Back in November I wrote a post using a dictation program to write a blog post. I was testing the Dragon Naturally Speaking program by Nuance. I was testing this product for my aunt who had carpal tunnel surgery back in September. She needed something that would help her cut down on her typing she has to do for work everyday, and we decided a dictation program would probably be her best bet.
I received an email today from someone wanting to know how it program was working for us, so it reminded me I needed to write a follow up post.
The first day I used the program was the day I dictated my blog post using the program. I purposely did not correct any errors the program made so that I could show the results I achieved. It took me over 45 minutes to dictate that first post because I was learning how to use the program. I wasn't happy with the outcome of that first post because there were many many errors even after I ran through the initial training for the program.
After writing that post I spent about 2 weeks using the program once or twice a day training it to recognize my voice. By the end of the second week my dictations were coming out faster and with fewer errors proving that the program continuously learns as you use it.
At that time I installed the program on my aunt's work computer, showed her how to use it, and helped her set it up. She has been using the program for about 2 1/2 months now, and she absolutely loves it. Of course like any other computer program it's not 100% accurate, but the more she uses it the better results she sees. It's really made her life much easier when it comes to large amounts of typing at work.
I called her tonight to get an update on how the program was working, and she informed me she now uses it for most of her emails as well. It's much easier to slide on her headset, give commands, and speak out the email. She confirmed that she can now dictate much faster than she was able to type, and she will be using the program for many years to come.
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