Windows Vista speech recognition
I was just reading Scott Hanselman's blog, where he was discussing the Windows Vista speech recognition. So I decided to try it for myself. Scott took a typing test, once using a keyboard and then again using speech recognition. I decided to use the same test as Scott. Here are my results.
The screen shot on the left here shows my results with the speech recognition. I weighed in at 118.1 words per minute, with an accuracy of 87.6%.
The right hand screen shot, using the keyboard (a Microsoft natural keyboard pro), I scored 38.7 words per minute, with an accuracy of 95.7%.
So, although I can type much faster using speech recognition, the accuracy of entry is poorer. Keep in mind that I have only just begun using speech recognition on this computer and further training and may improve the recognition accuracy. I suspect that by the time the necessary corrections had been carried out the speed of dictation using speech recognition may be approaching that achieved when using the keyboard. Nevertheless, it is certainly much easier on the fingers and wrists and if you suffer from a repetitive strain injury this may be a worthwhile tool for you to investigate. It is certainly great fun watching stuff appear on the computer screen in response to your voice.
Speech recognition in Windows Vista has progressed a long way beyond what was available in windows XP an office 2003. If you haven't tried it yet, you're in for a treat. Get yourself a reasonable quality headset with boom microphone and begin dictating your documents today. It has to be seen to be believed.
By the way, I dictated this entire blog post using speech recognition-of course!