Speech Recognition

Speech recognition is a computer application that lets people control a computer by speaking to it. In other words, rather than using a keyboard and mouse to communicate with the computer, the user speaks commands into a microphone that is connected to a computer. Technology has been advancing at astonishing rates, while new software for a better interaction between computers and humans are being developed. For example, Dragon System is the first continuous-speech voice-recognition program designed for general dictation. Until now, most voice-recognition programs supported discrete speech. Examples include Dragon Dictate, Kurzweil Voice, and IBM's Simply Speaking and Voice Type. Speech recognition softwarehas been improving as the years pass.

Good enough IBM's soon-to-be-released Via Voice difference is that they offer large-vocabulary and continuous-speech recognition. They promise that you can speak normally and the program will understand what you say clearly. These programs are designed to replace dictation machines and keep your hand free from typing. The application writes the phase you say and this can be saved as an .RTF file or copied on a Clipboard application.You can even edit your text within that application by saying specificphrases such as "select word" or "spell this". This is cumbersome and more time-consuming than editing by hand, but it does allow hands-free use of the program. Ideally, it could be combined with a speech-synthesis program that would verbally prompt you for information.

DragonDictate for Windows was the original speech recognition application from Dragon Systems and used discrete speech where the user must pause between speaking each word.You can spell words by saying the letters instead of using the Alpha-bravo alphabet. It has been replaced by Dragon NaturallySpeaking, which allows continuous speech recognition and correction and training of words via the keyboard. NaturallySpeaking remains a windows-only program, now in...