Greetings,
In an attempt to streamline some procedures both field and office, I am inquiring whether anyone has successfully implemented Speech-to-Text software.
Obviously, there could be huge gains for lengthy documents on the office side. I am also curious about .mp3 dictation. I am looking to enhance my reconnaissance notes by using a voice recorder, but want the end result in text.
Any helpful hints or recommendations of software to try would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance and Happy Holidays,
Matt
I've got an iPhone. I've been amazed with an application called "Dragon Dictation" which effectively and accurately does what you describe. Of course, its not perfect, but in my opinion very good. I believe this software is also the basis for the Siri application which has gained popularity since the release of the iPhone 4/4S.
I'll second that BA! Dragon Dictate is fantastic for emails, Survey Connect posts and even survey notes to pop on a map!
Sent from my iPad via Dragon Dictates while sitting at Gate 20 at John Wayne Airport waiting for the 7:20 back home.
What officer?
No. I'm dictating a post on a website.
I'm not trying to be funny, Sir.
Gotta go... No, not you officer... Hey!
I tried Dragon Naturally Speaking several years ago thinking the same thing. My results were less than desired. After a lengthy "training" cycle where the software attempted to learn my inflections and voice patterns, it often became confused with the technical jargon commonly used in the land development market. I found myself either:
- spending more time going back through what I had dictated and correcting mistakes than I would have spent simply typing it out, or,
- becoming frustrated with the software when it couldn't understand what I was trying to dictate... (e.g. it would often get hung up on a word and wouldn't continue until the word was recognized). In at least one situation, I clearly remember yelling the word in anger into the microphone and then finally giving up and typing the word.
At that point, I gave up on it. Either the computer wasn't processing my voice signal correctly or the hardware/software combination wasn't as sophisticated as I needed. In either case, I haven't used it since late 2006. If my license is transferable, you're welcome to it.
--
Ladd Nelson
The voice recognition software that comes with micro$oft windows is pretty good
Needs to be trained to your voice and accent. Once that is done it is remarkably accurate
Interesting to see what it makes of music played at it too...
My experience is just like Ladd describes. Spent several hours training the software to my voice. The results were .... trying to be kind here .... not satisfactory.
Several times each year since then the Dragon folks have tried to talk me into a an upgrade that will "fix all the previous problems".
I told them if I could have a 30 day demo I'd try it and see if the issues were fixed. They told me to buy it because they knew it would work.
Bottom line, if you find something that works well for you Matthew, let us know.
Larry P
PS: Tell the wife I said hello.
I should have mentioned this in my post - I would prefer generally to type with a keyboard rather than dictate and then have to go through and make corrections using a phone or tablet. I agree that it takes some time to make the corrections and this is a limitation. But, when you're on the road, in the field, in an airport, wherever, and all you have is your phone, and especially where grammar and punctuation are not essential, Dragon Dictation is very effective.
i have been using VLINGO on android for about a week - seems to be working pretty good ( and it's a free app )
it's available for a bunch of smart phones http://www.vlingo.com/
