Showing posts with label speech recognition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label speech recognition. Show all posts

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional 13 Released
















Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional 13 http://www.knowbrainer.com/NewStore/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=28 was released this morning and Nuance has decided to temporarily sell upgrades from Pro 11/12 at the lowest introductory price ever (normally 299.99 now 149.99). They have also extended this low pricing (normally 399.99 now 199.99) to Premium 11/12/13 to Professional 13 upgrades. This pricing is good through September 2014. If you missed our 16 page review you can read it here http://www.knowbrainer.com/index.cfm/wiki/dragon-naturallyspeaking-13-review


Tom Hamilton
Nuance Gold Certified & BBB Accredited
KnowBrainer Speech Recognition Forums http://www.knowbrainer.com/forums/forum
KnowBrainer.com http://www.knowbrainer.com
support@knowbrainer.com

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 13 Review

The following review covers the ver. 13 editions of DNS Home, Premium, Pro and Legal. This review will be subject to revisions/updates as we continue working with the application, or in the event Nuance releases a service release patch. DMPE 3 (Dragon Medical 13) is not likely to be released until mid-2015. At that time we will create a separate review. Nuance has just rolled out Dragon 13. If you would like to read our detailed 16 page review, click the KnowBrainer NaturallySpeaking 13 Review

Tom Hamilton
Nuance Gold Certified & BBB Accredited
KnowBrainer Speech Recognition Forums http://www.knowbrainer.com/forums/forum
KnowBrainer.com http://www.knowbrainer.com
support@knowbrainer.com

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Installing Dragon Medical on Ultrabooks



 

 

 

 

 
A lot of laptops are coming without DVD drives these days, like the super-thin ultrabooks or Microsoft’s new Surface Pro 3. Apples Macbook Pro is another example of a highly popular machine with no DVD drive.

 


Ultra-thin laptops are great. They're light, super portable, and can handle almost any modern task you throw at them. They don't come with DVD drives inside, but the fact of the matter is that most of us rarely use disc drives these days. That said, there are still situations in which they can come in handy—like when you're trying to install Dragon NaturallySpeaking or Dragon Medical, ripping one of your own CDs, or when you want to watch a movie on your laptop. A Portable USB drive is the best way to do those things without an internal disc drive.

 


As far as purchasing your external DVD drive, your local electronics store such as Best Buy will have what you need in stock at a reasonable price. If you have a Mac, don't waste your money on Apple's $80 model. You can also get one for as cheap as $30 on Amazon or Newegg if you have time to wait. Once you acquire your unit simply plug it into your USB drive, pop in your copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking or Dragon Medical and you're ready to begin installation. As an added bonus you can also now rip CDs to iTunes, play DVDs, and even boot from the drive if you need to run Linux or reinstall Windows.




 

 
 
 
In the end, if you're going to purchase a computer with no disk drive (which makes perfectly good sense these days since online stores like iTunes, Amazon, and Netflix provide us with most of our media), you really should consider spending the extra $30 on an external USB DVD drive.
 
Tom Hamilton Nuance Gold Certified & BBB AccreditedKnowBrainer Speech Recognition Forums http://www.knowbrainer.com/forums/forum
KnowBrainer.com http://www.knowbrainer.com support@knowbrainer.com

Friday, June 20, 2014

Speech Recognition News - New Microphone Released by Speechware Hitting US market 6/2014

 

Whether you're using speech recognition or planning on it you'll want to know about this microphone. The three most important things are accuracy, noise cancellation and comfort and the new SpeechWare FlexyMike Dual Ear Cardiod  brings them all to the table. This is not another microphone designed for a different purpose such as singing or whispering that happens to work with speech recognition, this microphone was designed for speech recognition including but not limited to Dragon Medical, Dragon NaturallySpeaking (Premium, Professional and Legal, Windows Speech Recognition and Siri.

 

 

 

The FlexyMike Dual Ear Cardioid – DEC, is a lightweight (about 25 g./0.9 oz.) stainless steel headset microphone designed specifically for accurate, noise cancelling and comfortable speech recognition dictation, and other Voice dependent applications. Manufactured in the style of a traditional headband, the frame is covered with injected rubber protectors that covers both ears for maximum working comfort. An extremely flexible gooseneck and cardioid microphone, enables the consistent positioning of the microphone capsule and superior recognition accuracy with Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Special bundled Adapter for connection of the headset to iPhone/iPad/Android (CTIA recent models) Smartphones and Tablets. The cardioid capsule excels in delivering exceptional voice clarity with outstanding background noise rejection, making it especially suitable for mobile users and notebooks or tablets, especially when used with the SpeechMatic USB MultiAdapter for maximum performance.

 

 

To take full advantage of this microphone we strongly suggest adding a USB sound card.
 

