Speech Empowered Computing is pleased to announce it will be holding a series of free Webinars (web conferences) over the next few months on the benefits of the Dragon NaturallySpeaking system and how it can enhance personal productivity.

The first webinar in the series is scheduled for 10.30 a.m. GMT on Thursday 19th March.

Peter Maddern will be running through some live demonstrations where he will use Dragon NaturallySpeaking to create reports in Microsoft Word and e-mails/calendar management in Microsoft Outlook using speech recognition. He will also take participants on a tour of the features and benefits of the Dragon NaturallySpeaking programme. He will conclude with a questions and answer session.

How will I benefit from attending the Webinar?

Nowadays, there is more and more to accomplish with fewer resources. You will learn how speech recognition can greatly enhance your PC (and hence personal) productivity. Free yourself from the constraints of typing all your reports, e-mails, presentations and spreadsheets etc and learn how the system can allow you to dictate at up to 99% accuracy at speeds of up to 160 words per minute.

Who should attend:

Anyone who would like to be more productive and be able to create their own notes, reports and e-mail e.g.:-

• Solicitors
• Surveyors
• Building Engineers
• CEO’s, Executives, Team Members 
• Users with disabilities
• Sales and Marketing Professionals
• Medical Professionals
• Academic staff (Teachers, Lecturers, Academic administrative staff, students etc)
• Administrators
• Authors
• Technical Authors
• Translators

However, this Webinar will really benefit anyone who relies heavily on their computer to get their job done and who has ever considered getting started with Dragon NaturallySpeaking computer speech recognition but don’t know how to go about it.

Please note – the Webinar will cover only European versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking designed for UK English/American English/Australian English speakers in Europe so registration is necessarily restricted to those with English as their first language living in Europe.

How do I register to attend?

Registration can be found here – places limited to 12 so register soon to book your place.

What do I need to join?

All you need is a fast internet connection and Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox with the most up to date Java client. You will call in via a local telephone number provided by Speech Empowered Computing (you just pay for the cost of the call) or you can join at no cost with a headset microphone using VOIP.

Full joining instructions (link and meeting ID) will be sent to registered participants ahead of time.

Dr Peter Maddern
Speech Empowered Computing

Nuance have release Service Pack 1 for Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10.0. This converts version 10.0 into version 10 SP1

Install by clicking on “Help” on the Dragon menu bar followed by “check for updates”

Information on what has changed can be found in the Nuance Knowledge Base (TechNote 6070)

If you have any problems installing from “help” – “check for updates”, you can download SP1 from this direct link.

It is recommended that users with roaming profiles install from the above download link rather than via “help” – “check for updates” otherwise you may get an error message when attempting to open local roaming users. This is because version 10.0 profiles cannot “read” version 10 SP1 profiles.

Peter Maddern
Speech Empowered Computing

I have had very good results with the Plantronics Calisto Bluetooth Wireless headset that comes bundled with Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred Wireless and Professional Wireless.

After setting up the system according to these setup instructions (see also Nuance Knowledge Base Tech Note 6018), I was able to achieve an average word recognition accuracy with Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10.0 Professional of 98% with the “Rainbow Passage” (average of 3 readings). I was surprised at this as when I made a recording with the Windows Sound Recorder, playback of my recorded voice was not “high fidelity” as such. If anything it sounded a bit worse than other Bluetooth headsets I have evaluated. This, I am guessing, is more a function of the earpiece speaker design and is not a reflection on the sound of the user’s voice going into the headset and into the PC, otherwise I don’t believe an accuracy of 98% would be possible. Read the rest of this entry »