CONTENTS
When one hears the term, dictation, immediately you think of a dictating machine or someone speaking words and another person taking the words. For years we heard of stenographers in offices, and these people still exist, occasionally. You still see court reporters who use a Stenotype machine to record thoughts on long slips of paper. The court has to file those thousands of slips for eventual appeals or whatever. However, now dictation has taken over so many tasks. It is predicted that voice recognition systems as they receive refinement will more dominate our working and home lives. Now, you can, for considerable money, purchase a home system that will allow you to talk to your appliances and your other units, such as air-conditioning and security. The world of James Bond has left the drawing board.
At the moment Mercedes Benz boasts certain of its automobiles will recognize 40 different spoken commands from the driver. In Las Vegas at a major Comdex convention (the largest computer show in the world), I observed a software system that could receive data at 160 words a minute (Dragon Naturally Speaking) and print errorless copy. The person who holds one of the best typewriting records in words a minute can still tie the computer, but the software for beating the person is advancing rapidly.
It is a matter of the computer recognizing your voice print and then developing words from your nuances of language.
Last updated Tuesday, July 6 and October 11, 1999
copyright (c)G. Jay Christensen, All Rights Reserved, 1999