Speech Recognition - Ready for Prime Time?
by Jarred Walton on April 21, 2006 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
Speech Accuracy - Precise Dictation
Moving to a more typical speech pattern and not my stilted dictation voice, how do things change? First, this sound file is 1208 words and 8:11 in length. This is obviously a much more rapid delivery, typical of more casual conversation. At 147 wpm, this is faster than all but the best typists can achieve. The question is, how will the software deal with the faster delivery? We'll start with dictation mode again.
Dictation Accuracy
Accuracy drops several percent in both products, but DNS is clearly affected more. In fact, at just over 90% accuracy, there are enough errors that it's questionable whether or not you'd really be saving any time. In this particular instance, Microsoft's speech engine makes half as many mistakes. In a rather odd twist, both products also get more accurate as you turn their accuracy gauge down. It appears that with rapid text, the algorithms almost "overthink" the waveforms.
Transcription Accuracy
Switching to transcription mode, Dragon once again comes out on top. What's most likely happening is that Dragon is trying to determine whether or not you're issuing commands or dictating text, and it ends up wasting time that could be better spent analyzing your speech patterns. Basically, Dragon has a more complex user interface, and in straight rapid dictation this appears to be a handicap. Trascribing a WAV file shuts off many of the extras, so performance and accuracy improve substantially.
Moving to a more typical speech pattern and not my stilted dictation voice, how do things change? First, this sound file is 1208 words and 8:11 in length. This is obviously a much more rapid delivery, typical of more casual conversation. At 147 wpm, this is faster than all but the best typists can achieve. The question is, how will the software deal with the faster delivery? We'll start with dictation mode again.
Dictation Accuracy
Accuracy drops several percent in both products, but DNS is clearly affected more. In fact, at just over 90% accuracy, there are enough errors that it's questionable whether or not you'd really be saving any time. In this particular instance, Microsoft's speech engine makes half as many mistakes. In a rather odd twist, both products also get more accurate as you turn their accuracy gauge down. It appears that with rapid text, the algorithms almost "overthink" the waveforms.
Transcription Accuracy
Switching to transcription mode, Dragon once again comes out on top. What's most likely happening is that Dragon is trying to determine whether or not you're issuing commands or dictating text, and it ends up wasting time that could be better spent analyzing your speech patterns. Basically, Dragon has a more complex user interface, and in straight rapid dictation this appears to be a handicap. Trascribing a WAV file shuts off many of the extras, so performance and accuracy improve substantially.
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FrankyJunior - Sunday, April 30, 2006 - link
For anyone that wants to try Dragon, I just noticed that the preferred version is in the CompUSA ad today for $99.Never would have looked twice at it if I hadn't read this article yesterday.
NullSubroutine - Thursday, April 27, 2006 - link
are we to the day when i say 'computer' and it does what i want, and when i time travel by going around the sun ill be confused when they hand me a mouse and keyboard when wanting to use a computer?JarredWalton - Thursday, April 27, 2006 - link
Almost. And if you go around the sun *backwards* you can travel through time in the other direction. :Dquanta - Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - link
How about a review based on http://www.voicebox.com">VoiceBox Tehnologies products? It was demonstrated on Discovery Channel, and it seems to work without extensive voice training, and it actually _understand_ human speeches. The Discovery Channel can be found in http://www.exn.ca/dailyplanet/view.asp?date=3/13/2...">here.rico - Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - link
Where did you find Dragon Pro for $160? I thought it ususally cost about $800. Thanks.JarredWalton - Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - link
Heh, sorry - got "Preferred" and "Professional" mixed up. I'm not entirely sure what Pro includes, i.e. "Comes with a full set of network deployment tools."Trying to surf through Nuance's site is a bit tricky, and finding prices takes some effort as well. I think the only difference between Standard and Preferred is the ability to transcribe recordings in preferred - can anyone confirm for sure? I asked Nuance and didn't get a reply.
Tabah - Sunday, April 23, 2006 - link
Excellent article/review. Here's the question I've been wondering. Personally I use DNS for blogging and generally anything that requires excessive typing. A friend of mine on the other hand swears by IBM ViaVoice. Any chance we could get a comparison article/review at a later date?JarredWalton - Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - link
I will try to get in touch with IBM. I'm sure they wouldn't mind participating in a follow-up article.Tabah - Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - link
Oddly enough ViaVoice is licensed by Nuance so you might have a better chance talking to them. The main reason I'd like to see a comparison between VV and DNS isn't so much because they're made/released by the same company, but because off the cost difference between them. Like I said before I really like DNS but VV at the high end (VV Pro USB vs DNS Pro) is still a few hundred dollars cheaper.Poser - Sunday, April 23, 2006 - link
Listening to the dictation files, I was amazed that all the punctuation was spoken. I would have expected that they would (or could) be replaced by using a non-speech sound. Something along the lines of a click of the tongue for a comma -- there's a good number of distinct sounds you can make with your tongue that we don't have words for but that anyone could recognize and make. Think of "The Gods Must be Crazy" and the language used by the Kalahari bushmen for an extreme example.Also, thanks for the article, it was really interesting and potentially very helpful! I'll hold off until Vista hits and I see some comparisons, but I'm certain now that I'll end up using one of the two.