TKPV@CSEARN.BITNET (Pavel Vachek) (05/30/91)
Index Number: 15824
A Czech Technical University student after a serious spine injury is
looking for any information about a U.S. (Massachusets)-based company
called "Dragon Systems" which produces voice recognition systems for the
IBM PC computers. This company has probably changed its original address.
Any information about this company (or about any other company producing
add-on voice recognition systems with a capacity of some 1000 words for
the IBM PC-compatible computers) will be much appreciated as it can much
improve his living conditions.
Thank you very much in advance.
Pavel Vachek
TKPV at CSEARN.BITNET
Czech Technical University
Prague - Czechoslovakia
[Note from Bill McGarry: Dragon Systems address is:
Dragon Systems
320 Nevada Street
Newton, MA 02160
(800) TALKTYP (825-5897)
(617) 965-5200
There are other voice recognition systems. I am sending you the
section from the IBM resource guide on voice recognition via
e-mail.]Frank.Whitney@p0.f1000.n261.z1.fidonet.org (Frank Whitney) (06/18/91)
Index Number: 16216 [This is from the Spinal Injury Conference] >A Czech Technical University student after a serious spine injury is >looking for any information about a U.S. (Massachusets)-based company >called "Dragon Systems" which produces voice recognition systems for the >IBM PC computers. This company has probably changed its original address. >Any information about this company (or about any other company producing >add-on voice recognition systems with a capacity of some 1000 words for >the IBM PC-compatible computers) will be much appreciated as it can much >improve his living conditions. >Thank you very much in advance. > Pavel Vachek > TKPV at CSEARN.BITNET > Czech Technical University > Prague - Czechoslovakia > >[Note from Bill McGarry: Dragon Systems address is: > Dragon Systems > 320 Nevada Street > Newton, MA 02160 > (800) TALKTYP (825-5897) > (617) 965-5200 I have been using the DragonDictate speech recognition system for approximately 3 years now. It is very user friendly and easy to operate. Over the years I have seen their product evolve into a powerful and robust system. One of the things that has really impressed me is that although they are a very professional group of individuals, they have never lost sight of the value of their user's comments. I know that they have personally implemented many of my ideas. These ideas have resulted in a product that enables the user to use the DragonDictate in a totally hands free environment. I have been at many voice recognition demonstrations and nothing is able to touch this product. The DragonDictate speech recognition system operates using a large vocabulary of 30,000 words with an 80,000 word Random House Dictionary on line at all times. The system is speaker dependant and the speaker must have a slight pause between each utterance. The DragonDictate runs on a MS-DOS 386 based machine with at least 8 megabytes of RAM. It adapts to the speakers voice so that the more a person uses the machine the faster they are able to produce text and the lower the number of errors that will be produced. I have found that since using the DragonDictate when I am in a text writing mode that my productivity has improved by approximately 1000 percent. In addition, my fatigue after using the machine is much less then if I were to have been trying to type the information into the computer. I have also found that when using the DragonDictate my train of thought is not interrupted nearly as much as when trying to type out my thoughts. One of the main reasons for this I believe is that I am able to go at a much faster rate of speed then I was when trying to type the messages. One of the big benefits of the DragonDictate is being able to create macros that enable the user to produce up to 1000 keystrokes with a single utterance. When a user has several items that require to be used over and over again this is a tremendous time saver. Basically all the user has to do is type in the message one time using either voice or manual means and from then on the user just says the utterance and all of those keystrokes are produced. This one feature alone with some of the newer commands that they have added has increased my productivity greatly. When I was saying that my productivity had increased by approximately 1000 percent I wasn't even including the use of large macros. If I had several form letters this would produce the productivity curve up even higher. I would say that the DragonDictate speech recognition system has probably ranked up near my power wheelchair in making me more independent in the work place. In fact before I had the DragonDictate speech recognition system I probably would not have been participating in an echo such as this because of my time constraints. One of the nice touches of the DragonDictate is that you are able to operate the system while in a wheelchair, bed, standing or just sitting in a regular chair in front of your computer. There are many people who get tied up in the number of words per minute that you are able to produce using the DragonDictate. I myself prefer to ignore this statistic and just let the machine speak for itself. If you ever get the opportunity to use this system for a few hours I can almost guarantee that you will never want to give it up. Were I typing this message I would probably only be on the first paragraph and by the time I reached here I would be so fatigued or frustrated that I would have given up and not completed the message. Do not let the fact that you might have an accent bother you people with severe speech impediments are able to use the DragonDictate as long as the user is relatively consistent in the way in which he pronounces an utterance. I have worked with people with severe cerebral palsy and in a relatively short period of time been able to have them be able to reproduce a sentence. If you have any further questions feel free to contact me at the address and phone number below. Frank H. Whitney, Jr. 335 Cokeland South Laurel, Maryland 20724 (301)-725-2169 I hope that I was able to give you sufficient information and if you desire more information from a user's perspective feel free to contact me at the number or address listed above. A very satisfied DragonDictate user. Frank H. Whitney. -- Via Opus Msg Kit v1.12 -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!261!1000.0!Frank.Whitney Internet: Frank.Whitney@p0.f1000.n261.z1.fidonet.org