Dragon NaturallySpeaking

[Arch]

My boss is very dyslexic, so he's got a program like this. A couple of weeks back we all got an email telling us that so and so would believing on Tuesday.

We never found out what he was believing, but then he left!

My boss admits he needs to proof read more!

 

[ColinJ]

My boss is very dyslexic, so he's got a program like this. A couple of weeks back we all got an email telling us that so and so would believing on Tuesday.

We never found out what he was believing, but then he left!

My boss admits he needs to proof read more!

The trouble is - the software doesn't make spelling mistakes, so a spell-checker won't help find errors. Careful proof-reading is definitely a good idea!

I'm wondering what to do next about the nobbled mic input. I may buy a cheap usb sound card to plug the headset in to, but if that doesn't work reliably then it will just be another thing to get annoyed about!

 

[ColinJ]

(Typing) Ha - I think I've sussed it out!

****************************************************

Hello I'm back on Dragon NaturallySpeaking again. The secret to getting it to work was to make sure that the headset was plugged in when the system is powered up and still plugged in when it is powered down.

I'm about to put the system into hibernation and then wake it back up again and see if Dragon NaturallySpeaking still works.

Okay, the system has just come back out of hibernation and it is still working. That's great!

****************************************************

 

[siadwell]

So what are you going to do with all the time this marvellous software saves you, Colin?

 

[ColinJ]

So what are you going to do with all the time this marvellous software saves you, Colin?

Try to earn a living!

I'm going to have to get productive ASAP and a lot of what I will be doing will involve churning out text, so it makes sense to do the bulk of it at 150+ wpm rather than the 40-odd wpm I can manage using my 'hunt-and-peck' typing style. Correcting errors will reduce the effective speed somewhat, but it should still be 2-3 times faster dictating rather than typing.

(If I get back into programming, I will stick to typing for that. I can't imagine DNS being able to cope with that kind of input properly, and even if it could, I don't think that I could make up the code fast enough to make it worthwhile!)

 

[ColinJ]

Okay, here's a real test for the system. I have the television on in the background with the world track cycling Championships on. If the microphone is picking up that signal it may well make more mistakes than usual. So far, the system seems to be working reliably. It's very surprising because Chris Boardman is shouting out of the television speakers!

You have to be impressed by that.

It certainly isn't old fat winning a gold medal at 19 years of age! I said fact not fat. Let's try again I said fact not fat at fact hat fat fat fat. It doesn't seem to like the word fat act fact at the fact fact.

[Typing - for some reason, it really doesn't seem like 'hat'! I will try specifically training it and then see how it copes.]

 

[Garz]

It's dead again!

When I did the System Restore, it removed a Windows Update that had been downloaded after I put DNS on my laptop. ...
A quick look at the DNS forum does not inspire confidence!

Glad you have got back into networking software and IP addresses Colin!

 

[ColinJ]

Glad you have got back into networking software and IP addresses Colin!

I did a double-take there - no, not that DNS - this DNS!

 

[PaulSB]

I'm interested to read Colin finds this successful. I briefly read the other day DNS is the software behind Apple's Siri voice command on the iPhone.

Siri is good when it works but unreliable to the point it's easier not to use it. I wonder if DNS and therefore Siri works well in a "stationary" environment and is not really suited to "mobile," in the literal sense, use?

 

[ColinJ]

(Typing) The technology clearly works if it gets a clean enough signal from the microphone. The microphone on the cheap headset provided with DNS is supposed to be 'noise-cancelling', a bit like ones used by helicopter pilots. It seemed to be rejecting most of the sound from my TV which was about 8 ft from the mic.

I'm sure that you can buy much better headsets for £40 or so and I will buy one when I have the money to spare.

I know that some mobile phones have noise-cancelling technology built in, but I don't know how effective it is. Pause to consult Google ... Okay, here is a demonstration:



I thought it worked really well in the music and the air conditioning tests. I don't think the wind test was a fair one because no mics work properly in windy conditions without wind covers on them, which mobiles don't have.

DNS works best when it is trained to the combination of an individual voice through a particular mic setup so I could see it working on the iPhone in the demo, if it got used to the noise-cancelled 'robo-voice'.

 

[ColinJ]

It turns out that the problem I had with my microphone not working was due to me not having ticked the check box on my SigmaTel Audio Control Panel setup - 'Allow reconfiguration pop-ups'.

With the check box ticked, a pop-up window appears every time I plug the headset mic in and asks me if I want to use it as a microphone, to which the answer is clearly 'yes'!

I'm going to make a video of me using DNS. I'll put it on YouTube and link to it below.

 

[Garz]

It turns out that the problem I had with my microphone not working was due to me not having ticked the check box on my SigmaTel Audio Control Panel setup - 'Allow reconfiguration pop-ups'.

(no icon for 'schoolboy error')

 

[ColinJ]

(no icon for 'schoolboy error')

Especially because I now remember a time in the distant past when I wondered what it was for and unticked it!

 

[PaulSB]

my nexus 7 it came equipped with voice recognition software and this is the result. quite astonishing it is even capable of putting in the stars when I swear!!