Anyone know the Dragon?

[JB]

I have seen a software package called Dragon advertised on TV. It claims to convert speech into printed text.

Anyone have experience with this? What is the format of finished files? How about vocabulary?

It is becoming increasingly painful for me to type. Could I use Dragon to moderate and to write the Red Sky at night stories?

 

[Summer Fun]

Re: Anyone know the Dragon?

If you give me a few days, I'll see what my Sister inlaw is using.

I want to say its speak & spell ??. But I'm NOT sure.

I'll copy a legal disk for ya if you want one ??.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Anyone know the Dragon?

like all software you have to teach it to get the full value out of it.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Anyone know the Dragon?

I used it a few times over the past 10 years (yes it has been around that long) and it was OK, but not great. I am sure it has gotten better over the years, but proof-reading is probably still a must.

I found that it has trouble with Boston accents . . . and often I would get all kinds of crazy results .

My kids used it for a while to do their school papers . . . not so good. They could type faster than what they could do with Dragon. I think it needs an adult voice.

I think the Siri stuff on the iphones is pretty good, so I'm not sure if that technology differs from what Dragon is using, etc.

 

[Summer Fun]

Re: Anyone know the Dragon?

JB, My sister inlaw Barb uses SpeaktoText.

SpeaktoText 2.0 - With SpeakToText 2.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Anyone know the Dragon?

My wife just help install it for out neighbor who has ALS, it took a bit for the program to learn her voice patterns, but it seems to be doing pretty good for her, even with the speak impediments she has developed with her illness, I would say based on what I have seen, she is getting about 90-97 % accuracy.

 

[JB]

Re: Anyone know the Dragon?

Thanks, SF. I will investigate.

 

[Augoose]

Re: Anyone know the Dragon?

I've used Dragon naturally speaking quite a bit and it works very well once it's trained to your voice and they way you speak. If you take the time to train the software, along with correcting the words you say which it gets wrong, it will work well.
For the price though I can't say it works better than the built in microsoft version that most of us have already if you have Vista or windows 7...."windows speech recognition".

Start the recognition software and take the time to train it, then open word and start talking. If you have a good mic it too works well and for FREE

 

[sublauxation]

Re: Anyone know the Dragon?

I've used Dragon daily dictating office chart notes for about 5 years. The newest version is a significant upgrade, it's worth the extra money to get the professional version because you can keep your personal file in newer versions. I have problems with some words, like "following" becomes "felon", when I talk to quickly or if I'm in an especially mumbling mood. I've done a lot of training and also bought a pretty spendy microphone which also helped. I use it mostly in Word. Once in a while it has problems running and will randomly lock up, I think at times it has problems co-existing with the built in Microsoft program. I do have to proofread but I can cut my note time in half. I'm amazed sometimes by some of the words it does recognize without training, especially people's last names.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Anyone know the Dragon?

Not dragon but MS sync..Ive been using it and trying to show people how to work with voice recognition tech. What i have found it does learn and so will you..how to speak to it that is. Sounds funny but think of voice recognition as a child even smooth clear wording. It is very easy to get emotional and start using voice inflections..rapid talking or muttering your words and it fails.

Our minds work at amazing speeds and we all are capable of talking right past the tech's ability to decode what its hearing. Use the built in voice...good mike and experiment i think you will conclude it is a bit like talking to a child and you can adapt to it.

 

[sublauxation]

Re: Anyone know the Dragon?

I agree with Tail Gunner 100%. Using it has been good for me as it makes me aware of my Eastern Wisconsin drawl and forces me to enunciate words properly.

Above when I mentioned I have a lot of time into training, it worked fine after the first 10 minutes. As i got comfortable and spoke faster it required more training. I can now belt out 8 lines of text in just over a minute and it does well.

 

[JB]

Re: Anyone know the Dragon?

Thanks, guys. I am encouraged.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Anyone know the Dragon?

Then there is texas slang....Hmmm Amarilla..gonna have to watch that right there.

 

[generator12]

Re: Anyone know the Dragon?

JB, I guess you already have your answer, but I'll chime in with this:

I occasionally work with a professional in the brewing business (yep, BEER) and a month ago I found him talking into his computer. He told me that he's writing a book. No surprise there because he has been published in periodicals several times.

He was using Dragon and it was converting his words into a Word document.

I have no personal experience with the software but - knowing the guy I'm describing - if he is using it, it certainly works. I asked him if there was any problem with it (loading, set-up, etc.) and he indicated that getting it going was relatively trouble-free.

Co-incidently to your post, I've been pondering buying it myself.