lev@rsdps.gsfc.nasa.gov (Brian S. Lev) (04/04/91)
In article <a8750007@hpspkla.spk.hp.com>, summers@hpspkla.spk.hp.com (Jim B. Summers) writes... >I am working on a personal project to allow a disabled person to have some >control over various appliances in his home. This individual is blind and >quadriplegic. I am looking for a voice recognition board for a PC AT clone >which is very forgiving of changes in the operators voice or is speaker >independent. I would appreciate any information on such a product. > >Thanks in advance for any info. > >Jim Summers >email: summers@hpspkla.spk.hp.com Jim, I have an uncle in New York who is almost as heavily handicapped, and he worked a deal with his local IBM vendor for a voice-controlled system (PS/2-30, I think, roughly an AT system). The company whose voice recognition HW & SW was used is "Dragon Systems" -- DO NOT USE THEM AT ANY COST! While this may border on libel -- and I *know* some of the problem is directly attributable to the sales rep my uncle worked with -- the voice recognition stuff supplied by Dragon Systems is real garbage, even going so far as to supply no-name 3-1/2" diskettes that were so far out of spec that even I had trouble fitting them into the PC's drive! (I say "even I" because I had originally attributed this problem to my uncle's physical handicaps and/or the high level of inexperience of the salesman he was working with.) The hardware had to be exchanged twice to get anything that worked _at_all_, and the system (now almost 3 years old!) STILL doesn't work well or often enough to be used! Again, I know there are several companies out there producing some real neat voice recognition HW/SW, but Dragon Systems' stuff is worth staying AWAY from! +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Brian Lev/STX (301)286-9514 (FTS)888-9514 | | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center DECnet: SDCDCL::LEV (6153::LEV) | | Advanced Data Flow Technology Office TCP/IP: lev@dftnic.gsfc.nasa.gov | | Code 930.4 BITNET: LEV@DFTBIT | | Greenbelt, MD 20771 TELENET: [BLEV/GSFCMAIL] | | X.400 Address: (C:USA,ADMD:TELEMAIL,PRMD:GSFC,O:GSFCMAIL,UN:BLEV) | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "The ability of a network to knit together the members of a sprawling | | community has proved to be the most powerful way of fostering scienti- | | fic advancement yet discovered." -- Peter Denning | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DISCLAIMER: THESE STATEMENTS ARE MY OWN AND *NOT* NASA'S OR STX'S! | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+