Newsgroups: comp.speech
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From: daphne@netcom.com (Daphne Gould)
Subject: Re: A dictation system for MS-Windows
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Date: Wed, 21 Jun 1995 09:27:17 GMT
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craig@vodka.demon.co.uk (Craig Hamilton) wrote:

>Hi,

>This is my first post to this newsgroup - hope it is the relevent one!

>I'm after some advice on speech recognition/dictation systems. The
>setup will be as follows:

>I'm looking for a system that will run on a PC, (under Windows). It
>will be used to enter transcripts of technical meetings so must cope
>with a very large vocabulary. The system should also allow a personal
>dictionary for words which don't occur in its dictionary. The system
>will be used by only a few users so a speaker-dependent system is OK,
>where we can train each user.

>Any info, such as accuracy, price, specifications, ...etc would be
>greatly appreciated.

>Thanks (in advance)

The three main products in this area are DragonDictate for Windows
from Dragon Systems, IBM VoiceType Dictation from IBM and Kurzweil
Voice from Kurzweil AI.

I can tell you a little about DragonDictate since I worked on its
development.

DragonDictate for Windows (DDWin) allows for large vocabulary,
discrete speech dictation into any Windows application.  The active
vocabulary size depends on which version you buy.  The Starter Edition
($395) has 5,000 words active, the Classic Edition ($695) has 30,000
words active and the Power Edition ($1695) has 60,000 words active.
All three versions also come with a 120,000 word backup pronunciation
dictionary.  Any subset of the active vocabulary can be replaced with
your own words (or phrases or commands).

The technology is speaker adaptive which means that it adapts to your
voice as you use it.  You can use DDWin to dictate into and control
any Windows application.   You can also run your computer completly
hands-free (although that is not required).  The product will run on a
486 or Pentium system using an industry standard sound card.

For more information about DragonDictate for Windows, contact Dragon
Systems at 1-800-TALK-TYP or 617-965-5200.

IBM and Kurzweil have (almost) comparable products.  If you want you
can also contact them.

Joel Gould
Dragon Systems


