Rob Clymo: Columnist - Tech & Gadgets
Thursday, 28 August 2008
The Clymo Brief: Hands-free computing
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Today I am going to talk to you about speech recognition software. There, I’ve said it and the program typed it for me. Amazing what they can do with technology, isn’t it?

I’ve tried speech recognition software before, using iListen on my Apple computer and that was pretty good. Mind you, the first time I launched that in an open-plan office my work colleagues started looking at me very strangely as I began talking to my screen while wearing a stupid looking headset. Fair enough.

This time, having been sent a program called Dragon Naturally Speaking (daft name), I decided to install it on a machine at home. That way I can sit in the spare bedroom and babble away to myself as much as I like, albeit with the curtains drawn so the neighbours across the street don’t get concerned for my sanity.
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Speech recognition software works by replacing everything you’d normally type into your keyboard with voice commands. So, if you’re tempted to try it, you’ll be talking a lot. In fact, the only downside is that you might end up switching the effects of RSI for a rather sore throat. So keep the Strepsils close at hand.

Greater accuracy
But what it should mean is that you can do everything from surfing the internet and sending emails through to creating lengthy documents in Word or spreadsheets in Excel without going anywhere near those pesky QWERTY keys.

Examining the box for the first time I was cautiously encouraged by some of the packaging blurb. ‘Up to 99% accurate and three times faster than typing’ it says. Yeah right. The big problem with a lot of these programs is that many of them just don’t work properly and render much of what you say as gobbledegook.
But following a prolonged bout of tennis elbow (contracted through over zealous painting and decorating rather than tennis), which has been made worse by endless tapping away on a computer keyboard, I figured speech recognition software might be the pain-relieving solution I’m looking for.

Headset quality
Of course, my computing demands are a long way from many people who use speech recognition software professionally, like medical transcriptionists and members of the armed forces.

Apparently such software is being used in some fighter aircraft. Not an environment where you want the program to think you said ‘Down’ when actually you said ‘Up’, is it? Or, perhaps, thinks you said ‘Drop a very large bomb’ when, in fact, you meant ‘Don’t drop a very large bomb’.
It’s this misinterpretation of what you say which has been one of the main failings of speech recognition software in the past. Dragon Naturally Speaking seems to have addressed that fundamental issue quite successfully.

I’m not sure I agree with the ‘high-quality headset’ accolade its maker Nuance gives to the supplied microphone contraption though. It produces a vice-like grip on your skull.

Interesting results
Nevertheless, once you’ve configured the software and started talking instead of typing, the results are pretty interesting.

Perhaps the most useful aspect of this software is that it speeds up productivity. I’m a self-taught typist and not always a great one at that. I immediately noticed as I talked to the program that it could type much more accurately than I could manage myself.

What’s more, launching programs such as Outlook and Explorer is instantaneous. It means firing off emails and browsing web pages is a doddle too.
Intuitive
The software is intuitive to use. Some speech recognition programs are often hopeless at deciphering trickier words, or fall behind if you start talking faster but this one copes surprisingly well. And I like the way you can carry out formatting commands in something like Word.

This is also a nifty package if you’re on the move a lot. If you’ve got a Pocket PC, Palm Tungsten or digital handheld recorder it’s possible to dictate into that and then get the software to transcribe your musings when you get back home.
Grander scale
But I wonder how speech recognition software will work if it’s employed on a grander scale in offices up and down the country?

Where once you would have heard only the sound of multiple mouse clicks during the daily grind, an open-plan office would turn into a cacophonous hell-on-earth with everyone yakking at the same time.

So, speech recognition software certainly seems to be coming of age. But my advice is to stick to using it behind closed doors and, preferably, in the quieter more civilised confines of your own home.


Recent columns from Rob Clymo:
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Rob Clymo is a journalist employed on a freelance basis by Microsoft. The views in this article are those of the author and not of MSN or Microsoft. Microsoft is the publisher and owner of MSN Tech & Gadgets.