Voice Activated Software

10/7/2019by
  1. Voice Activated Software Health And Social
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Best voice recognition software

Read on for our detailed analysis of each app

All voice activated software applications and programs that are compatible with voice recognition are going to require some kind of user specific training. The training allows the computer to create a template matching a set of words on screen with those same. Braina is speech recognition software which is built not just for dictation, but also as an all-round digital assistant to help you achieve various tasks on your PC. It supports dictation to.

Voice recognition is a technology that has definitely come of age over the past decade.

With everything from Siri and Alexa now available as audio assistants, the ability for computers to accurately recognize and represent speech has now become an everyday reality.

Voice-to-text and text-to-speech applications have become common in the mobile app space, but for desktops there's surprisingly limited competition in the market.

This is a shame as this is one of the key areas where voice recognition can really develop, especially in a age where accessibility is key to an increasing number of people. And while voice recognition may be seen as a technology for those with additional needs, the truth is that when it works well it can be so much of a time saver, especially when it comes to typing up documents.

And because there's little need to wrestle with a QWERTY keyword, voice recognition software can be used to help prevent either the occurrence or development of Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, which can otherwise be debilitating to those who have to do large volumes of typing.

While voice recognition isn't yet perfect, the amount of time required to train the software to both recognize and work accurately with your voice is very much reduced these days.

So if you're looking for voice recognition software, take a look at the best that we've featured below.

  • We’ve picked out the best free software for small businesses
  • Want your company or services to be added to this buyer’s guide? Please email your request to desire.athow@futurenet.com with the URL of the buying guide in the subject line.

1. Dragon

Platforms: Windows, Mac Features: Voice commands, dictation, transcription

Very accurate speech recognition
Not cheap

Dragon has long been regarded as ruling the roost when it comes to speech recognition on the PC, with a long line of quality products which work at a high standard. This is not least because of the ‘deep learning’ technology which helps the dictation software achieve greater levels of accuracy the more you use it, learning common words and phrases that you employ, and also adapting to background noise or your accent.

The latest Dragon speech recognition software has a higher baseline accuracy right out of the box, as well. Overall, we found it noticeably more accurate and responsive than older versions.

This software provides full dictation capabilities, as well as voice commands to control your PC (to open programs, navigate web pages and so forth – and note that you can dictate wherever you want, for example, in Gmail in your browser). It’s also built to work with touchscreen devices as required. All of this is included in the Dragon Home edition, which retails at $150.

Windows 10 screen projection driver. Technical data is gathered for the products supported by this tool and is used to identify products, provide relevant solutions and automatically update this tool, to improve our products, solutions, services, and your experience as our customer.Note: This tool applies to Microsoft Windows PC's only.

Additional features are available with the Dragon Professional Individual upgrade, including the ability to create boilerplate forms or email signatures which can be inserted into a document with a single command. There’s also a transcription facility which can analyze an audio clip, podcast or similar, turning it into text. Furthermore, there are advanced custom command options available, plus the ability to synchronize your work with Android or iOS devices.

Dragon Professional Individual retails at $300, but there is also an enterprise package available for business groups which includes all these capabilities and makes them available for multiple users, along with additional integration features.

2. Dragon Anywhere

Benefit from dictation capabilities wherever you may be

Platforms: Android, iOS Features: Dictation, sync with Dragon Professional and cloud services

$149.99
$14.99
High quality speech recognition
Dictation limited to within the app

Dragon Anywhere is the mobile product for Android and iOS devices, however this is no ‘lite’ app, but rather offers fully-formed dictation capabilities powered via the cloud.

So essentially you get the same excellent speech recognition as seen on the desktop software – the only meaningful difference we noticed was a very slight delay in our spoken words appearing on the screen (doubtless due to processing in the cloud). However, note that the app was still responsive enough overall.

It also boasts support for boilerplate chunks of text which can be set up and inserted into a document with a simple command, and these, along with custom vocabularies, are synced across the mobile app and desktop Dragon software. Furthermore, you can share documents across devices via Evernote or cloud services (such as Dropbox).

