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recognition</title></head><body>
<div>Hi!</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>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.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>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.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Please see MacSpeech press releases at the following links:</div>
<div>http://www.macspeech.com/article_info.php?articles_id=289</div>
<div>http://www.macspeech.com/article_info.php?articles_id=288</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>That said, it is still a valuable product and very accurate --
and if you have a Mac, pretty much the only game in town.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Hope this helps.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>- Shelley Haven</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>At 12:02 PM -0800 2/2/09, Nettie Fischer wrote:</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>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.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Regards,</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Nettie<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>On Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 11:40 AM, Karlen
Communications <<a
href="mailto:info@karlencommunications.com"
>info@karlencommunications.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<blockquote>Norm:<br>
<br>
In terms of using VoiceOver as the Mac screen reader, there are some
limits<br>
you need to know about. First, there are some of the settings and
dialogs on<br>
the Leopard OS that won't be read or won't be completely read to<br>
you/end-user. Second, there are no "robust" office suites
like there are in<br>
the Windows environment. Open Office latest version will let you use
their<br>
word processor and some of the spreadsheet application with VoiceOver
but<br>
Microsoft Office for Mac and iWorks are not accessible. First
character<br>
navigation will only work on some of the file and icon items in drives
and<br>
folders. Although VoiceOver will work with Safari, there are web sites
that<br>
are not designed to be accessible when using a Mac. These might
include</blockquote>
<blockquote>banking and government sites. A friend of mine found this
to be true even</blockquote>
<blockquote>for those not using adaptive technology on a
Mac.</blockquote>
<blockquote><br></blockquote>
<blockquote>The mail program on the Mac seems pretty accessible and
some web sites are<br>
usable but if you want to do anything productive in terms of business
or<br>
academic writing, you will need Windows and a Windows Screen reader
plus<br>
Microsoft Office.<br>
<br>
I have a MacBook Air and am very limited in terms of what I can do and
what<br>
I can access related to word processing/document formatting,
spreadsheet and<br>
presentation applications. I don't know of any accessible
presentation<br>
software for the Mac.<br>
<br>
For voice recognition there is MacSpeech <a
href="http://www.macspeech.com/">http://www.macspeech.com/</a> and
You<br>
Tube has a video on how to use it <a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbjG3gQxv-8"
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbjG3gQxv-8</a><br>
as well as <a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX1sS6lsQrc"
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX1sS6lsQrc</a><br>
<br>
Of course Dragon NaturallySpeaking for Mac<br>
<a
href="http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/products/macintosh.asp"
>http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/products/macintosh.asp</a><br
>
<br>
There is iListen: <a
href="http://hubpages.com/hub/ilisten">http://hubpages.com/hub/ilisten</a
><br>
<br>
I haven't used any voice recognition with my Mac yet and don't know
how it<br>
would integrate with VoiceOver.<br>
<br>
Let me know if you have any other questions.<br>
<br>
Cheers, Karen<br>
<br>
<br>
-----Original Message-----<br>
From: <a
href="mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org">athen-bounces@athenpro.org</a
> [mailto:<a
href="mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org">athen-bounces@athenpro.org</a
>] On</blockquote>
<blockquote>Behalf Of Prof Norm Coombs<br>
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 1:37 PM<br>
To: <a href="http://athen-athenpro.org/">athen-athenpro.org</a><br>
Subject: [Athen] Question re Mac and voice recognition<br>
<br>
I have an acquaintance whose wife recently became blind. They
have a<br>
recent Mac computer. I told him he should check as it will have
screen<br>
reader technology that came with it.<br>
<br>
However, the real question relates to the fact that his wife has no
touch<br>
typing and hopes to use voice recognition. What voice
recognition programs<br>
are available for the Mac and which one might be the best?<br>
<br>
Norm<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .<br>
<br>
Norman Coombs <a
href="mailto:norm.coombs@gmail.com">norm.coombs@gmail.com</a><br>
CEO EASI Equal Access to Software and Information<br>
phone (949) 855-4852 (NOTE pacific time zone)<br>
****READ ABOUT THE DICK BANKS MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP:<br>
<a
href="http://easi.cc/scholarship.htm">http://easi.cc/scholarship.htm</a
><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
Nettie T. Fischer, ATP<br>
Assistive Technology Practitioner<br>
nettiet, ATP Consultants<br>
<a
href="http://www.nettietatpconsultants.com"
>www.nettietatpconsultants.com</a><br>
[916] 704-1456</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br>
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