Get a FREE fully-working copy of Steganos Security Suite 7 (worth £49.99) when you sign up to the Practical PC Newsletter. Review: Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred 6
Tired of letting your fingers do all the work? Dave Cook investigates the latest speech recognition software.
| Product | Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred 6 |
|---|---|
| Company | Scansoft |
| Web | www.scansoft.com |
| Price | £147 |
| We like | Extremely versatile, excellent user guide. |
| We don't like | Needs patience. |
| Rating | 8/10 |
| Requirements |
Until a couple of years ago, speech recognition software either worked for you or it didn't. Enthusiasts claimed it was the best invention since the wheel, while others just couldn't get the hang of it no matter how hard they tried.
Thankfully, today's speech recognition software has come on in leaps and bounds. One of the leaders is ScanSoft, with its latest and greatest being Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred, version 6.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking is compatible with a host of applications. For example, you can dictate directly into a range of Windows-based software including Microsoft Office, Corel WordPerfect, and Lotus Notes.
Many of the most popular e-mail and Internet browsing applications such as Outlook, Internet Explorer, and AOL are also supported. Though, in the case of AOL, this applies (at the time of writing) to versions 5 and 6 only.
Impressively, Dragon NaturallySpeaking boasts a built-in vocabulary of over 230,000 words, plus you can add new words automatically. Other benefits include control of the mouse curser, recording of speech during dictation, and electing your computer to read selected text aloud in a different voice.
Customisation of the software is also possible and comes in four types: Text and Graphics, Step-by-Step, Macro Recorder and Advanced Scripting. A half-decent microphone headset is also included. However, switching between the headphone and PC involves hot swapping the headphone/microphone plugs to the output/input jacks of your sound card.
Installation
Overall, installation is a fairly painless process. Be warned, though, that it's all too easy to mistakenly include the American user files rather than our own.
On first launch you select a user name and allow the software to automatically select the best speech model and vocabulary settings for your particular system. It will then perform a couple of checks to ensure everything is set up as it should be.
Training
As with anything in life you only get out of Dragon NaturallySpeaking what you put into it. Thus, the amount of time and effort spent training the software to recognise your voice will pay dividends later.
That said, the first training session takes a mere five minutes or so, after which it's possible to launch Word, for example, and start talking. Recognition errors can be corrected on the fly using the dictation method or via the mouse and keyboard. Alternatively, you can return to the Accuracy Centre to better train the software at recognising your voice.
Testing
At this point we introduced the software to a moderately-strong Geordie accent and, after the first training session, impressions were actually quite favourable. But as the narration unfolded, the accuracy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking grew progressively worse. Upon completion of a two-page document, we judged overall accuracy to be around 70%.
After another ten minutes of training, the accuracy level increased to a slightly more respectable 80%. It was still some way short of the 95% accuracy which some users claim to achieve, although, with further practice, we feel confident that this gap could be narrowed somewhat.
Verdict
Unless you have the clearest of voices, don't expect to achieve 100% accuracy within the first hour of launching Dragon NaturallySpeaking. That said, a high level of precision can be achieved if you're prepared to work at it.
