My little sister ( age 21) was in a car accident last year that left her paralyzed and with somewhat limited use of her right arm/hand and very, very limited use of her left arm. She has a computer, but told me that she doesn’t usually type a lot, because she can only use one hand and it takes too long and makes her hand hurt really badly. She was wanting to start classes agin, and maybe do some online classes, but obviously would probably need to do a lot of typing for that. I’d like to help her out somehom.
I’ve never used voice recognition software before, and really don’t even know much about it, but it seems like it might work out for her. Does anyone know of a good one to try out?
Dragon speak is supposedly the best one.
Office XP comes with it built in.
Never really used either of them. they take way too long to set up(several hours).
First, I’m sorry to hear about your sister. I wish her the best.
If XP has this feature, it’s news to me. We’ve discussed this topic many times and you can search for it. The bottom line: Dragon is best, but isn’t perfect. Each generation of VR software gets better. Dragon offers a 30-day money back guarantee, so try it at their expense. But remember: you have to “train” Dragon to work properly and Dragon offers several levels of its product.
Thanks. She’s getting better and better. At first they were telling us to prepare for the fact that she could die, then prepare for the fact that she could be on the trach forever, she couldn’t use her right hand at all, at first and now she can feed herself, type (It’s pretty amazing for me to know that she can point one finger and use it to type, seeing as there was a time when she couldn’t hold anything with that hand.), she’s off the trach and obviously not dead. She’s strong.
I think I am going to try out Dragon Naturally Speaking Essential 7. The amazon review says “If you want to use DNS with a dictation machine then you have to go for the ‘Preferred or Professional’ versions, likewise if you want to have your words read back to you (text to speech) But if you just want to do the basics such as dictating letters, essays, memos, or email, then DNS Essentials has all you need.” I think that sounds about right. I hope it works out. 
I was looking into getting VR software myself awhile back and asked a friend who set up the computers for a physical therapy company. They said that they’ve tested them all and use Dragon Naturally Speaking 6. (I suppose they’d upgrade to 7 if they had the cash, but 6 works well enough for them that they don’t feel the need to). My father had the guys at work set up DNS 7 at his office and said that it worked great on the first go (after training, which didn’t take all that long - there was one error on three full pages of text). I’m pretty sure that he has the mid-level version but I don’t know what the therapists use.
I also hear that a side benefit is that your diction gets much clearer.
Hope it all works out.
I use Dragon Naturally Speaking 7, and while it is useful, it does have its drawbacks. I confess, I’m not using it to compose this post.
The downsides include:
-The software takes a lot of memory to run. When composing SD or LJ posts, I find it easier to compose them in notepad first, then close Dragon and open IE to post. If I try to compose my posts directly in IE, I run the risk of the system getting bogged down and my post being lost to the blue screen of death.
-A lot of words sound alike, and sometimes it’ll amaze you at its ability to intuit the word you want, but other time it will boggle your mind at how wrong it can guess.
-Finally, the problem I run into the most is that it’s hard to compose your thoughts when you have other people within earshot. Even if you aren’t posting anything particularly private, it’s intimidating knowing others may be hearing your unpolished thoughts, and sometimes people don’t think and butt in to tell you what you should say or how you should say it.
On the plus side, it lets you use voice commands to use other software. For example, you can tell it to open Internet Explorer, then tell it to go to www.straightdope.com, then tell it what links to click. But then you run the risk of bogging down the system if you don’t have enough memory.
Also, you can correct errors orally, too, by telling it to “select” the mistyped word, then “choose” the correct one from a menu of choices. With work, it can learn names you commonly use, even if the name or its spelling is unusual. But this all requires patience and time. Depending on whether your sister’s ability to speak has been affected by her accident, sometimes she may find it easier to correct Dragon’s mistakes manually.
Your sister will have to try it out for herself to determine if it’s worth it or not, but it’s always worth a try if you have a money-back guarantee. Good luck to her, whatever she chooses to do.
Thanks! I’d almost decided against it, because I’ve heard about a bunch of problems. A friend shared a transcript of an IM conversation where one person was using the software, and he was having a lot of problems with common words. I’ve also heard of a lot of “So and so tried it and it didn’t work that well.” stories, but I think she’d really need the chance to try it out on her own so I’ll probably still get it. Her speaking was not affected by the accident at all.
Thanks for all of the info!
BTW, Gr8kat, I’m assuming that you are the same person that an LJ friend mentioned to me when I asked about voice recognition software in a entry I’d posted after posting this here. Small world, huh?!
Both Office XP and Office 2003 have voice recognition built in, but from my expereince it sucks big time. Despite hours of training (I was bored with not much else to do at the time), it usually gives me beatnik poetry.
Be sure she gets a good microphone! It won’t do her much good to get good software if the mic transmits a lot of static.
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I could be! I’ve composed a few LJ posts using Dragon, but it was a lot harder to smart off about my husband when he could hear everything I was typing/saying. 
Here’s a link to a chat log where Dopers were testing Dragon’s ability (and mine :p) to reproduce complex words and phrases, including potty words. This may give you an idea how careful your sister will have to speak to make her words understood, and the kind of errors she can expect to have to correct frequently. I am, of course, chatting as Gr8Kat.
Oh, something that I meant to mention is that my Lj friend referred me to LJ user Gr8kat to ask about the software.
Anyway, I’m flying down for a visit this evening and I’ll look at her computer and see if she has something already available before I buy anything.