Getting your PC to listen to you

03:37 PM CDT on Wednesday, August 3, 2005

By WALT ZWIRKO / WFAA-TV

WFAA-TV

That's me, reading a book to my computer.

When did people start thinking they could talk to their computers? I guess that may date back to the original Star Trek.

Now, of course, we're constantly confronted with automated voice recognition, especially when we try to call a business for information ("Please say your 48-digit account number, one digit at a time").

But while that may be more annoying than actually talking to a person, there is something to be said for a computer that really listens to you.

The latest generation of voice recognition software for personal computers is nothing short of astounding.

I tested the new Dragon Naturally Speaking 8 from ScanSoft, which—using the included headset—not only gives you hands-free control of the screen display, but also lets you dictate nearly error-free text into your PC.

Like most voice recognition software of recent years, Dragon Naturally Speaking wants to hear what you sound like before it starts processing your words.

To do this, it asks you to read some training documents immediately after installation. This is as easy as it sounds: just read into the microphone.

Using the tremendous processing power available in 21st century computers, the software matches up the way you talk with its phonics library. The process greatly reduces the risk of errors (and the need for corrections).

To give Dragon Naturally Speaking the Computer Corner acid test, I subjected it to some prose from my broadcast library, a book called This is Television (circa 1940-something).

"Today we stand poised on the threshold of a future for television that no one can begin to comprehend fully."

I said the words at almost a conversational rate of speed; it's not necessary to … read … each … word … separately. In fact, the only requirement for a pause is when you want to issue a command.

"Select 'to gain,'" I commanded. The cursor jumped to those words and highlighted them. I had to repair the computer's interpretation of the way I said "today."

If the software thinks you might have meant something else, a numbered list pops up to make an alternate selection.

I had to spell the word "today" to complete the correction, but no typing is required—it's all hands-free. Your accuracy will improve the more you use the software, which has an intelligence of its own.

"If you say, 'cat sitter' or 'cat litter' and the computer has a difficult time determining which one it is, it's always going to choose 'litter' because it knows that 'cat' is frequently associated with 'litter' but not as frequently with 'sitter,'" explained ScanSoft senior product manager Matt Revis.

To improve the odds of success, you can "train" Naturally Speaking by reading additional text snippets supplied with the program.

I tested Dragon Naturally Speaking on a rather modestly-equipped notebook computer with an Intel Celeron mobile processor and 512 megabytes of memory, and it worked much better than I could have imagined.

So who needs a product like this? Anyone who does a lot of transcribing or dictating; if you need to keep your hands free for other tasks; or if you have limited use of your hands.

Dragon Naturally Speaking 8 is for Windows PCs and is available in several editions, starting with Standard (for $100) and Preferred ($200, which adds support for use of a pocket-size digital audio recorder to create the dictation files while on the go).

Other editions are tailored for the legal and medical professions.

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E-mail askwalt@wfaa.com