I’ve been blogging by dictating to my computer using Dragon NaturallySpeaking for the past year. A few months ago, Matt asked me how to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking to grade student papers. At the time, I responded to his comment with the following advice:

• Dragon NaturallySpeaking works better if you’re speaking longer paragraphs.
• I never dictate directly into Microsoft Word or Internet Explorer if possible.
• I personally felt that Dragon NaturallySpeaking was more accurate if I used DragonPad or spoke directly into the dictation box.

The last point was just based on gut instinct.

1. It just felt like Dragon NaturallySpeaking wrote down what I said a little faster if I was using their DragonPad editor (instead of using Microsoft Word.)
2. And it just seemed like Dragon NaturallySpeaking kept on putting my words in the wrong place when I blogged on my WordPress site using Internet Explorer

So, this March Break, I spent some time seeing how well the voice recognition software worked with different programs. (I’m only looking at how accurately Dragon NaturallySpeaking transcribes what I say. Right now, I don’t really use the voice commands in Dragon NaturallySpeaking.)

Which browser does Dragon NaturallySpeaking work better with?

Today’s post is part of a 3-part series on trying to find a faster way to blog using Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Our last post looked at how I used Dragon NaturallySpeaking to blog, how I used to write blog posts, and why I used DragonPad. Today’s post is about figuring out if Dragon NaturallySpeaking works better with their own DragonPad text editor, or if it works equally well in other browsers or programs

• Here’s how I compared the different programs.
• Results: Dragon NaturallySpeaking was (on average) 98.2% accurate
• DragonPad (98.2% word accuracy.)
• Microsoft Word 2010 (98.2% word accuracy)
• Windows Live Writer (98.2% word accuracy)
• Google Chrome (98.8% word accuracy, but added extra lines)
• Firefox (97.6% word accuracy)
• Internet Explorer (98.2% word accuracy, but added words in wrong spots)
• Bottom Line

Our next post will be about using Windows Live Writer and Dragon NaturallySpeaking to blog faster than you can type. And of course, this post was written using Dragon NaturallySpeaking. You can see how accurate the voice recognition software was by clicking here.

How I tried to figure out which program Dragon NaturallySpeaking works best with

I read the rainbow passage to my computer to test different web browsers and to figure out how accurate Dragon NaturallySpeaking is. Here’s my computer setup:

• My current machine is running Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 Premium on Windows 7 (64 bit).
• My Dell computer is a Studio XPS 9100 with an Intel i7 CPU and 12 GB of RAM. (Definitely more powerful than what I was using last year.)
• I use the Plantronics Wireless Bluetooth headset.

Here’s how I compared the different programs:

• The rainbow passage sample that I used has 335 words in it.
• I read the rainbow passage to my computer and included the “new paragraph” command, as well as punctuation marks (i.e. saying things like “comma” and “period”.)
• Over a year ago, I found that Dragon NaturallySpeaking made only 8 word errors with a brand-new user profile. (In other words, Dragon NaturallySpeaking got 97.6% of the words correct straight out-of-the-box.)
• I read the rainbow passage each time out loud (instead of using a MP3 recording), so there might be a few minor differences between reading. The programs are listed below in the order that I read to them.
• I use TortoiseMerge to compare the different text documents. I had to remove the blank lines in all the documents in order for the software to compare the different transcriptions.

The results: Dragon NaturallySpeaking got on average 98.2% of the words correct

Dragon NaturallySpeaking tells us in the DragonBar whether or not a program is fully compatible with the voice-recognition software.

• Internet Explorer is the only web browser that Dragon NaturallySpeaking is fully compatible with: Dragon has full text control in the active field
• Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox both have basic text control in the active field; but, Dragon NaturallySpeaking suggests using the dictation box.

Program	# of Word Errors	# of Capitalization / Punctuation Errors	Total # of errors	Word Accuracy Rate	Total Accuracy Rate
DragonPad	6	0	6	98.2%	98.2%
Microsoft Word 2010	6	0	6	98.2%	98.2%
Windows Live Writer 2011	6	1	7	98.2%	97.9%
Google Chrome 17*added extra line breaks	4	1	5	98.8%	98.5%
Firefox 10	8	2	10	97.6%	97.0%
Internet Explorer 9*inserted words in the wrong place	6	3	9	98.2%	97.3%
AVERAGE				98.2%	97.9%

I was able to get around 97% or 98% of the words correct in all the programs.

