Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 Premium

There is one thing undoubtedly cool about typing with out utilizing your palms. The drawback is, what looks as if such a sublime answer is usually extra bother than it’s value. Speech recognition software program has been round for years, however prolonged voice coaching and hit or miss accuracy have scared many people away from making an attempt it once more. That is a disgrace, as a result of right this moment it’s a entire new ballgame.

Introduction
Nuance has been round since 1992 in numerous varieties. Its know-how powers Siri, the celebration trick behind the iPhone 4S, and it has been the dominant pressure within the voice recognition market just about ever since. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 is the corporate’s newest try to show us that chatting with our computer systems shouldn’t be a waste of time. It succeeds.


Features
As a “.5” launch you’ll assume NaturallySpeaking is extra about evolution than revolution, however fortunately that isn’t the case. Version 11.5 brings a bunch of recent options together with smartphone integration, help for social media, a raft of recent instructions, welcome refinements to the UI and additional enhancements to the accuracy and pace of the speech recognition engine. Arguably essentially the most thrilling of those is smartphone integration as a result of it has the potential to revolutionise the best way folks use the software program.

To coincide with 11.5 Nuance launched ‘Dragon Microphone’, an iOS app that makes use of the microphone on an iPhone or iPad to interchange the necessity for a devoted mic or headset. Furthermore the app connects to your laptop wirelessly utilizing a Wi-Fi community, that means you possibly can dictate whereas strolling round the home or just get pleasure from not being bodily tethered to your laptop.

Setup
Setting up the app is easy: set up it, run Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 in your laptop, open the app and should you’re working the Apple Bonjour service (which comes with iTunes) it is going to routinely detect the pc and pair with it. If you’re averse to Apple’s stunning walled backyard, NaturallySpeaking will present the data you must join manually.

Sadly Nuance has but to launch an app for different working methods, but it surely does bundle a easy Andrea Electronics NC-181 headset with the software program. Unlike the iOS app nonetheless, it has no simple manner of switching the microphone on or off.

As for the social media this consists of easy instructions comparable to ‘Post to Facebook …’ and ‘Post to Twitter…’ which will be detected while in any software and saves quite a few mouse clicks. Beyond easy standing updates there’s additionally helpful performance comparable to ‘Search’, which works for Twitter, Amazon, Google Maps and others, although sadly you can’t manually add different websites. Other intelligent and helpful methods embody ‘Send an email to…’ (it helps net mail) and ‘Open My Pictures…’ with Nuance including extra by software program updates on a regular basis.

Interface
Equally worthy of reward are NaturallySpeaking 11.5’s refined home windows and sidebar. Long-time customers will doubtless minimise each, however for brand spanking new customers they’re a godsend. Most helpful is the sidebar that shows instructions and suggestions, which routinely change relying on this system you might be utilizing. For instance should you’re utilizing Word the sidebar will show modifying, formatting, Office Ribbon and file instructions. Switch to an internet browser and the sidebar will show looking and social networking instructions whereas in Windows Explorer this modifications once more to spotlight frequent laptop looking instruments and find out how to manipulate home windows and change between applications.

As for the pop up home windows, they observe the same system to the sidebar adapting dynamically and exhibiting solely contextually-relevant info. A serious enchancment is the correction window, which not solely permits you to make edits, but additionally spells out phrases. It additionally at all times shows a listing of doubtless various phrases that means more often than not you possibly can choose the correction possibility by merely saying the quantity alongside it.

Performance
So how does all of it work? The excellent news is – remarkably properly. What will strike new customers and even those that personal v11.0 is how fast this new model of NaturallySpeaking is to coach itself to the voice of a brand new person. An compulsory part of studying is required, but it surely lasts roughly 5 minutes and cleverly one of many passage choices is a fundamental information on find out how to use the product permitting you to kill two birds with one stone. Nuance claims accuracy of as much as 99 per cent and what recognition errors it does make the corporate says have been diminished by as much as 35 per cent (that’s 35 per cent of 1 per cent). While this boast is extremely daring we’d say it’s achievable.

