The Evolution of Voice Recognition Software

Voice recognition software has improved tremendously, evolving from a cluttered interface to intuitiveness that has become a true lifesaver for professionals and home users alike. Whether you are a slow typist or just into the latest technology, these programs can make the magic happen and boost productivity significantly.

Benefits of Voice Recognition Software

While incredibly fast typists, those capable of typing 100 words or more per minute, might not benefit as much as others, there are still many advantages to using voice recognition software. For instance, it makes multitasking much easier. With the latest releases of programs like Dragon Naturally Speaking, you can enjoy full desktop navigation. Other common features include the ability to switch between programs, tab between fields, and edit documents all without laying a finger on your mouse or keyboard. This leaves your hands free to write down notes, answer the phone, or simply enjoy a sip of coffee while getting your work done.

ViaVoice is one voice recognition software application that has come a long way. In fact, it is one of the very first to hit the market. IBM has included a larger vocabulary with standard versions recognizing an estimated 160,000 words and having the ability to be taught up to 500,000 words. Increased CPU speed and RAM also enables better accuracy - around 90 to 95% for those who complete the initial enrollment or training process.

Reduced Training Times

Training has always been the most frustrating part of voice recognition software, mainly because it was a repetitive, time consuming process. However, newer products are better designed and cut back on the training time required. These days, it should only take about 15 minutes for someone to dictate an initial passage, with another 10 to 15 minutes for the program to process the enrollment.

While voice recognition software must be trained in order to achieve the best accuracy, most of the training is actually required on the end-user's part. Since dictation slightly differs from speaking, you must learn how to properly say words and phrases such as comma, tab or new paragraph, as the program may not automatically add them. There is voice recognition software that makes the training processing much easier with auto-correct features, the ability to delete words, and much more.

Voice recognition software will vary from product to product but they all have the same basic features. Here are a few tips to help you along with the way:

My Documents - Most voice recognition software programs have a feature that will analyze the "My Documents" folder to help it learn the words you use the most frequently. By enabling this function, you can get through the training process much faster.

Quick Reference card - A quick reference card will contain phonetic alphabet that helps to improve accuracy when speaking certain names, words or acronyms the program might not recognize.

Speak forcefully - This will help you distinguish between your commands and dictated text. For instance, you could use short pauses between the words "go to sleep" to put your microphone or headset into sleep mode, and use your natural speaking style to generate the words "go to sleep" in a text document.

Speak naturally - Voice recognition software tends to be more efficient when a user dictates naturally. Dictate the text as if you are speaking to a real person. As long as you are enunciating your words properly, natural speech should give you fairly accurate results.

If you have no trouble speaking naturally, voice recognition software can save you a lot time on many tasks. A good program can be your primary source of input or just something that prevents you from working late nights.