This isn’t as flexible as the desktop application, however, as dictation is limited to within Dragon Anywhere – you can’t dictate directly in another app (although you can copy over text from the Dragon Anywhere dictation pad to a third-party app). The other caveats are the need for an internet connection for the app to work (due to its cloud-powered nature), and the fact that it’s a subscription offering with no one-off purchase option, which might not be to everyone’s tastes.

Even bearing in mind these limitations, though, it’s a definite boon to have fully-fledged, powerful voice recognition of the same sterling quality as the desktop software, nestling on your phone or tablet for when you’re away from the office.

Nuance Communications offers a 7-day free trial to give the app a whirl before you commit to a subscription.

3. Google Docs Voice Typing

A nifty freebie nestling within G Suite

Platforms: Chrome browser, Android, iOS Features: Dictation

$6
$12
$25
Costs nothing
Limited to Chrome browser

Google has a free speech recognition facility built right into Google Docs (the word processor in G Suite).

The strength with Google’s voice solution is that it’s actually surprisingly accurate, particularly considering this is a freebie offering. If you’re happy using G Suite and want something for casual dictation which will cost you absolutely nothing, this is a great option to have.

However there is a caveat here, namely that you have to be using Google’s Chrome browser for voice to be supported on your desktop PC (Voice Typing can also be used with some Android and iOS devices).

Also note that this is purely for speech dictation within Google Docs, and the system doesn’t offer the likes of voice commands for the desktop. It’s all about dictating text, and issuing commands regarding formatting your document, but nothing outside that.

You can fire up the voice capability within Google Docs (remember, you have to be using the Chrome browser) by clicking on the Tools menu and then selecting Voice Typing.

4. Braina Pro

A virtual assistant for your PC

Voice Activated Software Health And Social

Platforms: Windows XP-10 Features: Voice commands, dictation, AI assistant, Android app for remote control of PC

Nifty Android app for remotely controlling PC

Braina is speech recognition software which is built not just for dictation, but also as an all-round digital assistant to help you achieve various tasks on your PC. It supports dictation to third-party software in not just English but almost 90 different languages, with impressive voice recognition chops.

Beyond that, it’s a virtual assistant that can be instructed to set alarms, search your PC for a file, or search the internet, play an MP3 file, read an ebook aloud, plus you can implement various custom commands.

The Windows program also has a companion Android app which can remotely control your PC, and use the local Wi-Fi network to deliver commands to your computer, so you can spark up a music playlist, for example, wherever you happen to be in the house. Nifty.

There’s a free version of Braina which comes with limited functionality, but includes all the basic PC commands, along with a 7-day trial of the speech recognition which allows you to test out its powers for yourself before you commit to a subscription. Yes, this is another subscription-only product with no option to purchase for a one-off fee. Also note that you need to be online and have Google’s Chrome browser installed for speech recognition functionality to work.

Activated

5. Windows 10 Speech Recognition

Microsoft’s desktop OS has fully integrated voice recognition

Platforms: Windows 10 Features: Voice commands, dictation

No extra cost
Still doesn’t offer the best accuracy (however training helps)

If you don’t want to pay for speech recognition software, and you’re running Microsoft’s latest desktop OS, then you might be pleased to hear that Windows 10 actually has some very solid voice recognition abilities built right into the operating system.

Windows Speech Recognition, as it’s imaginatively named – and note that this is something different to Cortana, which offers basic commands and assistant capabilities – lets you not only execute commands via voice control, but also offers the ability to dictate into documents.

The sort of accuracy you get isn’t comparable with that offered by the likes of Dragon, but then again, you’re paying nothing to use it. It’s also possible to improve the accuracy by training the system by reading text, and giving it access to your documents to better learn your vocabulary. It’s definitely worth indulging in some training, particularly if you intend to use the voice recognition feature a fair bit.