• The minor differences between programs is probably because I read the rainbow passage a little bit differently each time. Below, you can see the exact transcription errors that Dragon NaturallySpeaking made each time.
• Google Chrome added two blank lines between each paragraph, which was a little annoying.
• Internet Explorer was a complete mess. I was in the visual editor for WordPress and it looks like sometimes when you pause, Dragon NaturallySpeaking doesn’t insert your words in the correct spot.
• When I said “new paragraph”, it looks like the cursor jumps to the beginning of the line, instead of the start of the next line.
• The word rainbow got cut at the end because Dragon NaturallySpeaking inserted the words in the wrong spot.
• Even though Internet Explorer is the only web browser that is fully supported by Dragon NaturallySpeaking, it did the worst job when I tried to dictate my post in WordPress.

DragonPad (6 word errors, 98.2% word accuracy):

• a boiling pot of gold at one end. = a boiling pot of gold at one and. (1 word error)
• The Norse men consider = The Norseman consider (2 word errors)
• the gods passed from Earth = the gods pass from Earth (1 word error)
• caused by a reflection = caused by reflection (1 word error)
• the effect of super position of a number of bows = the effect of superposition of a number of bows (1 word error)

Microsoft Word 2010 (6 word errors, 98.2% word accuracy)

1. looking for a pot of gold = looking for pot of gold (1 word error)
2. The Norse men consider = The Norseman consider (2 word errors)
3. the gods passed from Earth = the gods pass from Earth (1 word error)
4. caused by a reflection = caused by reflection (1 word error)
5. the effect of super position of a number of bows = the effect of superposition of a number of bows (1 word error)

Windows Live Writer (6 word errors, 1 punctuation / capitalization error, 98.2% word accuracy)

1. its two ends = it’s two ends (1 punctuation / capitalization error)
2. looking for a pot of gold = looking for pot of gold (1 word error)
3. The Norse men consider = The Norseman consider (2 word errors)
4. the gods passed from Earth = the gods pass from Earth (1 word error)
5. caused by a reflection = caused by reflection (1 word error)
6. the effect of super position of a number of bows = the effect of superposition of a number of bows (1 word error)

Google Chrome 17 (4 word errors, 1 punctuation / capitalization errors, 98.8% word accuracy)

1. The rainbow passage = the rainbow passage (1 punctuation / capitalization errors)
2. looking for a pot of gold = looking for pot of gold (1 word error)
3. The Norse men consider = The Norseman consider (2 word errors)
4. the effect of super position of a number of bows = the effect of superposition of a number of bows (1 word error)

Firefox 10.0.2 (8 word errors, 2 punctuation / capitalization errors – 97.6% word accuracy)

1. The rainbow passage (original) = the rainbow passage (Firefox). (2 punctuation / capitalization errors)
2. looking for a pot of gold = looking for pot of gold (1 word error)
3. The Norse men consider = The Norseman consider (2 word errors)
4. the gods passed from Earth = the gods pass from Earth (1 word error)
5. caused by a reflection = caused by reflection (1 word error)
6. found thatit is not reflection = found the is not reflection (2 word errors)
7. the effect of super position of a number of bows = the effect of superposition of a number of bows (1 word error)

Internet Explorer 9 (6 word errors, 3 punctuation / capitalization errors, 98.2% word accuracy but added words in wrong spot)

1. The rainbow passage (original.) = The rainbow passage (Internet Explorer.) (1 punctuation / capitalization errors)
2. form a rainbow. The rainbow is = form a rainbo the rainbow is (2 punctuation / capitalization errors)
3. looking for a pot of gold = looking for pot of gold (1 word error)
4. The Norse men consider = The Norseman consider (2 word errors)
5. the gods passed from Earth = the gods pass from Earth (1 word error)
6. caused by a reflection = caused by reflection (1 word error)
7. the effect of super position of a number of bows = the effect of superposition of a number of bows (1 word error)

Bottom line:

What does this mean?

1. I’m going to completely stop dictation into Internet Explorer (and Google Chrome) because Dragon NaturallySpeaking keeps on inserting my words in the wrong place (or adding extra lines.)
2. It looks like Dragon NaturallySpeaking works equally well transcribing what I say in any program – whether it’s their DragonPad editor, Microsoft Word, or Windows Live Writer. So I’m going to be looking into using Windows Live Writer and Dragon NaturallySpeaking to blog on this site…

Photo Credit: Big Stock Photo: Apples and Oranges on Kitchen – Image 4473527

This 3-part series on finding a quicker way to blog with speech software was written using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 Premium Wireless. Click to find out what is Dragon NaturallySpeaking? Click here to see how many mistakes the voice recognition software made in the writing of this post.