Typing documents, tweeting and posting onto social media Websites is a different experience with Nuance’s Dragon Naturally Speaking Software Version 11/11.5. The software can be helpful for people who are not able to manually type using a keyboard for health reasons or who cannot type more than 45 words per minute, saving crucial time. However, writing with the software takes time to get used to at the very beginning and can hinder instead of help in the first few tries. Once tested and used daily, the Dragon Software is easier and quicker to use, demonstrating its purpose and value in the consumer market. In this report, I write about my personal experience with the Dragon Naturally Speaking Software Version 11, and eventually upgrading to Version 11.5.
Installing the software is fairly easy for the novice user. I started by installing the software and following the prompts, which was not too difficult. Once installed, I tried to write a Word document by speaking into the microphone without actually reading the instructions, but was not successful. After reading the instructions on the flyer that came in the box, I realized I needed to download the Dragon LifeStyle SpeechPack from the Nuance Website as an added tool to optimize with other applications such as Skype, iTunes and Yahoo! Messenger. Voxenable is the middleware that helps download the Dragon Lifestyle SpeechPack.
Once both the software and the SpeechPack were downloaded, I tried to create a Word document again by speaking into the microphone and was able to create this paragraph. The software picked up my speech word for word, which meant I had to go back and clean up the language to make it grammatically correct.
It was a bit frustrating at the beginning because I had to speak slowly and clearly for the software to recognize my words, but after a few sentences it flowed much faster. It is also a bit delayed as it types in the words, but eventually it picked up speed as I spoke into it. I did encounter two setbacks. First, I had to manually place the cursor where I wanted it to start typing and certain words confused the system. For instance, the word “paragraph” automatically opened the Home Menu in Microsoft Word, which is not what I wanted. I was looking to type in the word, not perform the action. Sometimes the cursor would jump down two lines to create a new paragraph whenever I said this word again, thinking I wanted to start a new paragraph. I believe the software is helpful for the exact purposes it mentions on the box and brochures that come with the package. It is made to eliminate pain and stiffness from typing and for beginning typists. I would not necessarily recommend it for any other purpose.
I do recommend, however, reading the Quick Reference Card as it would have probably saved me a lot of grief had I known what to do beforehand. Many of the mistakes that stumped me mid testing were explained in the reference card. The reference card also states that you can type over any corrections and the software will remember the corrected version for the next time, but I wasn’t sure if this meant that once typed over it would remember the corrections and not do them again. So, I verbally repeated this paragraph into the microphone to see if the software repeated the same mistakes and it did.
The software picked up on most of my dictation, although not perfectly. It did misinterpret a few words and did not automatically punctuate the sentences correctly—six total mistakes. However, it did automatically correct four punctuation mistakes I noticed when I manually typed in the paragraph. The ratio of mistakes to corrections was 6:4, which is impressive. When I asked the software to delete something without specifying the exact thing I wanted to delete, it chose similar words or the same punctuation marks throughout the paragraph and numbered them. I then only needed to say the number that specified the word or punctuation I wanted to delete and the software deleted it. This saved time and was helpful had I needed to delete several characters at once.
Users must be careful with the language they use when making corrections. Instead of saying “change” the reference guide suggests you say “correct that.” This command will open the Correction Menu and display it on the screen, giving you options on what it is you want to correct. The menu includes voice commands so you’ll know exactly what to say to make the intended change. When I followed the reference guide and asked to “spell that,” meaning to spell a selected word, the Spelling window popped up. You can also say “spell that” to open the Spelling window where you can spell out or type the word that the software should have recognized. Using only voice commands I was able to select the word “typed” in the sentence and asked the software to correct the word so it read as “type.” Nuance claims it does not make spelling mistakes, but this may be only after several uses and when the software finally perfects your voice and accent. It claims to deliver 99 percent accuracy the more it is used.
The tips at the bottom of the menu, titled Global Tips, are helpful because they explain certain features about the software that I wouldn’t have otherwise known until I needed to use it. For instance, one tip explains how to “automatically add periods and commas when you dictate.” There are also tips at the start of the program titled “Did You Know?” This window automatically pops up when you log onto the program and can be turned off by unchecking the box that says “Show Tips at Startup” in that same window.
Users of Dragon Naturally Speaking Version 11 can upgrade to version 11.5 at no charge by clicking onto the “help” button, then “check for updates.” I was receiving several error messages while trying to upgrade so I called Technical Support. They were quick to answer my call. I was on hold for about two minutes at the most. The technical support agent was very thorough while troubleshooting the error messages. She stayed on the phone with me for an hour while I uninstalled and reinstalled the software. My computer was very slow to update, but eventually we discovered that Version 11.5 had automatically downloaded when I downloaded the SpeechPack and it was the reason why I was receiving the error messages.
With Version 11.5, users are able to post onto Facebook or Twitter by either saying “Post that to Facebook,” “Post that to Twitter,” or “Tweet that.” You can also post something by saying “Post to Facebook <xyz>,” “Post to Twitter <xyz>,” or “Tweet <xyz>,” where <xyz> represents words you dictate along with the command. For example, if you say “Post to Facebook thank you to everyone who came out to support our fundraising today,” Dragon will pull up a dialog box with the text “Thank you to everyone who came out to support our fundraising today,” in the text box. You can then complete or modify the text before it is posted.
This feature worked fine except that I had to manually log into the social media sites before I could tweet or post anything. I was able to command the software to enter my login information by speaking into the microphone, but the amount of unrecognized words were too many and it was easier for me to just log in manually. After I logged in I was able to tweet messages fairly easily, but Facebook asked me to log in every time I posted. This might be a Facebook security feature and not necessarily a result of the software.
Version 11.5 also comes equipped with several new updates such as new editing commands that allow you to “Quote That” and “Bracket That” or “Empty Quotes” and “Empty Brackets.” It now has a new “Undo All” command to change multiple text matches, improved sidebar, user profile, upgraded wizard, improved usability of the spelling window, updated application support, updated application support, and a new technical support link.
A feature Nuance has not been able to master with this software is the ability transcribe words dictated by anyone other than the owner of the software. It is not useful for journalists, paralegals or anyone who would need to transcribe interviews involving more than one person. Nuance’s answer to this dilemma is for the owner of the software to repeat the conversation into the microphone. However, this could prove to be more time consuming than it would be to just transcribe the conversation manually. Nuance would need to include this feature in order to truly win over a good portion of consumers who need help transcribing interviews and meetings.
Nuance’s Dragon Naturally Speaking Software Version 11/11.5 has its place in the digital consumer market, but still needs to tweak and include features that would push it forward into the business world. It can be helpful for some consumers, but still overlooks a large portion of users who could benefit from voice transcription. Nuance seems to be aware of its short comings, but may surprise us with new features that will close this gap in the future.
