Confession For My Nasty Abuse Of The Dragon Speech Engine
Nov 25, 2009
I am ashamed of myself, for what I did recently to my loyal Dragon Naturally Speaking speech engine. To properly suffer penitence, I feel I must offer myself up to one of andy t's long tirades. ....y'know, where he interminably carries on about the really important things in life, such as minor spelling errors.
Confession is good for the soul, so here is the shameful description of what I did to the loyal Dragon engine. I dictated my speech into the $200 version of the Dragon engine, but not just any speech. Complex medical terminology, such as: "perioperative transesophageal echocardiography"
Shameful, because the $200 version of the Dragon speech recognition software was never designed to handle such complex jargon. My dictation was roughly 600 words, roughly 1,479 syllables, which took me 7 minutes to dictate. If all the words were one-syllable words, that would be a dictation speed of 211 words per minute!
I see that Vista offers Speech Recognition software that allows you to open apps and dictate speech into Word, Wordpad, etc. Does anyone have any idea on how this free Speech Recognition software compares to the Dragon software that I've been seeing advertised on TV commercials?
How fast can a modern speech recognition app' translate speech into text with no mistakes?In my case, 384 wpm, because that is the very fastest that I can speak, and still have another human understand what I am saying. Neither my hardware nor my software limited me, only the rate at which I talked limited me. My computer is a run of the mill model that has a 2.4 GHz Intel core 2 duo CPU. Ram is 4 GB. OS is Vista Ultimate, with all the patches............................
I have got a nasty bug on my vista laptop. I have tried just about everything to clean it up but with no luck. When the bug hits, it turns off the shell extension on AVG, disables all the shortcuts on my desktop. ( Turns the icons to a blank page as well as not letting them execute) When I click on the start menu all the "most used" programs are gone. It also disable the shut down option arrow from the start menu. I have avast, AVG, SypBot, SuperAntiSpyware, Windows Defender, Windows Firewall and Hijackthis all have found problems but have not fixed the major issue.
I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking Medical 9.5 and am currently using Vista. The update SP1 was installed and I have received a message stating maximum speech data has been reached. I closed Word 2003 and Dragon and rebooted and received a message stating attempting to recover from low resources message. With that said I am unable to dictate because this message still persists. Has anyone received this message after the install of SP1?
For those Windows users who also run Macs as I do, there is good news. The tiny Mac company "MacSpeech" has been aquired by the 800 pound gorilla "Nuance", the owner of the Dragon NaturallySpeaking line of products.
I want to do is search by date or type of software. Actually I am searching for a recently created word file. All any search engine does now is find a program when you know its name. If you know a programs name you generally know were it is so Vista's search engine is useless. Lets make it clear it doesn't even do that. On my H drive I have a file named Zahainya when I asked Vista to search my H drive for a file named Zahainya it comes up empty. Moreover Vista admits it searches slowly because it asked if it can index my files every time and I say yes and still the search is at least 5X slower then XP and it can't find anything anyway.
From the original DVD, I created a smaller DVD image by using vLite, removing some of the features I do not need, in order to have a smaller Vista. Then I installed.
I removed the "Jet Database Engine" component also. The problem I'm having is that by removing this component I cannot get the setup of Visio 2007 properly complete. It stops and never completes.
It says: (translated from Italian) Error 1919... error during configuration of ODBC data source Visio Database Samples. Error ODBC 13... "
I just tested on a virtual machine that if I just remove with vLite the "Jet Database Engine" out from Vista, I get this error while installing Visio 2007.
Is there any solution to bypass the error or to separately install the "Jet Database Engine" withouth having to re-install all of the operating system ?
I'm running 32 bit Vista Ultimate with Service Pack One. I have a problem that is driving me batty. When I open Windows security center and try to turn on Windows Firewall I get a message stating: "Windows Security Center can't turn on Windows Firewall."
I attempt to turn on Windows Firewall manually but get the message: "Windows cannot start the Windows Firewall service." As per advice I saw on another thread on this forum (i believe) I opened a command prompt as an administrator and ran "SFC /scannow" several times. Each time I get the message:.........
I have had the last update to nero 9 full for 6 months. I cannot use the burn engine in it because of "track following error" at end. I have read someplace that this could be a software disagreement between nero and sonic. Does anyone have some info on how to remove sonic burn engine from windows safely?
I have been having a problem with "Half Life 2 Engine" When ever I try to play CS:S (Why is this crashing because of HL2 Engine?) I start playing for awile everything is perfect and then a random crash. Vista tries to find the problem and comes up with this: Problem caused by Half-Life 2 Game Engine This problem was caused by Half-Life 2 Game Engine, which was created by Valve Corporation. Microsoft has been unable to contact the manufacturer and has no further information available at this time. How can I fix this? It's very annoying to randomly crash every little bit.
I'm trying to install Maya 8.5, it refuses to continue and pops up a dialog reads: "The InstallShield Script Engine is older than the version required. The installation couldn't be completed... please install the latest isscript.msi.
