If You Use Dragon Dictation Software, Will You Ever Have to Type Again?
Reviewing Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12
What do you hate most about our computer-forward workstyles? If you’re like me), it’s the typing. While I can lay down a reasonable speed on the old QWERTY, my accuracy leaves something to be desired. And, after a few carpal tunnel scares, I’m ready to give my fingers and wrists a break now and then.
And so, I decided to try dictation software.
For someone whose life goal has always been to have my own assistant do the typing, this seemed like a very reasonable option. For one thing, the price tag of dictation software is much more reasonable than hiring a human assistant. For another thing, I just like trying out new software. So I decided to give it a go.
My first efforts, revolving around free software, were so bad that it actually took about twice the time for me to dictate than to type – and that’s without going back to edit and clean up. After some quality time spent perusing Amazon reviews, I opted to try Dragon NaturallySpeaking.
Out of the Box, Onto the PC
Dragon Naturally Speaking comes in several flavors: the basic vanilla Home Edition, a nice chocolate Professional Edition, and a mint-chip Premium Edition. There are also niche flavors for Mac users and the healthcare and legal industries. This review applies strictly to the Home Edition, which more than answers my needs.
In the box, you’ll find the DVD and a handy headset-microphone combo. For good measure, I also bought a separate, highly-recommended headset. In my experience, both headsets performed equally well., Using your computer's built-in mic is not advised.
Getting the program onto my laptop was no problem. The next step was voice training.
Nuance, the makers of Dragon, recommend that you devote a fair amount of time to training the software to recognize your speech. I second this. While in theory it is ready to be used in mere minutes, it’s best to have several training sessions first. My original profile, recording my speech after the briefest training, complied a string of unusable words and a curiously suggestive take on ‘Mary had a little lamb’.
I chose to delete the profile and start over properly. When you begin a profile, you fill in basics like your age, location (US, Britain, etc) and your speech region. Speech regions and vocabulary sizes can be fine-tuned, but they’re not always accurate. Although I live in Michigan, which should put me squarely in the Great Lakes dialect, I’ve actually had better success with the Standard U.S. English recognition engine.
Once your profile is set up, you can begin calibrating Dragon to your speech patterns by testing the microphone and reading pre-selected passages. To its credit, the software picked up my very quiet voice, and as a rule it generally keeps up with me reasonably well.
Packed Full of Features
Once you complete the initial training, you can customize the Dragon NaturallySpeaking Toolbar. About the size of your browser bar, it can float over other applications or be anchored to one spot – I prefer the bottom of the screen. From this slim control center, you can control and change user profiles, set up dictation options, and tweak settings.
Even the Home edition of Dragon NaturallySpeaking has more options than the casual user is likely to need. After all, you could use this program to navigate your computer, search the web, or perform a plethora of other activities. For straight-up dictation, I find myself using the DragonPad and Dictation Box functions, which allow me to take notes while researching online or from another on-screen document.
Dragon’s dictation software comes with five modes: command (for controlling programs, etc.), dictation mode (enters text directly into a word processor or other program but doesn’t recognize system commands), normal mode (combines command and dictation mode), numbers mode, and spelling mode. The latter two are most useful as training tools.. As someone who has accidentally deleted an entire unsaved document by uttering the wrong word, I tend to stick with the dictation mode.
The audio feature is another great option for writers and proofreaders. I use it to read text back to me as an audio editing tool. You can also use it to improve Dragon’s recognition of your speech.
Dragon also regularly attempts to learn your unique speech habits. For example, as a tech writer, I often use terms like ‘analytics’, ‘SEO’, and other jargon. With NaturallySpeaking’s customization and self-learning options, it adjusts itself to my vocabulary handily.
As a piece of dictation software, Dragon NaturallySpeaking comes with enough options to give value for money. But it’s far from perfect.
So Close and Yet So Far to Go
Let’s focus on the real reason we’re profiling Dragon NaturallySpeaking. How well does it actually translate your speech from the spoken word to the written one?
I’d say it does pretty good, with a number of important caveats.
• It’s best to use the same microphone each time you dictate, as the program recommends. Even when you do, a slight change in position, such as placing the microphone an inch closer to your jaw than your mouth, can have a significant impact on accuracy.
• Dragon NaturallySpeaking is a resource hog. There’s no nice way to put this. It can bog down a reasonably-equipped system faster than anything this side of heavy-duty graphics software. And this also impacts its performance. If the processor speed lags behind your speaking speed, look out! Mess ahead!
