QOTW: How often do you use speech recognition?

[krsboss]

I have Windows phone and whilst it is great that Cortana interfaces with my car's Bluetooth to read out text messages for me, her voice recognition is not great and seldom writes anything comprehensible in terms of a reply; for instance, this is a text I sent earlier:

"F*** knows cortana is worse in the. ASX 6 Dan Doran. The van it's just fantasy what she comes up with."

...what I actually said was; "**** knows! Cortana is worse in the ASX than the van. It's just fun to see what she comes up with"

Firstly, I see no reason why I should be censored by my mobile phone and secondly even though I try to speak clearly, it never ends up like what I say!

[cheesemp]

I've found google pretty good for voice but i never use it on my phone. Far easier to just type...

[Saracen]

...

Agree with what you're saying about voice dictate but, like I said, it really depends what you're writing. If it's docs with a lot of technical content (or in my case user manuals) then you're on a hiding to nothing ... you spend more time correcting prediction errors than the recognition system saves. On the other hand, I'm having to multitask, so anything that assists that would be useful.

I really don't like voice command for satnavs, but that's maybe me being cheap and refusing to buy a standalone unit. I'd prefer to pull to the side of the road and press-screen. And tbh a smartphone satnav app is good enough for the few times I need a digital map reader.

Here's a clarification question - how enthusiastic would people be about using speech recognition at home? For a (large?) proportion of the Hexus readers I suspect SR would be more suitable for domestic use than @work.

PS totally, totally agree about the use of a good headset - from what I did in the past it can make the difference between "usable" and "take this thing away". Trouble is that "management" invariably want you to use whatever CorpIT can find at the bottom of the stores cupboard.

Agreed on technical uses but there are (or used to be, though I haven't checked recently) some specialist dictionaries for things like legal, medical, maybe others. But not being in those fields, I've never tested them.

As for standalone v. smartphone, personal choice, I guess. I don't have a smartphone, mainly because I don't need one, and for privacy reasons.

On the headset issue, that's not the fault of VRecog, though, but of cheap management. I guess I'm lucky in that - it's been several decades since I lost an argument with management - I always get my way in the end. And yes, I work for myself.

[uksnapper]

I use Dragon 13 almost every day on my PC.Its as good as my speech input is accurate.
The worst thing about Dragon is installation which can be a nightmare.
I experienced very poor support from Nuance for versions 12 and 13 and had to resort to a clean install of Windows 7 then install Dragon to get it to work.
Worth the hassle though.

[Saracen]

.... Its as good as my speech input is accurate.


....

Good point. I said earlier that effectiveness is partly about training Dragon, but also partly about training me. If I speak clearly, with defined words, it's far better.

Compare

1) Canureadthiswhentryingtounderstandme?

with

2) Can. you. read. this. when. trying. to. understand. me.

The full stops are just to indicate using a clear word diction, not a rather more sloppy and lazy 'conversational' way of speaking.

Using 2) feels a bit unnatural at first, but no doubt mainly because my normal diction is .... lazy. Speaking almost in a 1950's BBC style (but without the plummy accent) is kinda similar.

Dragon does, IMHO, work extremely well, but like most complex software, you have to work out the best way to drive it effectively. There is definitely a learning curve. If you input a lot of text, then it's my experience it's well worth it.

[aidanjt]

I've used it enough to know that it's rubbish and you look like a plonker talking to yourself.

[Rad77]

Speech recognition on Google Now using my phone seems pretty accurate, but I only regularly use it to kick off the satnav function (and then almost entirely with "navigate to work" and "navigate to home"). So I'm using it like a glorified hotkey.
I don't think I'd really trust it for much more than that.

[Saracen]

I've used it enough to know that it's rubbish and you look like a plonker talking to yourself.

Look like a plonker to who(m)?

Sitting in my home office, with nobody else in the house, there's nobody to see.

Besides, it's perception. Not that long ago, you looked like a plonker walking down the street holding a phone to your ear. Then, the masses got used to it and it's seen as socially acceptable. But you looked like a plonker walking down the street with a barely visible bluetooth headset plugged into your ear, then people got used to it.

