[Athen] Question re Mac and voice recognition

[Shelley Haven]

Hi!

Some clarification for everyone re: speech recognition for the Mac. 
There is actually only one product: Dictate, which is made by the 
company MacSpeech.  MacSpeech had a previous product called iListen 
which, while it worked, had some issues in terms of user interface 
and features.  As I understand it, iListen was based on the Philips 
speech recognition engine.

In early 2008 (at the Macworld Expo), MacSpeech announced their new 
product, Dictate, which is based on the same speech recognition 
engine used by Dragon NaturallySpeaking.  Dictate was actually 
released in April 2008 and replaces iListen.  Although it uses the 
Dragon speech engine and apparently was developed with some 
collaboration from Nuance (makers of Dragon for Windows), it is 
definitely NOT Dragon NaturallySpeaking for the Mac.  The user 
interface is entirely different, it does not have many of the 
features of Dragon, and up until the version 1.2 update released last 
fall, it didn't even have a means of correcting misrecognition.

Please see MacSpeech press releases at the following links:
http://www.macspeech.com/article_info.php?articles_id=289
http://www.macspeech.com/article_info.php?articles_id=288

That said, it is still a valuable product and very accurate -- and if 
you have a Mac, pretty much the only game in town.

Hope this helps.

- Shelley Haven



At 12:02 PM -0800 2/2/09, Nettie Fischer wrote:

>Thank you very much, the links you provided have been very helpful. 

>Gee, I think I fell asleep at the wheel on this one since I was 

>totally unaware of the release.

>

>Regards,

>Nettie

>

>On Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 11:40 AM, Karlen Communications 

><<mailto:info at karlencommunications.com>info at karlencommunications.com> 

>wrote:

>

>Norm:

>

>In terms of using VoiceOver as the Mac screen reader, there are some limits

>you need to know about. First, there are some of the settings and dialogs on

>the Leopard OS that won't be read or won't be completely read to

>you/end-user. Second, there are no "robust" office suites like there are in

>the Windows environment. Open Office latest version will let you use their

>word processor and some of the spreadsheet application with VoiceOver but

>Microsoft Office for Mac and iWorks are not accessible. First character

>navigation will only work on some of the file and icon items in drives and

>folders. Although VoiceOver will work with Safari, there are web sites that

>are not designed to be accessible when using a Mac. These might include

>banking and government sites. A friend of mine found this to be true even

>for those not using adaptive technology on a Mac.

>

>The mail program on the Mac seems pretty accessible and some web sites are

>usable but if you want to do anything productive in terms of business or

>academic writing, you will need Windows and a Windows Screen reader plus

>Microsoft Office.

>

>I have a MacBook Air and am very limited in terms of what I can do and what

>I can access related to word processing/document formatting, spreadsheet and

>presentation applications. I don't know of any accessible presentation

>software for the Mac.

>

>For voice recognition there is MacSpeech 

><http://www.macspeech.com/>http://www.macspeech.com/ and You

>Tube has a video on how to use it 

><http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbjG3gQxv-8>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbjG3gQxv-8

>as well as 

><http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX1sS6lsQrc>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX1sS6lsQrc

>

>Of course Dragon NaturallySpeaking for Mac

><http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/products/macintosh.asp>http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/products/macintosh.asp

>

>There is iListen: 

><http://hubpages.com/hub/ilisten>http://hubpages.com/hub/ilisten

>

>I haven't used any voice recognition with my Mac yet and don't know how it

>would integrate with VoiceOver.

>

>Let me know if you have any other questions.

>

>Cheers, Karen

>

>

>-----Original Message-----

>From: <mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org>athen-bounces at athenpro.org 

>[mailto:<mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org>athen-bounces at athenpro.org] 

>On

>Behalf Of Prof Norm Coombs

>Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 1:37 PM

>To: <http://athen-athenpro.org/>athen-athenpro.org

>Subject: [Athen] Question re Mac and voice recognition

>

>I have an acquaintance whose wife recently became blind.  They have a

>recent Mac computer.  I told him he should check as it will have screen

>reader technology that came with it.

>

>However, the real question relates to the fact that his wife has no touch

>typing and hopes to use voice recognition.  What voice recognition programs

>are available for the Mac and which one might be the best?

>

>Norm

>

>

>

>  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

>

>Norman Coombs <mailto:norm.coombs at gmail.com>norm.coombs at gmail.com

>CEO EASI Equal Access to Software and Information

>phone (949) 855-4852 (NOTE pacific time zone)

>****READ ABOUT THE DICK BANKS MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP:

><http://easi.cc/scholarship.htm>http://easi.cc/scholarship.htm

>

>

>

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>

>

>--

>Nettie T. Fischer, ATP

>Assistive Technology Practitioner

>nettiet, ATP Consultants

><http://www.nettietatpconsultants.com>www.nettietatpconsultants.com

>[916] 704-1456

>

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