Speech-to-text software...does anyone have any experience or insight on this?

[Drum]

Where do things stand now in the evolution of this? I have a very large amount of handwritten text that I want to convert typed-text in my computer (for editing) and the task of transcribing it all manually seems completely overwhelming. Scanning hundreds of pages and applying a text-recognition program is also totally impractical for me.

So it got me wondering...whether reading the pages into a mic and having the computer do the work might be an option. I know that there are always issues with pronunciation and one's own voice, things must be tweaked or corrected, but perhaps a V-to-T program could do the lion's share of this transcription process....

So what say you, diverse and experienced peeps? Does anyone know about this stuff? Is there a natural choice of program for this sort of thing...any recommendations? Naturally a freeware/beta/shareware would be nice, but if there's also a really dependable solution then the project is important enough to me to justify buying the software.

Any comments or suggestions?

(Will also cross-post this query in other DU fora and groups.)

Thanks for any and all assistance

[shraby]

1. Scanning handwritten and trying to ocr

the results won't work. Ocr only recognizes typed text.

[cuke]

2. Speech to text is probably your best bet

but you need to practice and there will still be many errors, which can be corrected using your voice once you learn the voice commands.

[Warpy]

3. The software exists, but be prepared to do

a tremendous amount of editing. The software isn't capable of discerning context and the results are often hilarious.

[Catshrink]

6. Here's my story about Dragon Naturally Speaking

I went through the whole training thing so it would recognize my voice and then tried to practice by writing a "memo" to my friend Trish, whom we call "Dish."

I started out "Hey, Dish!" and Dragon typed.... wait for it...

hashish.

[alfredo]

4. You on a Mac or PC? Solutions for both platforms.

On the Mac there is iListen.
http://www.macspeech.com/

On the PC I think it is Dragon Naturally Speaking
http://www.digitalriver.com/v2.0-img/operations/scansoft/site/367062/367062_dns-talk.html

It takes training the application and then if you get 95% accuracy, you are doing good.

[Drum]

5. I'm on a PC.

Thanks alfredo!

I had heard of Dragon some years ago, and it didn't work on the lame computer I had at the time. They are on my radar as one to investigate, but I'd be a fool if I didn't tap the vast experience of DUers to see how things had progressed in the last 5-10 years.

Thanks for the tip! :hi:

[alfredo]

15. No problem. If my arms get worse and typing becomes difficult, I

might have to go that way.

[Fredda Weinberg]

7. It's training yourself to speak clearly. The software can be 100% accurate

if you know what you're doing.

[alfredo]

16. I get a sore throat after a couple minutes.

[Fredda Weinberg]

8. You have the perfect voice for recognition

:woohoo:

[Drum]

9. Haha, thanks Fredda!

:hug:

[jmatthan]

10. Stay away from ViaVoice

This product was launched by IBM and their support was absolutely LOUSY.

I do not whether it is still an IBM Product but when it was they did not care a damn about problems faced by the User.

[Drum]

11. will do...thanks for the caution! nt

[rzemanfl]

12. I tried voice-to-text in the mid '90s at work. I remember it

required 32 megs of RAM, which at the time was 750 bucks. To use it I had to switch to 16 colors on the monitor. Then I got pissed off about the job, quit and moved to Florida. I can't remember the name of the software, but I think it had "dragon" in the name.

On edit, I should have read post 3. I believe my version was called "Dragon Dictate." It was actually kind of cool, but I think most people just learned to use the keyboard, I know I did.

[The Straight Story]

13. Just hire an illegal to type it all in

:hide: :rofl:

[Hekate]

14. I took a course on Dragon Naturally Speaking and got pretty good at it

Mr. H gets worried about my CTS, so he sent me. However, we ended up not buying the program for ourselves.

Here's what I found out: You do have to "train" the program to recognize your vocal peculiarities, and give it a little refresher every time. Maybe the refresher was because we were in a lab with multiple users, though. It ended up performing reasonably well for me. However --

However, I revise and edit continually while I am composing the text, and again when I'm done. And then again before I print or send. Working like this slows me down quite a bit.

Oh, I almost forgot. There's the privacy issue. For me, writing is a private act. I don't share until and unless I want to. Speaking aloud like that....

If my CTS ever progresses to the point where I can't use a keyboard, I will certainly revisit this software.

Hekate

[Drum]

17. Night-kick...

;)