• While the training software recommends a natural speaking rhythm, it’s best to speak slowly and distinctly. I often find myself mimicking the mechanical read-back voice, and Dragon does pretty well at deciphering me. But if I lapse into a casual, quick pattern, the software will often leave out little words like ‘a’, ‘if’ and ‘the’.
• For some reason, accuracy, speed, and performance suffer enormously if you use the software after your computer has gone to sleep. When this happens, the only rescue is to close Dragon NaturallySpeaking, restart your computer, and then restart the software.
• Start-up times for Dragon NaturallySpeaking tend to be slow. Shutting down the software is frustrating; it can tie up system resources until it has finished updating its records of your speech.
• Despite the fact that we can, in theory, speak much faster than we type, I find that I don’t really save time when I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Going back to clean up multiple small errors eats up any minutes I might have saved.
Will Dragon NaturallySpeaking Eliminate Typing?
Not by a long shot. Admittedly, speech recognition is a hugely complicated area. With all it has to do, it’s not fair to expect Dragon NaturallySpeaking to be as nimble as a smaller program. But there are some serious flaws in this otherwise solid product that compromise its usefulness, at least for the professional writer.
I’d recommend Dragon NaturallySpeaking when you want to give your hands a break from pounding keys.. It's read-text feature alone makes it worth the money. If you have a deadline, though, you’ll get better mileage from your keyboard.
Ease of Use – 5 of 10.
Plug and play this isn’t. You’ll need to invest a fair amount of time into training Dragon NaturallySpeaking for your voice. And even then, a tiny variation in mic placement can make an utter hash of your utterances. If you can perfectly replicate your training conditions, the software works reasonably well – at a sizable expense of system resources.
Selection of Features - 10 of 10.
No complaints here. Multiple profiles, loads of regional accent options, several playback voices, and a complete suite of commands make Dragon a great value.
Design - 8 of 10.
The design is pretty intuitive, if not exactly pretty to look at. It does its job. Like the dictation and playback engines, there are enough customization options in the layout to suit most needs.
Overall Performance – 7 of 10.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking is close to greatness when it works, but incredibly frustrating and time-consuming when it doesn’t. On the whole, it performs as advertised. Here’s hoping that future versions iron out those annoying bugs soon.
What do you hate most about our computer-forward workstyles? If you’re like me), it’s the typing. While I can lay down a reasonable speed on the old QWERTY, my accuracy leaves something to be desired. And, after a few carpal tunnel scares, I’m ready to give my fingers and wrists a break now and then.
And so, I decided to try dictation software.
For someone whose life goal has always been to have my own assistant do the typing, this seemed like a very reasonable option. For one thing, the price tag of dictation software is much more reasonable than hiring a human assistant. For another thing, I just like trying out new software. So I decided to give it a go.
My first efforts, revolving around free software, were so bad that it actually took about twice the time for me to dictate than to type – and that’s without going back to edit and clean up. After some quality time spent perusing Amazon reviews, I opted to try Dragon NaturallySpeaking.
Out of the Box, Onto the PC
Dragon Naturally Speaking comes in several flavors: the basic vanilla Home Edition, a nice chocolate Professional Edition, and a mint-chip Premium Edition. There are also niche flavors for Mac users and the healthcare and legal industries. This review applies strictly to the Home Edition, which more than answers my needs.
In the box, you’ll find the DVD and a handy headset-microphone combo. For good measure, I also bought a separate, highly-recommended headset. In my experience, both headsets performed equally well., Using your computer's built-in mic is not advised.
Getting the program onto my laptop was no problem. The next step was voice training.
Nuance, the makers of Dragon, recommend that you devote a fair amount of time to training the software to recognize your speech. I second this. While in theory it is ready to be used in mere minutes, it’s best to have several training sessions first. My original profile, recording my speech after the briefest training, complied a string of unusable words and a curiously suggestive take on ‘Mary had a little lamb’.
I chose to delete the profile and start over properly. When you begin a profile, you fill in basics like your age, location (US, Britain, etc) and your speech region. Speech regions and vocabulary sizes can be fine-tuned, but they’re not always accurate. Although I live in Michigan, which should put me squarely in the Great Lakes dialect, I’ve actually had better success with the Standard U.S. English recognition engine.
Once your profile is set up, you can begin calibrating Dragon to your speech patterns by testing the microphone and reading pre-selected passages. To its credit, the software picked up my very quiet voice, and as a rule it generally keeps up with me reasonably well.