Hopefully this will be a constructive upbeat productive thread, unless the usual trolls pollute this thread.
(SR = "Speech Recognition" to save space)
Just how useful is SR, to Windows users?
That of course depends on the user.
One could say that SR is 100% useless to 99% of the people in this NG, which would be a compelling argument, difficult to dispute.
However we Windows users get SR free, so it would be a shame to waste it, *IF* there is any reason at all for us to use SR.
So, is there a reason?
Yes, a "free form" blog is one reason.
If you have anything at all worth "talking" to another person, then that is a candidate for doing faster and easier with SR.
Of course if you have NOTHING worth talking about...
So it all boils down to _your_ "worth" to other people, as perceived by those people themselves.
To close this post, I have one more thing worth mentioning, namely that our thoughts are fleeting, Great Thoughts often "get lost in the shuffle".
It is only when we commit those thoughts to permanent text that those Great Thoughts can do any good for other people, or even for ourselves.
SR is an excellent way to "capture" your Great Thoughts; I carry around a 3 ounce digital recorder just for this purpose - - - and yes, you have guessed right, my real name is Bill Gates, and I owe my fortune to that tiny digital recorder, which is one important difference between me and you ordinary mortals.
because I CAPTURED my great thoughts, while you let your great thoughts slip through you fingers.
The "Analyze Written Documents" feature of WSR appears to be broken. I try to keep up-to-date on three different SR apps, which is not easy, because of the differences. The three SR apps are:
....using most recent versions of above 3 apps. Without going into the reason _why_ , I would like to be able to speak the following, and have it come out exactly as shown in the two examples below:........
Mankind uses speech extensively to communicate. Imagine how your life would be affected if you did not have the power of speech. You would carry your handy dandy keyboard and instant printer around with you daily. If a friend were about to step off the curb and get run over by traffic, you would frantically whip out your keyboard, type WATCH OUT! in big bold letters, and wave it in front of his face. Imagine your frustration at the local grocery store, as you and the checker exchange notes about the on-special price of an item, while the line builds up behind you..............
How can I stop Speech Recognation? I have not install it but when the pc starts up SR pops up and ask for setting up the microphone etc. I dont want to use SR.
Every time I open an Office application (Word, Excel, etc.) or Outlook, then Speech recognition seems to fire up. When I have my headset plugged in (USB Logitech headset & Microphone) I get a little panel appear which has a microphone icon and it says “Sleeping” or “Try saying “Start Listening””. I have to close this every time. If I unplug my headset & microphone, then on opening the applications I get a pop up message saying “Speech Recognition could not start” with accompanying text of “make sure your audio hardware is working properly and check your audio configuration in the Audio Devices and Sound Themes control panel”.
Every time I open an application it starts, and I don’t find that friendly. Even with the microphone plugged in, and the setting turned to “Off”, it fires up. Just how do I get it to go way for good (and be controlled when I want to use it?) – any ideas? (On Vista Home premium 32 bit SP2)
i was just looking for vista voice recognition and i cant find it anywhere ive check in the vista ease of access and still no luck. is there a website where i can download this from?
Groking speech recognition, there are many subtle ways to fail, as some of you have already found out.
The so-called Help system in WSR is next to useless.
Now that I am well on my way to learning WSR, I can ask my computer the Really Big Questions in life, such as:
1) What is the meaning of life.
2) Who invented toilet paper.
3) If all personal computers disappeared, what real effect would it have on mankind.
4) Is eating beans allowed inside the ISS.
5) Will a USA colony on Mars be democrats or republicans.
6) Now that I can speak directly to my computer by voice, what should I do if my computer suddenly starts talking back to me.
I doubt if WSR has any practical uses for the "average user", but it certainly is fun to play with.
Mark-
-- I was not going to post the following crap, but "andy t" likes it. It gives him purpose in life, to go into one of his long abusive tirades; I can't deprive him of that pleasure.
The following "test" is what I am going to subject WSR to, about a week from now. To pass the test, no more than two mistakes can occur, when I "speak in" this article.
It will take me roughly 3 minutes to speak-in this roughly 200 word medical abstract.
I know, that is a sluggish 67wpm instead of a persons normal 160wpm normal speaking rate, but this slow rate is common for intricate technical dictation.
I copied and pasted this article from its original medical website.
I'm sure most will agree that this is a very stiff "test" for _any_ speech recognition app.
My bet is that WSR will pass this test, but we will see for sure in roughly a week from now.
This week is needed by me to get the rest of my smarts about using WSR.
I know very little about using WSR, as my time has been spent with other speech apps, namely Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10.0 and MacSpeech Dictate 1.5.2
Test abstract begins after line of asterisks
*****************************
Maximizing therapeutic gain with gemcitabine and fractionated radiation.
Mason KA, Milas L, Hunter NR, Elshaikh M, Buchmiller L, Kishi K, Hittelman K, Ang KK.
Department of Experimental Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, USA.
PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE:
The nucleoside analogue gemcitabine inhibits cellular repair and repopulation, induces apoptosis, causes tumor growth delay, and enhances radiation-induced growth delay. After single doses of drug and radiation, maximum enhancement of tumor response was obtained when gemcitabine preceded radiation by at least 24 h. Conversely, the cellular radioresponse of the normal gastrointestinal epithelium was slightly protected when gemcitabine and radiation were separated by 24 h. This differential response created a time frame within which therapeutic gain could be maximized. In our present investigation, we sought to define the most therapeutically beneficial scheme of gemcitabine administration when combined with fractionated radiotherapy.
All 3 schedules of drug administration produced therapeutic gain; however, when gemcitabine was given more than once in a 5-fraction radiation treatment schedule, normal tissue toxicity increased. The highest therapeutic gain (1.4) was achieved by giving a single dose of gemcitabine (25 mg/kg) 24 h before the start of fractionated radiotherapy.
I have started tinkering with the built in Windows Speech Recognition within my Vista operating system. I find it quite novel that you can talk to the screen and your words come out on it. Granted that I have cheated at times when it goes wrong and I have to type in corrections but I was wondering if there are any experts out there who could tell me how to make this more accurate?
I have also invested in a program called Dragon Naturally Speaking and loaded it onto my machine today. I started tinkering with this but I believe I have to learn completely different commands to that of Windows Speech Recognition.
I see big bucks being spent for speech-to-text uses in business (billions) - but I question if speech recognition has valid use for us "hobby" users. Anyone here use Dragon NaturallySpeaking for trivial uses? If so, what can it do better than simply banging on a keyboard?
My interest in Vista Speech is limited to finding out why I am having trouble getting _consistent_ speed/accuracy out of it. By accuracy I mean at least 98%, preferably 99%. By speed I mean at least 80 wpm. (plain everyday words, not technical words)
I normally speak at 160 wpm, so if I speak for two minutes, 320 words get changed to text. Of the 320 words, I expect 3 words to need correction, which takes another two minutes for me to do. 320 / 4 = 80 wpm on average...........
Does WSR (Vista Speech) provide a way of selecting _which_ documents to scan in order to improve speech recognition?
Near as I can determine, it does not seem to matter at allwhether my Vista Document folder is empty, or chock-full of text documents, as far as speech recognition accuracy is concerned.
I _did_ check-mark the box that allows user documents to be read, but it does not seem to have any effect one way or the other.
To me, it is just an alternative way to create text. Some advantages, some disadvantages over the regular keyboard way of creating text. There are two modern speech app's that Vista users can run on their computers, WSR and DNS. Vista users who happen to use Macs can run three speech app's on their Mac, WSR, DNS, MSD.
WSR = Windows Speech Recognition DNS = Dragon NaturallySpeaking MSD = MacSpeech Dictate
WSR is free, provided you use the built in microphone that comes with your PC. I think a lot of WSR users wind up buying a microphone, which can run the cost up to $50 or $300, depending on the microphone. DNS costs up to $1,600 which does not include all the auxillary hardware and software, which can easily run up the total cost to over $7,000 if you happen to be a doctor. MSD costs $200, microphone included.
Everyone has their own opinion about the value, or lack thereof, of speech recognition app's. Some people speak from experience, others speak from a broad base of ignorance, still others are trying to sell you something, like microphones for example. In my case, I do not really care whether you use WSR, DNS, or MSD - - -my only concern is for the medical community, where I do volunteer work...........
When I'm dictating text to the computer, if I repeat a phrase that I've dictated before (and I often repeat things like book titles), it will stop taking dictation and instead move the cursor to the place where the phrase appears previously in the document. The only way I've figured out to get it "unstuck" and continue taking dictation is to type the repeated phrase myself.
Does anyone know if you can take a sound file created with a handheld digital recorder and turn it into written text by using the Vista Speech Recognition function?
Pros and cons of using speech recognition (SR) on a "personal" computer in 2009/2010 This might be opening up a can of worms, let's see if I can stick to the subject, without straying off on all the side subjects that might crop up.
1) generally faster than typing 2) frees up hands 3) can be done without immediate access to a computer, i.e. with a tiny digital recorder 4) frees up more of a persons brain, i.e. because speaking is more natural and intuitive than typing 5) can be done while a person is wandering around his house doing chores, i.e. wireless microphones like the Samson Airline 77 have a 300 foot range 6) modern SR apps can be used in very noisy places,such as next to a loud TV, without adversely affecting the text accuracy
I must say I'm very impressed with speech recognition. I'm proud to be one of the stubborn first users to insist to use speech recognition even though I've made my computer use extremely comfortable using either the mouse or the keyboard (hopefully soon I can add or speech recognition).
Am I the only using speech recognition? I'm interested to know if there others using speech recognition, and how they're using it. The entire writing of this post, including opening Firefox, opening my password manager, logging in to and navigating through Vista forums, setting cookie options, editing and posting this thread was done solely using Windows speech recognition without mouse or keyboard (in a record breaking 40 minutes!).
