Voice Recognition Dictation Software for the Mac

I use iListen from <http://www.macspeech.com>. It does dictation and
you can control the finder etc. via speech.

As I understand it, ViaVoice is no longer in development and is
effectively dead.

There is a Mac speech recognition thread at:

MacVoice mailing list
MacVoicelistserver.themacintoshguy.com
<http://listserver.themacintoshguy.com/mailman/listinfo/macvoice>

--
Regards,
Mark (}-:
Skype / AIM / iChat: gibsonm1

On or about 11/3/04 11:36 AM, thus spake "Brendan McAlpine"
<bmcalpinemacconnect.com>:

> So far I've stumbled across IBM's ViaVoice product, but it
> didn't seem to get rave reviews from anyone. Basically, I just need a
> program that will type the notes that I dictate to it in an MS word
> document

I don't know what you mean about not raving. I use ViaVoice for exactly this
purpose, and it's great. It has excellent accuracy, and it can type into any
program. I used it to type this letter, and as you can see, it didn't make a
single mistake.

m.

--
matt neuburg, phd = matttidbits.com, http://www.tidbits.com/matt/
pantes anthropoi tou eidenai oregontai phusei
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I did have IBM ViaVoice for Macs some time ago and, alas, found it not nearly as accurate as Dragon NaturallySpeaking for PCs. As far as I know, both programs are now owned by the same group, ScanSoft.

However, I should add that my Dragon program is much more recent than my ViaVoice one. ViaVoice for Macs may well be more accurate now too.

I can certainly recommend the Dragon product. It is amazingly accurate most of the time, after proper training. It certainly saves me from getting RSI!

You can dictate straight into MS WOrd or onto Dragon's own talk pad.

Paul

I use the IBM ViaVoice for Mac OS X 3.0 version with OS X 10.3.4 and it seems to perform OK. I don't use it enough to be a critical user, but after minimal training it seems to be satisfactory. I did have it well trained once and looked forward to a long fruitful career with it, but when I reinstalled the OS I changed user name and it killed it, so I had to start from scratch again.

Getting any information on it beyond an Update (essential) to allow running beyond 10.2 is a lost cause. ScanSoft seem to own it but that's all!

Jeremy P

Hi Matt,

I'd be very interested to hear some details of your OS and ViaVoice
versions and any particular configuration settings that might be
non-standard. I've tried the past 3 versions of ViaVoice, but have
had less than good recognition (but also have to admit to not
persevering when it failed to install reliably, for example)

Tony

Hmmm. I'm currently looking into this very topic - both for work and at home - as I now have bilateral carpal tunnel (I'm typing this with both hands wrapped in neoprene).

Work is PC-based (Win 2K) and I have the problem of needing to do data entry in an Oracle-based database with a web interface. We've asked the supplier whether it will work with voice recognition, but haven't had a straight answer yet. The idea is that I will use a pool laptop and work from home to avoid disturbing the rest of the office.

Home is Mac Classic-based. I've just picked up a copy of Via Voice Millenium Edition on Ebay to try out at home, and am waiting for it to arrive. Fortunately, I only need to write the occasional letter, type emails & post forum replies, but I also play games, but not of the first person shooter variety (the nearest I get to that is Diablo).

TTFN Maddy Eid

Jeremy P wrote:

> I use the IBM ViaVoice for Mac OS X 3.0 version with OS X 10.3.4 and it seems
> to perform OK. I don't use it enough to be a critical user, but after minimal
> training it seems to be satisfactory. I did have it well trained once and
> looked forward to a long fruitful career with it, but when I reinstalled the
> OS I changed user name and it killed it, so I had to start from scratch again.

This is interesting, seeing as how it comes from New Zealand. Now, it's not
that I have anything against Kiwis (best man at my wedding was from
Palmerston North ‹ top lad, and wow, but he can drink) but New Zealanders,
like us from the north of England, do have noticeably non-American accents.

I've tried using a number of programmes which use speech recognition,
including ViaVoice, and I've never had much success with any of them ‹ they
all have, in my opinion, very poor results dealing with anything but a
"standard" (whatever that might be) American accent.

As far as I'm concerned, until my computer can understand Manchester vowels
as well as Midwestern ones, I'm not sold on speech recognition.

Steve "eh up" McCabe

Can Dragon NaturallySpeaking work on a Mac using Virtual PC?

[In theory, but I'd be surprised if it were usable. -Adam]

I would also like to hear Matt's experience (and anyone else's
experience) with dictation software. I am especially interested in
whether Matt et al. are using special micropphones or headsets.