Features:

  • Headband style / wearing style is behind the neck and over both ears.
  • Ultra Lightweight and most comfortable design for extended periods of dictation.
  • High noise rejection cardiod microphone capsule.
  • Rubber ear protectors / Flexible stay in place microphone boom.
  • Short 1.5 m shielded cable for notebooks, laptops, and tablets.
  • Long 2.5 m extension cable for Desktops.
  • Spare windshield.
  • Special iPhone / iPad / Android CTIA cable

Technical Specifications:

  • Back Electret Condenser Element
  • Unidirectional Cardioid Polar Pattern
  •  Frequency Range: 50Hz ~ 18,000Hz
  •  Sensitivity: -66dB ± 3dB (0dB=1V/µbar@1KHz)
  •  Impedance: 1.500Ω ± 30% @ 1KHz (RL:2.2K, DC:1.5V)
  •  Operating Voltage: 1V – 10V
  •  Connector: standard 3.5 mm mono gold-plate plug
  •  Agency Approvals: FCE, CE, BC, IC
Tom Hamilton
Nuance Gold Certified & BBB Accredited
KnowBrainer Speech Recognition Forums http://www.knowbrainer.com/forums/forum
KnowBrainer.com http://www.knowbrainer.com
support@knowbrainer.com

Monday, January 13, 2014

Not giving up on Dragon NaturallySpeaking

Knowbrainer kept me from giving up on Dragon NaturallySpeaking

On December 28, 1996, while skiing on a mountain in Western
Maryland, I suffered a hemorrhagic brain stem stroke. I spent six and a half
weeks in hospitals followed by eight years of accomplishing nothing. Brain
damage left me with mental deficits and took away nearly all of my skill
sets. My body escaped unharmed, only affected by misguided signals coming
from my brain. However, I am left with Cerebellar ataxia, which causes the
left side of my body to be clumsy. Even my eyeball is adversely affected.

In 2004, as a form of therapy, I wanted to write a Journal. However,
I could do longer write with my hand; and lacked the hand eye coordination
necessary for typing. I purchased a product called Dragon NaturallySpeaking
that would allow me to speak into the computer. My first challenge was
created by my brain that would twist words before they reached my mouth.
After years of practice, I still have problems with missing syllables, but
major words sometimes come slow, but they come.

Nuance makes the best voice recognition product on the market.
Earlier versions were tricky and vulnerable to computer issues. Customer
support was short of excellent. They tried, but were not always able to solve
my problems. When version 12 rolled out most of my technical problems
disappeared. But, I would never have made it to version 12 without the
support of www.knowbrainer.com.

While googling support forums for voice recognition, I happened
across a post on a website called www.knowbrainer.com. What I found there
boggled my mind. It was a forum where thousands of voice recognition
users traded information. I found a resource destined to take my voice
recognition to a whole new level.

Often, forum users find their questions answered by Lunis Orcutt,
who owns the company. He focuses much of his time helping users navigate
through a maze of technical issues. His goal is to provide speech recognition
users with the information necessary to put together the optimum
supporting PC environment.

Knowbrainer successfully provides the information needed to unlock
the full potential of NaturallySpeaking products. They test and compare
compatible products and post reports on their website. They have become
the number one source of voice-recognition information in the world. The
forum and all their information is offered free of charge.

Knowbrainer, also hosts an online store, where you can find many
competitively priced products that have passed exhaustive tests. The
company also developed its own command software allowing handicapped
users to manage their computer by voice.

With the help of www.knowbrainer.com, I became a published author
in 2012. In April 2014, Glimpse of Sunlight, the first novel in the trilogy,
Jonathan Dickinson Odyssey (an historical thriller based on a true story), will
be published.

GE Gardiner| Novelist
www.GEGardiner.com
 www.JonathanDickinson.org

Monday, December 9, 2013

Speech Recognition Microphone Reviews


The KnowBrainer.com YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/KnwBrainer and TheMicrophoneStore YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMicrophoneStore are both great resources for video overviews on speech recognition microphones as well as digital recorders, USB soundcards and software including Dragon Medical Practice Edition.

You’ll find video overviews on popular wireless, desktop, handheld and wired headset microphones as well as established companies like Samson and up and coming companies like SpeechWare.

Friday, August 30, 2013

Evolution of USB Soundcards for Speech Recognition

                                             
Evolution of USB Soundcards

When we first began using DragonDictate speech recognition software in the 1980’s, it seemed to be incredibly impressive technology. Never minding the very deliberate pause after each and every word, we waited with baited breath to see another (hopefully correct) word miraculously appear on our somewhat blurry little screens. It was fun! It was frustrating! It was not very practical. Back then, the couple of wired analog headset microphone choices available to us were more than adequate.

In 1996, NaturallySpeaking continuous speech recognition was released. With the emergence of this new technology, we had a viable tool for professional as well as personal use. That being the case, we needed microphones and soundcards designed to better utilize this increasingly more sophisticated software. Microphone manufacturers responded, with USB soundcard manufacturers following close behind. The 1st USB soundcard was a large black plastic contraption, manufactured by Telex. While great in theory, in practice it was actually worse than most integrated soundcards. In 2000, Telex released the H-531 USB headset microphone. This was much smaller but included a substandard (consumer grade) microphone element which was not much bigger than the head of a pin and produced barely acceptable accuracy. While Telex stopped producing USB soundcards before the release of Windows XP, they had at least gotten the ball rolling. Companies like Andrea Electronics and VXI then picked up the slack and additional companies have since jumped on the bandwagon. They’ve come a long way since the 1st USB microphone came out in the late 90s.

Today, a USB soundcard just might be your best option if:

  • Your desktop computer is one of the 99.9% of computers that includes an integrated soundcard (which we don’t recommend using)

  • Your desktop computer doesn’t have a Sound Blaster PCI soundcard

  • You are using a tablet or notebook computer (as they all have integrated soundcards)

  • Getting the highest possible accuracy from your speech software is of the utmost importance to you

  • You are using a Mac computer

  • You are using one of many of the latest notebook computers, which no longer support standard microphone input