Specs and Equipment Required for Optimal Voice Recognition to Text for Uni Essays

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  psyren89 on 13/02/2019 - 01:26

  +1

  Unless portability is high on the list, you may want to invest in a Blue Yeti mic (or similar), as that seems to be the gold standard for PC microphones where speech clarity is important.

  As far as voice recognition software goes, I know there's some built in to Windows (and probably MacOS), but I have no idea how accurate it might be or whether it requires an internet connection for full functionality/greater accuracy. The only other software I'm aware of is Dragon NaturallySpeaking. You may want to look up some reviews on how that compares to other solutions.

  Off the top of my head, in terms of resource intensiveness, it's mostly your CPU that will be stressed by voice recognition. Most modern computers shouldn't have too much trouble with the task.

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    [Deactivated] on 13/02/2019 - 01:39

    Thanks very much for your advice and input.
    Portability isn't important, as I will mostly do work at home. Will need something tsecondary for while I'm out at uni which is portable, jjust for very occasional use.
    I know uni assistive technology support mentioned Dragon Naturally Speaking at one point. I will just try all the different softwares once I have the right equipment I guess.

    it's mostly your CPU that will be stressed by voice recognition

    So what would be the likely impact, if at some point the CPU was maxed out ?
    Ie. Do you reckon it would mean I would have to pause speaking, or could I keep speaking, and the rest of the computer would sort it out. Like would what I say he saved into RAM or some memory, until the CPU catches up. So then I could just keep talking regardless of a temporary CPU lag/bottleneck.

    • 

      psyren89 on 13/02/2019 - 10:52

      +1

      In the event your CPU starts to lag behind, you could keep speaking until the RAM fills up, which would take you a very long time. You'd experience longer delays between speaking and the screen reflecting your input, but it's nearly impossible you'd ever get to a point where your commands would be dropped altogether.

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    poboy on 13/02/2019 - 12:13

    +1

    I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking. It's pretty good. The best part being that the more you use it, the more it learns your voice and pronunciations.

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      [Deactivated] on 13/02/2019 - 20:17

      Thanks very much for your input, What mic did you use with dragon ?

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  pifts on 13/02/2019 - 01:28

  From memory a common setup was the Olympus DS-7000 hooked up with Dragon Dictation or similar. You can also try the free app as a starting point - don’t need to spend so much on a microphone of your inbuilt mobile or laptop mic is already sufficient.

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  RockyRaccoon on 13/02/2019 - 09:39

  Speaking and writing is very different. I use a Mac and its all part of the software bulit in, even a used Mac has these features.

  If you have a friend with a Mac (preferably someone who doesnt use speech recognition,so it doesnt affect their setup) then you can test it out there. (called Siri- Mac and IOS). NOTE I am not trying to sell you a Mac, as its already included, you can trial out your concept before investing money. If it is suitable then you can invest in Dragon or other types of PC/Android dictation systems.

  However while I can often dictate to the computer something already written, dictating while thinking isnt that easy. Try that with your phone, record something (aurally) that you would normaly write, and see if it would make sense if it was typed word for word.

  In the old days bosses would dictate to a secretary who would type for you, however she could error correct things. A good secretary would fill in the gaps and clean things up, something harder for speech to text programs. eg Boss could say send letter to Bill at Xco, use niceties, and invite him to dinner etc. Secretary would add address full name,title, and say. Dear Bill its been 6 weeks since we last met, and discussed the Y project etc etc.

  When you dictate to the computer you need all these details, plus when we talk things flow out, when we write we organise and structure as we have to allow for punctuation etc an apostrophe to slow down the delivery, which we do by just pausing for a few seconds when talking.

  So not only do you need to have a computer that can do speech recognition, you have to train how you think etc

  The above is much more important to understand and do before investing in $1000 microphones that most probably won't be required.

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  lint on 13/02/2019 - 09:58

  +1

  The built-in voice-to-text on macOS uses the same online processing that parses a Siri request into text. I've found it to be kinda garbage, at least with the built-in mic. Might be better with a dedicated mic.

  I would test out dedicated voice-to-text software like Dragon if they offer a trial version.

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  hoey888 on 13/02/2019 - 10:10

  +1

  Currently use Dragon Naturally Speaking with a cheap Microsoft USB headset.

  It works, however isn't 100% perfect. You'll get the message across, however there will be spelling and grammar mistakes. Still need somebody to proof read it before its usable.

  Using it on a i5 1.8ghz laptop with 16gb ram and 512gb SSD.

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  original15 on 13/02/2019 - 20:06

  Imo don’t need an expensive set up, did some dictation via dragon as part of a previous role and was just using crumby headsets, worked fine

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    [Deactivated] on 13/02/2019 - 20:17

    It's not so much whether I need a good mic, it is more a question of efficiency and ease of use. As uni is already pretty time intensive, anything that can make things easier or save me time (in checking for errors) would be useful to me.
    My use would be 1k-5k essay writing. Rather that just using it here and there. Minimizing errors is most important for my intended use.
    Also don't like wearing a headset.

    Did you ever try a non-headset mic ? Some people suggest perhaps inbuilt mic is good.