The progress in speech recognition over the years has been mind boggling. 1995 was when I first started using IBM Via Voice and you had to speak each word distinctly. Original Dragon product was called Dragon Dictate and then they changed it to Dragon Naturally Speaking in 1997 and I have been using it ever since, faithfully upgrading to each new version. At that time when you called technical support you could even talk to Dr. Janet Baker, the inventor of the speech recognition and founder of Dragon.
With version 4 they started Dragon Naturally Speaking Medical and that helped in that medical terminology was already included albeit several folds the cost of the regular professional Dragon Naturally Speaking.
Each version has improved the accuracy and they have not made the product unduly complicated or cluttered, as is the usual tendency with software upgrades. Version 11 of Dragon is slower and needs more resources, I could not run it in Windows 7 under Fusion and have to use it in Windows 7 under Bootcamp on Mac. The speech recognition accuracy is almost 97% in this version: it still stumbles on small words like two, to, too, 2; of, off; and, on; for, per etc. But upgrading from Dragon version 10, the improvement is accuracy is noticeable enough to make this upgrade worthwhile. Although program gives you the option of adding punctuation automatically, in my experience it does not work well and you are better off dictating punctuation. Tutorial videos that come with the program and on their Nuance web site are very helpful. In the past it really helped that you could print the commands and pin the sheet on the wall so you could reference them while dictating: not in this version, they do not give you the option of printing commands. But at least it was a pleasant surprise to see that Nuance has not ruined Dragon 11 like their other product Paperport 12.
Sitting in front of your computer screen you say "Search Hardware Compatibility on Nuance" - and out pop the results of your search in front of your eyes. The program will open your browser, search Google and bring the results on Nuance web site on your screen. For sure, you will be wowed!
Since it is going to be a while before the Dragon medical comes out, I decided to buy Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 Bluetooth which comes with PLANTRONIC Calisto Headset with USB Dongle - 81493-02. For general dictation the accuracy is fantastic. By letting the program scan my previous documents, I have been able to add a lot of medical terminology and save money by finding no need to purchase medical version when it comes out.
Previously they did not allow the option of using different accents in Dragon Medical but in this basic premium version you can and that has also helped improve the accuracy of speech recognition. So by selecting the Indian accent and adding medical vocabulary manually by scanning my documents, I have not only improved the accuracy but also saved money.
I purchased Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 Bluetooth and the Calisto headset that came with it works really well. Although Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 with Digital Recorder comes with Philips LFH0662/00 Digital Voice Tracer 0662 , if you look at Nuance web site for accuracy of different recorders under "Hardware Compatibility" Sony ICD-MX20 Memory Stick Pro Duo Digital Voice Recorder is the only recorder that gets 6 stars and I have been using it with Dragon.
Nuance's marketing department is very lazy and they use the same cookie cutter boilerplate text for all the different Dragon Naturally Speaking product lines without differentiating them but if you search "Feature Matrix" on their web site you can find the differences in different lines. The very basic Dragon Naturally Speaking Home 11 cannot be used with a recorder, has limited correction playback ability, and does not share vocabulary with different audio input sources. Then they also describe Dragon Naturally "Professional" version which does not show up on Amazon, as of September 2010, but has the ability to record macros and programming VBA scripts. Most users will need Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11. The premium version has text expanding commands, for example you can add a command to insert your full address when you say "home address". I still cannot figure out whether Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 Student Edition has any less features or just a cheaper version of Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11. Looks like anyone can order it and you do not have to be a student. Nuance does not even give you the specifics of Digital Voice Recorder and Bluetooth versions in the product descriptions. What sluggard's?
The technical support from Nuance stinks - almost non-existent. If you run into any technical problems, you are much better off searching it on Google and using the expertise of other users in different forums. Don't expect any technical support from Nuance. Even their web site is disorganized and cluttered. They have all the information available on their web site, but just not obvious. Sometimes you have to search Google to find information on Nuance web site. Thankfully they appear to have some wiser voices in Dragon product development which are keeping their eye on the ball and have prevented Nuance from messing up the speech recognition accuracy and user interface of Dragon, so far. Another annoying thing they have started in this version is the pop up ads from software updater hounding you to buy their program Paperport 12.
For getting speech into the software, you have lot of different options that include corded and cordless headsets and microphones and recorders including PDA's. The whole list of voice capturing products is on Nuance's web site under "Hardware Compatibility" and they rate each one of them for voice recognition accuracy by number of Dragon's. Sony ICD-MX20DR9 32MB Flash-Based Digital Voice Recorder has the highest number of six Dragons. But following are what they sell and recommend and have good voice recognition fidelity:
A). Calisto Pro Bluetooth headset which comes with Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 Bluetooth. But you can also buy it separately. In my experience it has the best speech recognition fidelity of all the microphones I have used, including Andrea. Purchasing Calisto Bluetooth as a part of Dragon 11 Bluetooth is a lot better deal that buying the two separately.
B). Philips SpeechMike - SpeechMike Air 3010 which is a wireless microphone but more expensive or Philips SpeechMike Pro Plus 5276 USB which has a cord. Advantage is the programmable buttons. I used it in QuickBooks Pro 2009 because the buttons could be customized for commands like next field, tab, correct, delete line, etc. But voice recognition accuracy is not as good as Calisto.
C). Dictaphone PowerMic II Nuance-Dictaphone that works with Dragon and they sold it previously only with their Medical and Legal versions. SpeechMike and Dictaphone recorders give you the ability to pause, play, fast forward and customize buttons for different commands. SpeechMike (and Dictaphone) are useful if you are going to use speech recognition in programs other than word processing or plain documents.
D). Voice recorders like Sony ICD-MX20, Philips Digital Tracer and numerous others which you can find by searching "Hardware Compatibility" on Nuance web site.
In last 10 years I have mostly dictated on recorders and then done the corrections at the end of the day in Dragon software. Real time correction can be time consuming and interrupt the flow of work; depending upon your line of work and accent too. Until now, I used SpeechMike 5276 for Dragon speech recognition in specialized software like Quickbooks, Quicken etc. mainly because it has programmable buttons - for example you can program a button to insert Ctrl-Delete at the same time. But now that Bluetooth headset is available, I have been using it with keyboard. At this time I am not sure if Philips SpeechMike makes you more efficient and productive than Bluetooth headset but it certainly is lot more expensive. Now that speech accuracy has improved, and the corrections do not take as much time, I have been dictating real time instead of using a recorder.
Irrespective of those dictation modalities, if you need to write a lot in your work e.g. journalist, lawyers, doctors, students, or for other projects, then you will not go wrong with this product. It will save you a lot of keyboard input and time. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11'
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