This speech recognition capability is actually in previous versions of Windows as well, although Microsoft has honed it more with the latest OS. The company has been busy boasting about its advances in terms of voice recognition powered by deep neural networks, and Microsoft is certainly priming us to expect impressive things in the future. The likely end-goal aim is for Cortana to do everything eventually, from voice commands to taking dictation.

Turn on Windows Speech Recognition by heading to the Control Panel (search for it, or right click the Start button and select it), then click on Ease of Access, and you will see the option to ‘start speech recognition’ (you’ll also spot the option to set up a microphone here, if you haven’t already done that).

  • Maybe you’ll use voice recognition with one of our best business laptops

Speech recognition software is available for many computing platforms, operating systems, use models, and software licenses. Here is a listing of such, grouped in various useful ways.

  • 5Windows

Acoustic models and speech corpus (compilation)[edit]

The following list presents notable speech recognition software engines with a brief synopsis of characteristics.

Application nameDescriptionOpen-sourceLicenseOperating systemProgramming languageSupported language, noteOffline or online
CMU SphinxHMMYesBSD styleCross-platformJavaEnglish, German, French, Mandarin, RussianOffline
HTKNoHTK specificCross-platformCEnglish; version 3.5 released December 2015
JuliusHMM trigramsYesBSD style, non-commercialCross-platformCJapanese, English; [2]Offline
KaldiNeural netYesApacheCross-platformC++English
RWTH ASRRWTH Aachen UniversityNoRWTH ASR, non-commercial use onlyLinux, macOSC++English

Macintosh[edit]

Application nameDescriptionOpen-sourceLicensePriceNote
Dragon for Mac (discontinued 2018)macOS; by NuanceNoProprietary
Dragon Dictate (discontinued)macOS; by NuanceNoProprietary
MacSpeech Scribe (discontinued)Transcription from recorded text; acquired by Nuance
iListen (discontinued)PowerPC Macintosh; discontinued by MacSpeech; acquired by Nuance
Speakable itemsIncluded with macOS
ViaVoice (discontinued)IBM Product; acquired by Nuance
Voice NavigatorOriginal GUI voice control; 1989

Cross-platform web apps based on Chrome[edit]

The following list presents notable speech recognition software that operate in a Chrome browser as web apps. They make use of HTML5 Web-Speech-API.[1]

Application nameDescriptionOpen-sourceLicensePriceNote
Speechmatics[2]Cloud based and on-premise automatic speech recognitionNoProprietaryFrom £0.06 per minute of audio

Mobile devices and smartphones[edit]

Many mobile phone handsets, including feature phones and smartphones such as iPhones and BlackBerrys, have basic dial-by-voice features built in. Many third-party apps have implemented natural-language speech recognition support, including:

Application nameDescriptionOpen-sourceLicensePriceNote
Assistant.aiAssistant for Android, iOS and Windows PhoneNoProprietary, freewareFreeDiscontinued
Dragon DictationNoProprietary, freewareFree
Google NowAndroid voice searchNoProprietary, freewareFree
Google Voice SearchNoProprietary, freewareFree
Microsoft CortanaMicrosoft voice searchNoProprietary, freewareFree
Siri Personal AssistantApple's virtual personal assistantNoProprietary, freewareFree
Alexa – Amazon EchoAmazon's personal assistantNoProprietary
SILVIAAndroid and iOSNo
Vlingo

Windows[edit]

Windows built-in speech recognition[edit]

The Windows Speech Recognition version 8.0 by Microsoft comes built into Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10.Speech Recognition is available only in English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese and only in the corresponding version of Windows; meaning you cannot use the speech recognition engine in one language if you use a version of Windows in another language. Windows 7 Ultimate and Windows 8 Pro allow you to change the system language, and therefore change which speech engine is available. Windows Speech Recognition evolved into Cortana (software), a personal assistant included in Windows 10.

Voice Activated Software Examples

Add-ons for Windows 7 speech recognition[edit]

  • Voice Finger – software for Windows Vista and Windows 7 that improves the Windows speech recognition system by adding several extensions to accelerate and improve the mouse and keyboard control.

