Unfortunately, there are many PC users out there that are of limited mobility. As such, they need a way to be able to access their computers with just as much ease as everyone else.
We’ve all seen the “computers of the future” in movies and TV shows that allow the user to control them with their voice alone, but did you know that this is actually possible right now? That’s right; there actually is voice recognition software out there that actually works. Nuance’s Dragon NaturallySpeaking is voice recognition software that not only does dictation for you, but it also allows you to control your computer with just the sound of your voice!
Needless to say, we were pretty excited at the chance to tinker around with and review this software. Our first impressions were great—the software comes with its own stylish Bluetooth headset and adapter. Windows pretty much instantly recognized it as such and it was up and running in no time. Dragon NaturallySpeaking was then easily installed and we were ready to dig in.
Digging in, we were pleasantly surprised to find how easy this software was to use. We first had to set the software up to recognize our accent—you can choose from various American, British, and Australian accents so the software knows how you are going to speak and can recognize what you are saying. After getting that out of the way, we found that we were able to quickly start navigating around Windows.
Make no mistake, however—it did take some time to get the hang of navigating with your voice. Maybe it’s just because we’re used to pointing and clicking with the mouse, but it took a while to ignore the urge to grab the mouse. Users with limited mobility, however, probably won’t have as much of an issue.
One thing we discovered to be very useful was the ability of Dragon NaturallySpeaking to be used for dictation. If you’re a slow typist like me, you’ll find it very useful to be able to speak into your headset’s microphone and have the words appear on the screen. You’ll probably have to go back and proofread for errors, but this software does a great job of getting exactly what you say right.
At the end of the day, Nuance’s Dragon NaturallySpeaking simply cannot be recommended enough. Whether you are of limited mobility or simply a poor typist, this software will allow you to navigate your operating system and do dictation in a snap.