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Welcome to Part 2 of the Nuance’s Dragon Naturally Speaking speech to text speech recognition software review where we will cover the software program itself with a step through of the setup process via screenshots and continue on with videos to show it in action.

In Part 1, we have provided some introductory information on the capabilities and features of the program plus a look at the package contents.

In Part 3, we will continue on with my personal observations and conclusions.

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The Naturally Dragon software package comes in a box that contains a microphone headset, user guide (manual), cheat sheet and information sheet, and 2 installation disks.

Prepare to set aside a decent amount of time to get set up for the software as the entire process will take up a good chunk of your time. First, you’ll need to go and install the two installation disks. That will likely take up 15 minutes or so.

Since the program will stop working after 5 times, it is strongly advised to activate the program registration while you are going through the set up process. That also will take a minute or two and requires an internet connection.

Next, you will be required to create a User profile for the program.

The software will support a variety of users with different microphones, background settings, etc.

After that, the program will step you through a test of the audio settings which will determine the level of background noise, your microphone quality, etc.

You will next be asked to train the software to understand your voice and speech by speaking a variety of text and reading material. That should take another few more minutes and will depend on your microphone and clarity of your voice, etc.

The process continues with the program adapting to your writing style. It will scan and search through your emails and documents for analysis of your writing style. Depending on the amount of documents you have on your computer that make take from 5 to 30 minutes (according to the program).

Finally, the program is ready for dictation. But! It is strongly recommended that you allocate some time to go through the wonderful and helpful Tutorials offered. They are very interactive and easy to understand, not to mention extremely helpful. They step you through some of the most basic commands and how to navigate and use the software. Without it, you may encounter some difficulty figuring out what to do.

Once you have gone through all that set up process and the Tutorials, you then can really start to dictate and use the software. As I’ve mentioned, by that time, you could find that close to three quarters of an hour has passed (or something close to it) so please make sure you allocate enough time to get everything ready before preparing to use it. With that out of the way, you can go right in.

Start up the program by clicking on the Dragon Naturally Speaking icon on your computer desktop or the shortcut. You will be greeted by the following splash screen.

And then you’ll see the following toolbar called Dragon Bar at the top of your desktop screen.

Click on the thumbnail images to view a screenshot of the full toolbar

The bar can be expanded by clicking on the downward double arrows at the right

This bar will provide you with a lot of information including compatibility and support for the currently running Windows program, status of the microphone, etc.

By default the bar is docked and always on top at the top of the desktop screen. You can opt to change the position of it by selecting from amongst the various menu choices.

Here are screenshots of the other menu options available along the bar starting with Naturally Speaking and continuing to the right:

In order to get the software to start recognizing your voice, you’ll first need to turn on the microphone. Either click on the microphone icon on the bar near the left, or go into the Naturally Speaking menu and select “Turn Microphone On”, or press the + button on your computer keyboard. That will toggle the microphone ON or OFF. Once the microphone is on, the computer software will start listening for commands or your dictation. You can open up a variety of Windows programs like Microsoft Word, Notepad or other text based programs and start dictating. Or, you can opt to open up Microsoft Excel and work on your spreadsheet. Or, even enjoy some downtime by surfing the internet with Internet Explorer. Yes, you can just sit back and “work” by telling the computer what to do. Cushy, eh?

Product Video

To give you an idea of the entire package, I have created some videos, broken down into various parts. You may find that the video at blip.tv may be easier to view (especially Part 2 and 3) for its bigger screen.

Part 1 provides the package contents of program and an overview of the software.

Video at YouTube

Alternative video link: Video at blip.tv

Part 2 will show the Dragon Bar and demonstrate a dictation process as well some other features of the program.

Video at YouTube

Alternative video link: Video at blip.tv

Part 3 will demonstrate the transcription process involving a voice recording created by a Palm OS Treo 650 smartphone with CallRec, a phone and voice recording software and analyzing the accuracy of the software.

Video at YouTube

Alternative video link: Video at blip.tv

Please Note: My review covers the Preferred version of Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 and not the recently released version 10 which is 99.3% accurate and 20% more accurate than version 9 (is that even possible?). The program comes in various other versions including a Standard Version and a Professional version plus specialized versions for the legal, and medical industry. Here’s a good martrix or comparison chart that provides a good breakdown of the features offered in the each version.

Comparison chart and more details of Nuance’s Dragon Naturally Speaking

You can get a comparison chart of the various versions at this page offered at Nuance.

If you are interested in a comparison of version 9 instead of the current version 10, you can view it here.

This concludes Part 2. Please continue on to Part 3 for my personal observations and thoughts of the program and final conclusions.

Thanks for visiting

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