Having accomplished simply the five-minute coaching we discovered accuracy to be round 97 per cent when dictating 100 phrases. Of course coaching doesn’t simply cease after this five-minute studying. NaturallySpeaking frequently learns from each correction to refine its profile database (you possibly can have a number of profiles for various customers on the identical laptop and have it scan your e-mail and paperwork to be taught your writing model). After just a few days we discovered studying one other 100 phrase part produced 99 per cent accuracy with NaturallySpeaking even detecting after we mumbled or barely mispronounced sure phrases.

Quite a lot of credit score right here goes to the context conscious system which appears on the entire of a sentence to find out which phrases you imply, eg: “cereal” not “serial” could be picked if it detected the meals “eat” or “eating”, and it is aware of to capitalise “Windows” when “Microsoft” precedes it. Because of this Dragon NaturallySpeaking works greatest whenever you communicate in entire sentences, no matter pace, versus talking just a few phrases at a time and watch to see if it acquired them proper. This can appear unusual at first, particularly for extra formal work, however will get simpler with follow and we discovered the focus it includes made us focus extra and cut back our tendency to get distracted from the duty at hand.

Given Nuance powers Siri, NaturallySpeaking additionally understands quite a lot of pure language that means there are just a few situations the place exacting formal language should be used to hold out a particular process.

Problems and niggles
Unfortunately no voice recognition system is ever good. Despite all of the enhancements in 11.5, making advanced edits to sentences and paragraphs you could have already spoken (significantly to sentences increased up a doc) can take longer than merely returning to the keyboard and doing it manually. Patience can be required within the first few days, when NaturallySpeaking continues to be studying your voice and detecting the moments whenever you say sure frequent phrases in barely other ways or tones, however persistence is well-rewarded.

We additionally discovered that whereas the benefit and practicality of utilizing the iPhone app makes us use NaturallySpeaking much more, for the most effective outcomes you do have to maintain the microphone inside 30 cm of your mouth and speak in the direction of it (albeit not in a compelled or unnatural tone). This means utilizing it like a handheld microphone reasonably than one thing you possibly can put down and stroll round.

Another concern is the app pairs to your Wi-Fi community not particularly to your laptop. This means do you have to journey you’ll have to pair the app with every new Wi-Fi community you employ. This will probably be a notable problem for businessmen seeking to dictate in motels or convention rooms, however for these planning to make use of it primarily in a single or two places having the vary of Wi-Fi means you don’t need to be near your laptop on a regular basis.

Where NaturallySpeaking’s accuracy does drop is in transcription. This is comprehensible given the unique recordings usually comprise background noise and a number of or completely different voices not educated for use by Nuance. It is an effective strategy to minimize down time spent on unimportant work, however we discovered it too unreliable for interviews. NaturallySpeaking at all times works greatest in a quiet atmosphere, and accuracy dropped to round 80-85 per cent when used with the iRobot Roomba 780 robot vacuum working in the identical room. Admittedly that is nonetheless a reasonably good determine.

Value
All of which brings us to worth. This is subjective relying on how a lot you must use voice dictation and the atmosphere you’re employed in, however the model we used (Premium) is offered from £120, which implies it’s no impulse purchase, regardless of the bundled headset and that the iOS app is free. There are two different main variations. Cheaper is ‘Home’ (£70-£80) – this offers up transcription (not a fantastic loss) but additionally, frustratingly, entry to the smartphone app (and Nuance has introduced different platforms will quickly be supported). At the opposite finish of the dimensions is the £400 ‘Professional’ version, however the further administrative instruments is not going to be mandatory for the overwhelming majority of customers. On the plus aspect, all 11.0 makes use of will get 11.5 totally free.

Cost apart, it’s plain Nuance has produced by far and away essentially the most correct and intuitive speech recognition software program ever launched. Need additional proof? We wrote this assessment utilizing it.

”’Verdict”’

Nuance NaturallySpeaking 11.5 delivers excess of its incremental model quantity would recommend. The addition of social networking help and compatibility with new applications and providers is intelligent, however the present stealer stays its jaw-droppingly correct speech recognition. Initial setup now takes lower than 5 minutes and inside just a few days accuracy ranges of 99 per cent and above are achievable. Being ready to make use of your smartphone as a wi-fi microphone is the icing on the cake. Price stays a big consideration, however NaturallySpeaking 11.5 will show invaluable to all who take the time to harness it.