I SAID ... oh, never mind. (Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred 5.0)

Member Name: Plumptious

Product:	Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred 5.0
Date:	08/03/01 (127 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Novel, useful if you hate typing.

Disadvantages: Be aware that it is not appropriate for all situations.

My boss returned from an exhibition, loaded with goodies. Using the company credit card, he'd purchased various pieces of software, some of which the company required and others which could only described as "experimental".

The one he was most excited about was an offering from Dragon Software. He was so excited that he took it home with him that very night. We saw him the next day, bleary eyed and in a less elated mood.

Apparently, having installed the voice recognition software, he then found himself faced with the onerous task of building up the dictionary. If, gentle reader, you are already familiar with this necessity, then please ignore the next paragraph.

Every person's voice is different from another's. For software to recognise words enunciated by a new user with any accuracy, it is normal practice to have the user go through the computer's repertoire, repeating each word several times. This time consuming process is rewarded by noticeable gains in accuracy.

What with one thing and another, it was four in the morning when my boss finally found himself in a position to test his machine's new found powers. Deciding on a simple phrase to begin with, he intoned "Twinkle twinkle little star".

The machine obediently displayed
'Twinkle twinkle little *'.
So disgusted was he that he decided to retire to bed at that point.

It didn't help when we pointed out that substituting "asterisk" for "star" could be considered quite a valid, especially in an office context. He'd already worked that out for himself, and from then on, the newly purchased box languished in the corner, only occasionally brought out by new enthusiastic juniors on the team.



~~~ Voice Recognition in the Home ~~~

My new computer and sound system setup at home was coming along nicely. The CD player in my computer had
been persuaded to play through the main speakers, and additional tweaks were being added as they were thought up.

Now, the basic operation of a CD player consists of but a few commands, namely "Play", "Open", "Close", "Louder" and "Softer". The voice recognition software on my computer were duly introduced to those words, and linked up to its CD player.

With my visiting friends looking on, the "Open" command was issued vocally. The player duly opened and a CD placed in the proffered receptacle. At the "Close" command, the CD was swallowed up. When it started playing at the "Play" command, the audience moved closer, their interest arrested.

The demonstration continued to go well. When repeated "Softer" commands were issued, the playing continued at noticeably softer decrements. Soon followed uccessive "Louder" commands. Obediently, the playing became louder. It soon became uncomfortably loud.

It was time to reduce the volume. "Softer", I said. The system took no notice. "Softer", I cried. The volume continued unabated. "SOFTER!" I roared. No change.

Finally, I resorted to using the keyboard controls to reduce the volume. What had happened was that the volume of the music playing was such that it had begun to interfere with the sounds received by the microphone which I used to issue my vocal commands.

The project was abandoned, but it serves its purpose in affording my friends a good laugh at me ever now and again.



~~ Update 31.03.01 ~~
I recently noticed that a new CD player had been launched. It had voice activated commands. Recalling my experience makes me wonder how viable it really is. Will there be lots of deafened people out there desperately grappling for the manual controls?

Summary: