I wonder what impact this will have on medical transcription. as is the case with most technologies, while they prove to be a boon to some, they end up being a bane to others.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Vikas Kapoor" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Access India" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 5:25 PM Subject: [AI] NaturallySpeaking Claims Voice Rec Breakthrough > NaturallySpeaking Claims Voice Rec Breakthrough > > Watch what you say about your computer: It's getting better at > understanding your voice. > > Nuance Communications says the latest version of its speech-recognition > software can achieve--with some speakers--99 percent accuracy out of the > box, without > a "training" session to familiarize the software with how a particular > person talks. It was scheduled for launch today. > > Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 lets users control many applications on > Microsoft Windows PCs and dictate documents within them. It's designed for > professionals > such as doctors and lawyers, as well as for enterprise employees who > frequently have to type and for disabled people, said Matt Revis, director > of product > management for dictation solutions at Nuance. > > The accuracy rate, or what percentage of words the software spells > correctly by itself, varies depending on sound quality and how a person > talks, Revis > said. But Nuance has improved it by 20 percent since > NaturallySpeaking 8 > was introduced in 2004, according to the company. > > Version 8 could reach 99 percent, but only after the user read a prepared > script, Revis said. Now users can get that level of accuracy right after > installing > the software and starting it up, though a script is still available if a > user isn't satisfied with the results on the first try. In any case, the > software > can continue learning on its own just through normal use, Revis added. > > The out-of-the-box 99 percent accuracy figure is for the American English > version, but the new Dragon releases for other languages get similar > boosts in > accuracy, Revis said. The software is available for Dutch, French, German, > Italian, Japanese, and Spanish, as well as for Australian, Asian, Indian > and > U.K. English. Also with NaturallySpeaking 9, Nuance is certifying two > Bluetooth wireless headsets for use with the software. > > The current version of NaturallySpeaking is "uncannily accurate," so the > new version should work very well--but only over time, in most cases, said > Bill > Meisel, president of TMA Associates, a speech industry consulting company > in Tarzana, California. Most users are unlikely to see 99 percent accuracy > the > minute they start using the software, though after about two days of use > their accuracy will improve, he said. In fact, Meisel questions Nuance's > decision > to emphasize immediate results. Many users quickly get frustrated, not > realizing that it usually takes time to get good results. > > "They're raising expectations higher than necessary," Meisel said. > > Nuance has the market for dictation software pretty well sewn up outside > of specialized areas, namely medicine, Meisel said. For one thing, it > controls > a formidable cache of patents, he said. However, voice recognition for > controlling applications is drawing increasing interest. IBM, Microsoft, > and Google > are among the companies that may be working on bigger plays in this area, > Meisel said. Microsoft already includes some voice-recognition capability > in > Windows. > > NaturallySpeaking 9 is available immediately. The Standard version costs > $99 and the Preferred version, which includes support for more > applications and > for converting digital voice-recorder tracks into text, costs $199. A > specialized version for the legal profession, as well as iterations for > various medical > specialties cost $1199 each, Revis said. > > http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,126453,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp > > Vikas Kapoor, > MSN ID: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo ID: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Skype ID: dl_vikas > Mobile: (+91) 9891098137. > To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, > please visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