Packed Full of Features
Once you complete the initial training, you can customize the Dragon NaturallySpeaking Toolbar. About the size of your browser bar, it can float over other applications or be anchored to one spot – I prefer the bottom of the screen. From this slim control center, you can control and change user profiles, set up dictation options, and tweak settings.
Even the Home edition of Dragon NaturallySpeaking has more options than the casual user is likely to need. After all, you could use this program to navigate your computer, search the web, or perform a plethora of other activities. For straight-up dictation, I find myself using the DragonPad and Dictation Box functions, which allow me to take notes while researching online or from another on-screen document.
Dragon’s dictation software comes with five modes: command (for controlling programs, etc.), dictation mode (enters text directly into a word processor or other program but doesn’t recognize system commands), normal mode (combines command and dictation mode), numbers mode, and spelling mode. The latter two are most useful as training tools.. As someone who has accidentally deleted an entire unsaved document by uttering the wrong word, I tend to stick with the dictation mode.
The audio feature is another great option for writers and proofreaders. I use it to read text back to me as an audio editing tool. You can also use it to improve Dragon’s recognition of your speech.
Dragon also regularly attempts to learn your unique speech habits. For example, as a tech writer, I often use terms like ‘analytics’, ‘SEO’, and other jargon. With NaturallySpeaking’s customization and self-learning options, it adjusts itself to my vocabulary handily.
As a piece of dictation software, Dragon NaturallySpeaking comes with enough options to give value for money. But it’s far from perfect.
So Close and Yet So Far to Go
Let’s focus on the real reason we’re profiling Dragon NaturallySpeaking. How well does it actually translate your speech from the spoken word to the written one?
I’d say it does pretty good, with a number of important caveats.
• It’s best to use the same microphone each time you dictate, as the program recommends. Even when you do, a slight change in position, such as placing the microphone an inch closer to your jaw than your mouth, can have a significant impact on accuracy.
• Dragon NaturallySpeaking is a resource hog. There’s no nice way to put this. It can bog down a reasonably-equipped system faster than anything this side of heavy-duty graphics software. And this also impacts its performance. If the processor speed lags behind your speaking speed, look out! Mess ahead!
• While the training software recommends a natural speaking rhythm, it’s best to speak slowly and distinctly. I often find myself mimicking the mechanical read-back voice, and Dragon does pretty well at deciphering me. But if I lapse into a casual, quick pattern, the software will often leave out little words like ‘a’, ‘if’ and ‘the’.
• For some reason, accuracy, speed, and performance suffer enormously if you use the software after your computer has gone to sleep. When this happens, the only rescue is to close Dragon NaturallySpeaking, restart your computer, and then restart the software.
• Start-up times for Dragon NaturallySpeaking tend to be slow. Shutting down the software is frustrating; it can tie up system resources until it has finished updating its records of your speech.
• Despite the fact that we can, in theory, speak much faster than we type, I find that I don’t really save time when I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Going back to clean up multiple small errors eats up any minutes I might have saved.
Will Dragon NaturallySpeaking Eliminate Typing?
Not by a long shot. Admittedly, speech recognition is a hugely complicated area. With all it has to do, it’s not fair to expect Dragon NaturallySpeaking to be as nimble as a smaller program. But there are some serious flaws in this otherwise solid product that compromise its usefulness, at least for the professional writer.
I’d recommend Dragon NaturallySpeaking when you want to give your hands a break from pounding keys.. It's read-text feature alone makes it worth the money. If you have a deadline, though, you’ll get better mileage from your keyboard.
Ease of Use – 5 of 10.
Plug and play this isn’t. You’ll need to invest a fair amount of time into training Dragon NaturallySpeaking for your voice. And even then, a tiny variation in mic placement can make an utter hash of your utterances. If you can perfectly replicate your training conditions, the software works reasonably well – at a sizable expense of system resources.
Selection of Features - 10 of 10.
No complaints here. Multiple profiles, loads of regional accent options, several playback voices, and a complete suite of commands make Dragon a great value.
Design - 8 of 10.
The design is pretty intuitive, if not exactly pretty to look at. It does its job. Like the dictation and playback engines, there are enough customization options in the layout to suit most needs.
Overall Performance – 7 of 10.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking is close to greatness when it works, but incredibly frustrating and time-consuming when it doesn’t. On the whole, it performs as advertised. Here’s hoping that future versions iron out those annoying bugs soon.
