Do you use voice dictation software

[Chris Ashdown]

There are lots of voice dictation software around, Dragon has been around for probably 20 odd years as one of the first commercial ones, and now voice dictation is now included in windows

I have used it myself for writing some reports, but that's about it for me

Does anyone on the forum actually use it daily and if so for what purpose, and will it ever take over as the prefered entry method of written communication

 

[Bob Morgan]

I have used Voice Dictation Software, but most requires a lot of editing once converted to text. I find it easier to type (I learned to type properly at a very early age). Once I have edited, in draft format, I pass it along to one of the Admin Staff to format. We use Standard Letters too, which gets around many routine documents.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I have just asked an industry expert (trust me cant say too much)
They said they don't recommend any as a human is better than a machine and a transcription company should be used if the transcripts are later required for legal purposes

 

[mattk]

I use Speechnotes on my phone, mainly for when I want to record a thought quickly and can't be bothered to type.

It is OK, but definitely has to be proof read. The main advantage is that it saves the notes to Google Docs and then I can edit them on my laptop.

 

[Kapil Shrestha]

Not a great fan of voice dictation software. They convert speech into text with very low accuracy, might be around 50-60%. You need to spend good time editing and proof-reading the text.

You might want to choose human-based transcription provided by the professional companies, if you have important audio files to be converted to text.

 

[Lucky8]

I use Otter. It used to be really good *but* recently it has become very unreliable. It transcribes well, but it's really unfortunate, as now I can't rely on it. It keeps losing connection, sometimes it just doesn't transcribe at all, and their technical support keep pretending it's not an Otter issue which is really frustrating. So now I use Otter + any old voice recording s/w on my phone, then play the recording and leave Otter to transcribe it when I know I can re-play if Otter plays up.

 

[Shaun Kelly]

I have used it mainly i used it when i was doing my MSc dissertation. i would state i wouldnt do it again. After proof reading it took alot of editing. However i am told by my wife that i mumble. so that could of been an issue.

 

[Maxwell83]

Not a great fan of voice dictation software. They convert speech into text with very low accuracy, might be around 50-60%. You need to spend good time editing and proof-reading the text.

You might want to choose human-based transcription provided by the professional companies, if you have important audio files to be converted to text.

I used Dragon when I was in school & college for assignments, about 18 years ago now. The accuracy rate was around that back then. I haven't looked into it since but I really would have expected the accuracy to have improved drastically since then - look at the leaps in technology in all other areas over that period, I just assumed dictation software would be on that same trend.

Glad I haven't bothered trying it again.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

I was once asked if I used a Dictaphone...

My reply was no I use my finger...

Badoom Tshhhhh!

I'll get my coat...



Sorry, couldn't resist.