I’ve been using voice recognition software for a number of years. Back in my Windows days I used Dragon NaturallySpeaking Speaking. I started with Version 8 and the accuracy improved through my use of Version 9.5. (Version 10 has just been released and it promises to be even better!) When I made the move to Mac a little bit over a year ago I went searching for voice recognition software. I found and purchased iListen from MacSpeech. It worked well enough but was a far cry from the power and accuracy of Dragon. A few months ago MacSpeech updated iListen, (or more actually reinvented the software) and introduced MacSpeech Dictate. This was a giant leap forward, particularly because the new software employs the same voice recognition engine as Dragon. It works quite well.

There are two main components that impact the accuracy of creating text to voice.
The first is the quality of your speech. If you speak in a smooth, consistent manner, using, as the software suggests “a newscaster’s voice” you will have much better results than if you speak the way you would to a friend.

The second, and perhaps more important, is the quality of the microphone. A better microphone will cancel background noise and significantly improve your results.The best option I found was my Fujitsu Stylistic Tablet PC. It had array mics built in which filtered out noise quite well. As a result I was able to sit with the tablet on my lap and simply speak in order to write with tremendous accuracy. When I was using a desktop or laptop, however, the lack of a dual array mic meant that I needed to use a headset. My headset of choice was a noise canceling Andrea USB headset. For about $90 it worked incredibly well. It was, however, cumbersome, slightly uncomfortable, more than slightly inconvenient, and it made me look like a phone operator. But it worked.

A few months ago I noticed that a new wireless microphone had been released by Revolabs. The ex-tag microphone, while rather pricey at $250, promised excellent accuracy while cutting the cord. Mine came today and it is a small wonder. Continue Reading