Voice recognition software

Voice recognition software is an extremely productive tool for people who
produce a lot of text. This software can write as fast as you can speak, and
with a bit of training, the accuracy is generally excellent. If you’re a writer,
for example, and you need to do an article on car insurance which can include
a lot of technical information, drafting time can be a real problem. Voice
recognition software can reduce hours of work to minutes.

Learning to use voice recognition software

This software uses a combination of voice recognition, vocabulary and training
functions to achieve accuracy. Because everybody speaks differently, and most
people unconsciously mispronounce words, there is some learning involved
– For both you and for the software. The learning process is actually pretty
quick, but you do need to be patient, and understand the situation in relation
to what you say and what the software transcribes.

This software effectively transcribes your speech, verbatim. It should be
recognized that part of the learning curve includes learning how to use the
microphone correctly, and practice is required. The voice recognition software
also responds to volume, and if your voice is too loud the likely result is that
you will get a transcription result different to that which you intended.

You will find that as you practice, your fluency and the accuracy of the voice
recognition software transcription will increase. Your speed will also improve,
usually pretty drastically, in the course of a week or so, depending on how
much you practice.

Voice recognition software for professionals

People producing a lot of text in the course of professional business, like
writers, lawyers, consultants and people in advertising and marketing,
can benefit greatly from voice recognition software. There is one caveat –
Accuracy.

It is absolutely essential to conduct a thorough editing of all text after
dictation. Voice recognition software is quite powerful, and surprisingly

sensitive. It is possible that small sounds may be transcribed as text, usually
because the mouth is too close to the microphone. Most voice recognition
software has noise reduction settings which are invaluable for reducing this
effect, but it is also advisable to do a full edit on principle for quality control
purposes, like normal proofreading.

The professional uses of voice recognition software are virtually endless, but
its greatest value is definitely improving the efficiency of drafting processes.
As most professionals know, drafting can be a true ordeal, involving the use
of a lot of time. In the car insurance article example referred to above, voice
recognition software makes it possible to deal with the important technical and
legal aspects of getting a car insurance quote, instead of spending a few hours
back spacing and correcting textual errors.

Voice recognition software used properly can achieve a quite high level of
accuracy and reduce the physical strain of typing. That’s great for the authors,
who can concentrate on the important content issues rather than painstakingly
producing text and cursing their typing speeds.

The good news – Good voice recognition software is comparatively cheap, and
very easy to install. If you’ve got a microphone, check it out.