Cooperatively,

Eric H. Durbrow, Ph.D. eric.durbrowcomcast.net • Personal:
http://home.comcast.net/~eric.durbrow/index.html • Visit www.care2.com

On or about 11/16/04 1:14 PM, thus spake "Eric Durbrow"
<eric.durbrowcomcast.net>:

> I would also like to hear Matt's experience (and anyone else's
> experience) with dictation software. I am especially interested in
> whether Matt et al. are using special micropphones or headsets.

I use an Andrea headset that came with the software.

There is an art to using speech recognition software. You have to speak a
little slowly, but not with unnatural clarity: emphasising consonants, for
example, throws it off. I find it is best to speak rather as if I myself
were a computer, or as if I were Walter Cronkite on whatever the opposite of
steroids is.

With ViaVoice, you must go through all the training readings, and then you
must continue training by speaking into SpeakPad and using the correction
feature, because that is how ViaVoice learns more. After a while, though,
its accuracy becomes very, very, very high.

I don't use it for normal work, but I do use it whenever my goal is
transcription, e.g. reading handwritten or even typed material (if I think
OCR won't do it) into the computer. Accuracy is not perfect (partly my
fault, when I pronounce something badly, and partly ViaVoice's fault, when
it just doesn't know a word - but then, of course, you can teach it that
word!). But the whole experience is *far* better than looking at the
material to be transcribed and typing it manually.

ViaVoice also makes a great party trick; people are always astounded when I
say something from Shakespeare ("He died as one who had been studied in his
death, to throw away the dearest thing he owned as if it were a careless
trifle") and it types it perfectly.

Those results are with a G3/500. I should be very curious how ViaVoice
shapes up on a G5/1.8Ghz machine! Accuracy would be no different but it
might keep up better. m.

--
matt neuburg, phd = matttidbits.com, http://www.tidbits.com/matt/
pantes anthropoi tou eidenai oregontai phusei
AppleScript: the Definitive Guide! NOW SHIPPING...! (Finally.)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596005571/somethingsbymatt
Subscribe to TidBITS! It's free and smart. http://www.tidbits.com/

Has anyone used iListen, or for that matter any voice recognition
product with the microphone in the iSight? My dad is going to mount
his iMac G5 on a VESA capable arm, with the iSight mounted on top, and
it would be a much cleaner solution to be able to make use of the
iSight's microphone as opposed to having an additional microphone or
headset hanging off of the Mac, or worse, sprawled across the desk.

Thanks!

James

Could I use ViaVoice to transcribe interviews with different individuals that I have done using a digital voice recorder for a magazine article that I'm writing? Or will it only recognize material I have dictated myself?

Thanks, Billy

On or about 12/9/04 2:17 PM, thus spake "Billy Bishop"
<billybishopmac.com>:

> Could I use ViaVoice to transcribe interviews with different individuals that
> I have done using a digital voice recorder for a magazine article that I'm
> writing? Or will it only recognize material I have dictated myself?

Without a sample of the speaker's speech, speech recognition using currently
available technologies is not feasible. Also, with ViaVoice there is no way
to feed the recording to the program. iListen does have a transcription
feature but the speaker still has to have a voice profile on file for this
to work.

A possible approach in your case might be this: Use transcription software
to listen to just a sentence or two from the speaker and stop. Now turn on
your speech recognition software and say the same thing (yourself). Lather,
rinse, repeat. It's work, but it sure beats typing.

m.

--
matt neuburg, phd = matttidbits.com, http://www.tidbits.com/matt/
pantes anthropoi tou eidenai oregontai phusei
AppleScript: the Definitive Guide! NOW SHIPPING...! (Finally.)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596005571/somethingsbymatt
Subscribe to TidBITS! It's free and smart. http://www.tidbits.com/

On Dec 9, 2004, at 5:17 PM, Billy Bishop wrote:

> Could I use ViaVoice to transcribe interviews with different
> individuals that I have done using a digital voice recorder for a
> magazine article that I'm writing? Or will it only recognize material
> I have dictated myself?

The answer is sadly no. When you read transcripts of White House press
conferences they actually have one person who repeats all the comments
into a voice recognition product. That way the number of errors is
reduced. It's even worse if you have a slight British accent as you have
to train yourself with a more American accent to get the program to
work, even with the UK edition.

If you get iListen it does have one useful feature over ViaVoice, in
that you can drop audio files onto a transcription add-on and it will
convert the audio automatically.

Paul

>Could I use ViaVoice to transcribe interviews with different
>individuals that I have done using a digital voice recorder for a
>magazine article that I'm writing? Or will it only recognize
>material I have dictated myself?

I personally don't have anything to add.
But there was a Boingboing'd blog entry with some ideas for
transcription services - that comes in at about a penny per word:

http://www.boingboing.net/2004/12/13/online_transcription.html
http://mike.whybark.com/archives/001991.html

Nick