Welcome David,
I am also a Vermonter-born and raised. My issue with Dragon has to do with
there
claim that Nat. Speaking will work with minimum requirements of 32 ram and
133 mhz
processor...I just think for individuals that follow those guidelines and
try to
use the program there first interaction with the program is a negative
one...because
it will not work...then there is a large group of confused people that
just spent
money from a budget (that may not be that big to begin with!) having to try
to
figure out how to find the money for upgrading their systems. I think that
it
should be noted that DragonDictate is a wonderful software
program...Naturally
Speaking for many reasons leaves allot to be desired... I am responsible
for
purchasing and recommending Assistive Technology for a community college
that has
about 9000 students 400 have some type of disability. I think I would
consider L&H
voice express, or Phillips free speech products...I have not actually
worked with
either but I would consider their products..
DeAnne
spk2wrt@phoenix.edc.org wrote:
> Hello folks,
> I am also a new member of this list. My name is David Garbose and I
> work with Newspeak Communications in (the currently very snowy) Vermont.
> I have been a speech therapist for 15 years and have been selling
> equipment and training people in the use of speech recognition software
> for six years.
>
> I think that you point out one of the more important aspects of speech
> recognition. Many people who exhibit reduced intelligibility in their
> general speech patterns can make significant improvements by using
> speech recognition technology.
> One of the greatest inhibitions to improving speech (or any problem,
> really) is the failure to admit that you are having a problem. One of
> the more difficult assignments of the speech therapist is to convince
> the client that they are actually having a problem. Many people choose
> to blame the listener for not understanding them. As a result they do
> not attempt to change their speech patterns. When you're talking to a
> computer you have no one person to blame, and you really shouldn't kick
> the computer. If you really want to make the software work appropriately
> you have to talk clearer. I have worked with many people who have
> significantly improved their articulation as a result of the immediate
> feedback from speech recognition software. Certainly the one most
> important factor in improving the recognition percentage is clear
> speech, no matter what the software is.
> I would suggest using a continuous speech recognition software program,
> such as Dragon Systems NaturallySpeaking. You need to purchase at least
> the preferred edition so that you have the capability of using the audio
> playback of the users voice, and the text-to-speech capabilities for
> editing documents. The audio playback feature can assist a person to
> recognize their own poor speech patterns. "Oh, that is why it did not
> understanding me."
> Make sure you have enough computer power to run the program.
> Recommended system: at least
> Pentium III 500
> 256 megabytes of RAM
> 512 L2 cache
> Tested Sound Card
>
> Minimum system:
> Pentium II 333
> 96 megabytes of RAM
> 512 L2 cache
> Tested Sound Card
>
> David Garbose, MA CCC SLP
> Newspeak Communications
> dave@newspeakcom.com
>
> spk2wrt@phoenix.edc.org wrote:
> >
> > My name is Leslie Duffen and I am a new member of the list. I am a
> > retired computer studies teacher but my interest is largely personal. I
> > have a daughter called Sarah who has Down syndrome but who has done
> > remarkably well in spite of this congenital disadvantage. For example
> > she reads and speaks well, can drive a car safely at speeds frightening
> > to a passenger and can ski, water-ski, etc., etc. Sometimes her speech
> > is hard to understand but she does not always accept this. A year or
so
> > ago I started using speech recognition with her in an attempt to
> > persuade her that it was sometimes her fault if people could not
> > understand her. We used IBM Voice Type Via Voice. I hoped to improve
her
> > articulation and this was fairly successful but practice always
followed
> > the same pattern. There was initial success and then the programme
> > started producing rubbish. After a few months of this we gave up in
> > despair. Nevertheless I am still convinced that speech recognition has
a
> > lot to offer in improving articulation for people such as Sarah and,
> > perhaps, as the basis of a programme for teaching reading based on word
> > recognition.
> > Any comments would be gratefully received.
> > Leslie Duffen
> >
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