Hasta La Ideas

I’m talking to my computer right now. I’m speaking these words — rather than typing them — and watching them appear in my Word document.

I’m using a program called Dragon NaturallySpeaking, a voice recognition software program by Nuance. I bought a version of it last summer when I strained my wrists typing. Then, it was a necessity, and now it’s a convenience.

It’s a useful tool because Nuance claims that people type an average of 35 words a minute with only 58 percent accuracy, but speak 120 words per minute. The company’s Senior Vice President Peter Mahoney said, “When you type, the accuracy rate is abysmal because people get good at using the backspace key.”

If you type 35 or fewer words a minute, then an increase to 120 words would significantly improve productivity. If you’re already typing more than 100 words a minute, though, you may not notice such significant gains in speed.

Edit your work carefully, though. When the software is getting used to your voice and style, it may write something other than what you intended. For example, when you’re writing about rich, sweet, frozen, dairy products it may type, “I scream” instead of the correct “ice cream.” But, the more you use it and correct mistakes, the greater the accuracy.

It also scans for context. Mahoney said, “Dragon doesn’t understand what you’re saying but does understand the likelihood of words appearing near other words. It picks the appropriate word such as ‘over there’ not ‘over their.’” You can actively adapt Dragon to your writing style. Just point the software toward e-mails and reports you’ve written and let it analyze them. That allows Dragon to do a better job of knowing what words you tend to use, and can improve accuracy.

The Professional and Preferred editions include a feature called Voice Shortcuts. With Shortcuts, you can tell the program, “Search the web for Italian restaurants in Chicago,” and your default browser will open and start searching. You can also go to specific websites. For instance, you can say, “Search eBay for MP3 Player,” and it will search eBay.

While Windows Vista offers basic free voice recognition software built into the operating system, Dragon out-performs Vista with its speed.

Dragon requires some PC strength, so make sure your system meets the minimal specifications. On Amazon, you can find the standard version of the software for $54.99. Dragon is not available for Macs, but Nuance offers a similar program called Dictate. I’m not a regular user of Dictate, so I can’t speak to its performance.

Do you use Dragon NaturallySpeaking or another voice recognition software? Let us know about your experiences in the comments area.