We could argue that looking like a plonker using VRecog only makes you look like a plonker, if indeed it does, because it's not (perhaps, not YET) mass market.

That said, in the way I use it, VRec makes a significant difference to my productivity, so I don't give 3/4 of 5/8ths of a flying fig if people think it makes me look liks a plonker. I'm pretty much indifferent to what other people think, just as I am of their view of my fashion (or anti-fashion, or better yet, a-fashion) sense. I wear what I want, because I like it or it's comfortable, and whether it's the height of fashion trends or a ghastly fashion gaff bothers me not one tiny, tichy, minuscule little jot.

Aren't I quite the rebel?

[devBunny]

"Canureadthiswhentryingtounderstandme?"

Yep, trivially. I knew exactly what it said within two saccades.

But then I'm not some dumb computer with a two-bit, linear processor. ;-)

[Saracen]

"Canureadthiswhentryingtounderstandme?"

Yep, trivially. I knew exactly what it said within two saccades.

But then I'm not some dumb computer with a two-bit, linear processor. ;-)

I think you're missing the point. Unless you're offering to come round here every day and do my typing for me. Free of charge.

The point was "compare". The text could have been anything, and the question was rhetorical, to try to illustrate that the way I speak when dictating significantly affects accuracy of results, but IF I speak carefully I get near 100% accuracy, AND typing doesn't interfere with my thought process, so I don't lose track, lose focus or disrupt the text.

I drive VRecog HARD. And it works. It paid for itself in a few days (if not hours) in time saved, and I've been using it for about 15 years.

[aidanjt]

Look like a plonker to who(m)?

Yourself.

Sitting in my home office, with nobody else in the house, there's nobody to see.

Well there's every possibility that the photons that bounce off you talking to yourself will run out the window, head into deep space, reach an inhabited planet thousands of light years away and you'll make the poor aliens feel sorry for you.

But you looked like a plonker walking down the street with a barely visible bluetooth headset plugged into your ear, then people got used to it.

No, it's just bluetooth users who think they have. Everyone else affectionately refers to them as blue{holes,tards,tools}.

We could argue that looking like a plonker using VRecog only makes you look like a plonker, if indeed it does, because it's not (perhaps, not YET) mass market.

After how many decades now?

That said, in the way I use it, VRec makes a significant difference to my productivity, so I don't give 3/4 of 5/8ths of a flying fig if people think it makes me look liks a plonker.

True. Although in my experience I spend more time correcting the recog algorithm's screw ups than I would just typing it out, and that's not even including the time wasted from talking to myself, which in itself is longer than it would to just type it out. YMMV, I guess.

I'm pretty much indifferent to what other people think, just as I am of their view of my fashion (or anti-fashion, or better yet, a-fashion) sense. I wear what I want, because I like it or it's comfortable, and whether it's the height of fashion trends or a ghastly fashion gaff bothers me not one tiny, tichy, minuscule little jot.

Aren't I quite the rebel?

Uh huh.

I'm much the same regarding clothing, to me it's a tool to insulate my skin to stay warm and not get arrested. So I have a lot of black tshirts and jeans pretty much. But talking to myself is where I draw the line!

[Saracen]

Well, I have been known to talk to myself when not using VRecog, and even to swear at myself on occasions, so maybe I can use VRecog as cover for that?

Agreed on the clothing thing, though I'd add "feels comfortable" to insulation and not getting arrested. Especially for shoes.

[wolfsSpirit]

tried it , doesnt work at all (pc) , main problem is that a lot words are problematic , especially if your native language isnt english or you have a heavy accent

[whatif]

Never tried it before on a mobile or PC, but just got a hold of the latest version of Dragon Naturally speaking to try on my PC. My LG TV's remote has this function and it works fine to change the channels.
If they can get it to work properly on a phone for texting, it would help fix the alphabet soup I get from some people and may make it easy to understand. At times I have had to text back saying I don't know what language they are using, but please use English. If we have trouble understanding each other, how hard must it be to design software to translate it into something that makes sense.

[deejayburnout]

I use it sometimes with OK google, but depends if I have a signal on my phone or not.