Windows 7, 8, 10 third-party speech recognition[edit]

  • Braina – Dictate into third party software and websites[3], fill web forms and execute vocal commands.[4]
  • Dragon NaturallySpeaking from Nuance Communications – Successor to the older DragonDictate product. Focus on dictation. 64-bit Windows support since version 10.1.
  • SpeechMagic – Nuance Communications acquired Philips owned. Medical industry focus according to Frost & Sullivan. Standalone or embedded.[5]
  • Tazti – Create speech command profiles to play PC games and control applications – programs. Create speech commands to open files, folders, webpages, applications. Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 versions.[6]

Windows XP or 2000 only[edit]

  • Microsoft Speech API – Speech recognition functionality included as part of Microsoft Office and on Tablet PCs running Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. It can also be downloaded as part of the Speech SDK 5.1 for Windows applications, but since that is aimed at developers building speech applications, the pure SDK form lacks any user interface, and thus is unsuitable for end users.

Built-in software[edit]

  • Microsoft Kinect includes built-in software which allows speech recognition of commands.
  • Older generations of Nokia phones like Nokia N Series (before using Windows 7 mobile technology) used speech-recognition with family names from contact list and a few commands.
  • Siri, originally implemented in the iPhone 4S, Apple's personal assistant for iOS, which uses technology from Nuance Communications.
  • Cortana (software), Microsoft's personal assistant built into Windows Phone and Windows 10.

Voice Activated Software For Pc

Interactive voice response[edit]

Voice Activated Software For Pc

The following are interactive voice response (IVR) systems:

  • Genesys[7]
  • HTK – copyrighted by Microsoft, but allows altering software for licensee's internal use
  • LumenVox ASR
  • Tellme Networks; acquired by Microsoft

Unix-like x86 and x86-64 speech transcription software[edit]

  • Janus Recognition Toolkit (JRTk)[8][9]

Discontinued software[edit]

  • IBM ViaVoice – Embedded version still maintained by IBM.[10] No longer supported for versions above Windows Vista.[11] Untested above macOS 10.4 or on Macintoshes with an Intel chipset.[12]
  • Quack.com; acquired by AOL; the name has now been reused for an iPad search app.
  • SpeechWorks from Nuance Communications.
  • Yap Speech Cloud – Speech-to-text platform acquired by Amazon.com.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^'Web Speech API Specification'. dvcs.w3.org. Archived from the original on 2016-06-21.
  2. ^Orlowski, Andrew. 'Total recog: British AI makes universal speech breakthrough'. The Register. Situation Publishing. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  3. ^'Speech Recognition Software for Windows PC – Braina'. www.brainasoft.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-07.
  4. ^'Dynamic Faceting-List of Most 57 Speech Recognition SWs and Web Services'. Archived from the original on February 13, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2019.
  5. ^'Philips SpeechMagic named European Technology Leader by Frost & Sullivan'. www.frost.com. Archived from the original on 2008-04-15.
  6. ^O'Neill, Mark (2013-11-06). 'Control your PC with these 5 speech recognition programs'. PC World. Archived from the original on 2014-01-01. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  7. ^'Interactive Voice Response'. Genesys. Archived from the original on 2016-10-14.
  8. ^[1][dead link]
  9. ^Lavie, A.; Waibel, A.; Levin, L.; Finke, M.; Gates, D.; Gavalda, M.; Zeppenfeld, T.; Zhan, Puming (1 April 1997). 'Janus-III: speech-to-speech translation in multiple languages'. 1997 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing. IEEE Xplore. 1. pp. 99–102. CiteSeerX10.1.1.36.6967. doi:10.1109/ICASSP.1997.599557. ISBN978-0-8186-7919-3.
  10. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2010-08-08. Retrieved 2010-06-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ^'Nuance product support for Microsoft Windows 7'. Nuance Communications, Customer Help. Retrieved 2019-03-16.
  12. ^'ViaVoice for Mac OS X on Intel Chipset'. Nuance Communications, Customer Help. Retrieved 2019-03-16.
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