Voice Recognition Software Has Come a Long Way

Recently a friend of mine with the gift of gab (a nice way of saying they talk too much) told me yet another one of his long-winded - albeit questionably truthful - yet amazingly engaging stories. Considering this guy is bald, featureless, single, and works one of the most boring (postal) jobs known to this planet, where he comes up with stories of the amazing things that happened to him is beyond me. Or perhaps it's not - maybe he's a compulsive liar, or maybe he just has an otherwise hidden gift of a tremendous imagination. No matter what his sources, this guy has some great stories to tell.

After bending my ear yet again with one of these tales recently, the voice of the aspiring opportunistic writer resounded within my head. I asked him: "Hey, why don't you write these amazing stories down?" His response was full of excuses: bad handwriting, didn't know how to type, bad grammar - and his list went on and on. The words of a genius whose skills would most likely never come to fruition.

In spite of this, I was insistent and offered him a solution for all of his excuses. What came to mind was a fairly recent discovery of my own - such discovery being called voice recognition software.

VOICE RECOGNITION SOFTWARE - I USE IT, TOO

Voice recognition software quite simply is just that: software that recognizes your voice.

While it can have several applications, the one that I use it for is to quickly and conveniently produce large volumes of unique written content without having to move a finger over my keyboard. As a matter of fact, I wrote this entire article using voice recognition software. It only took me a few minutes' time, and takes perhaps a few minutes more to reread what I had written for editing purposes. In the end, the entire writing process has been shortened significantly due to reduced effort.

For those people who believe they cannot write, this software could be the answer to their problem. While some folks may feel comfortable with a more rigid and formal style of writing, others will love the ability to speak to speak in one's own natural conversational tone: the words appear exactly in the same manner in which they would come from one's mouth.

Aside from that, voice recognition software is good news for folks (like me) who hate to type.

VOICE RECOGNITION SOFTWARE CONTENDERS

While Microsoft seems to have its own brand of this also, there are several contenders out there in the voice recognition market.

I originally bought my first software about 10 years ago, but it had much to be desired. At that time it was still very primitive, and didn't do such a good job. The benefits outweigh all the trouble that came along with it at that time. In the end, I trashed it with the hopes that it would become a better product later.

Thankfully, nowadays it is truly a much better product.

TRAIN IT AND USE IT

Before going to buy the software, I highly recommend that you purchase a high quality microphone headset and adjust it to your system in accordance with the software's instructions.

After installing the software, the software new user routine will likely prompt you to "train" the application to recognize your voice. This involves reading a series of passages prompted to you on the screen. While you may get by on your chosen application by only training in several sessions, to get the best results I highly recommend that you train the software for all sessions. I know that by training the application on all sessions yielded noticeably better and more accurate transcription of my voice.

As time goes on, you will be able to train it for even greater accuracy by going back to words that the program did not correctly recognize, correct them, and then benefit from greater accuracy after exiting from the application and performing some accuracy optimization routines..

PROS AND CONS

No one piece of software can answer everyone's requirements, but when it comes to voice recognition, my fully trained software has turned out to be quite a boon to my productivity. Overall, I would say voice recognition software pretty much ranks at the top of my laptop's toolset list.

Yes, it does boost productivity, especially if your work involves the writing of e-mails or producing high volumes of unique content. But this is not to say the benefits do not come without their shortcomings, and the benefits do not obviate the necessity to perform certain tasks in the word-authoring process.

Self-Aware In A Shy Kind Of Way

After training up my software for accuracy, the first hurdle I had to overcome was being clear about what I had to say: exactly which words to use to express myself. At first I found myself becoming somewhat self-aware. After all, most people do not usually go around talking to themselves - although some would argue to the contrary!

After a short while for me though, this shyness issue seemed to fade away, especially in light of seeing how quickly the content appeared on the page with little to no effort.

What About Other Folks Hearing You?

I believe another factor that comes into the voice recognition software productivity mix is the issue of privacy.

Most folks who work in a communal office environment (a "cube farm") may find using voice recognition software especially challenging for one's privacy. Speaking your mind out loud may make other folks become privy to the nature of your work, as well as lead them perhaps to draw unjustified or inaccurate conclusions about what kind of person you are.

For instance, if you were using voice recognition software to write an e-mail to someone about a sensitive or touchy subject, depending upon how you were handling the issue the folks in adjacent cubes may come to the conclusion that your otherwise amicable personality was tainted by an undercurrent of unspoken animosity for other people.

Unfortunately in a cube farm or other similar office environment, there is little alternative to salve this challenge. Off the top of my head, the only solutions I can think of are to either compose such words in the privacy of home or behind the closed doors of a dedicated personal office.

Shhhh! Keep it quiet!

Given the fact that you might work in a great work environment, you may sometimes find the accuracy of your work becomes diminished through an influx of extraneous noise.

If folks are jabbering in the cube next door, phones are ringing, fans are blowing, or a range of any other sources of noise within the office, then the likelihood of inaccurate voice-recognition or difficulty of use begins to rise.

If environmental factors like those I mentioned above are somehow an inevitable reality of your work environment, then the effectiveness of using voice recognition software may be severely diminished. Best suggestion? Move to a quiet office, or take your work home - assuming no noisy kids, barking dogs, or (in my case) squawking parrots!

Your Work Still Needs To Be Edited

Great as this software is, I still bear in mind that after I get done writing these many words with such ease, I will still have the chore of rereading and editing any words or phrases which the software may have misinterpreted.

For instance, in the words above I used the word "amicable". The software originally misinterpreted this word as "unlikable" before I corrected it. While the spelling of the words written into this document will be correct, any document composed with voice recognition software still needs to be closely examined for misinterpretation. Had I voice-written a crucial e-mail to someone describing their "amicable" personality, but had instead used the word "unlikeable" - and not caught it - then I would have likely "caught it" myself later.

I usually like to catch mistakes on the fly, but it's good to play it safe and reread all messages, no matter how lengthy.

IT'S ALL GOOD

In spite of the many shortcomings it may have had years ago, voice recognition software has really come a long way.

Depending upon which software you're using, it's good to be patient and to become aware of its quirks and eccentricities. Knowing these, you will be able to leverage voice recognition software to its full advantage and reap the benefits of enhanced productivity.

In the meantime it's just fun to speak to see the words appear on the screen!

Have fun!

- John

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