but haven't ever used
that. Dumb Q probably but my usage of windows since 2000 has been quite basic with the Office and other apps ( with the hw\sw tech I am fine ).
Finding stuff and using it correctly can be a challenge with windows
but I know it's really simple and not that hard
( will check this out).

thanx

Web Gecko

[Hi Ho]

I use quick reply for everything. For example, to do a quote I just copy the text I want to quote. I find it easier to type the tags such as {quote} {/quote}, {url=something.com}LINK TEXT HERE{/url}, etc. using [] in place of {}.

[Web Gecko]

OK thanx for the info HIHO.

My 1st quick reply. I will try your quote stuff on another occasion.

cheers

Web Gecko

[Kov-Ice]

D, I'm back. Got software installed this week. Came with a very detailed manual and a large cardboard Quick Reference guide for commands. The Preferred edition comes with a solid headset microphone as well.

I watched my wife do the quick training and some of the tutorial. Looks pretty smooth. It did make quite a few mistakes in the time she used it, but she is also a fast talker who will need to pace her speech a little more. Corrections seemed fairly quick and easy to make.

I'm going to make a user profile for myself and play around with it to see how it works first-hand, so I'll let you know more later. HTH.