Using Microsoft's speech recognition: helping my stepfather manage Parkinson's
Posted by David Wees on Jan 10, 2011
This is a new document that I'm typing using only Microsoft speech recognition. The cool thing about dictation is it allows people who may not have the ability to type documents to still be able to write. From start to finish, this document has been created using dictation.
My stepfather has Parkinson’s disease. He has been struggling with the disease for a couple years now and the conditions of the getting steadily worse. His mind is as clear as ever, but his body is struggling and he has constant tremors. He wants to be able to write, he has three different books he would like to finish, but he is concerned that the disease will prevent some from being able to share his ideas.
I suggested Dragon Dictation as an option for him, and he likes the idea of being able to dictate his writing. The cost of Dragon Dictation doesn't seem too much, but I think he'll be happy with my discovery that Microsoft speech recognition is actually pretty good. He can get started with his dictation right away.
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About David
David is a mathematics teacher and a learning specialist for technology at Stratford Hall in Vancouver, BC. He has been teaching since 2002, and has worked in Brooklyn, London, and Bangkok before moving back to Canada. He has his Masters degree in Educational Technology from UBC, and is the co-author of a mathematics textbook. He has been published in ISTE's Leading and Learning, Educational Technology Solutions, The Software Developers Journal, The Bangkok Post and Edutopia. He blogs with the Cooperative Catalyst, and is the Assessment group facilitator for Edutopia. He has also helped organize the first Edcamp in Canada, and TEDxKIDS@BC.
Disclaimer: The ideas discussed on this blog are my own, and in no way represent those of my employer.
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Comments
I dunno Dave, this is not
I dunno Dave, this is not working too well for me, I can type faster than this thing can process my speech and it's getting everything wrong. Not sure I've got the patience, nor the time, to train it. I tried once a couple of years back.
What version of windows are you working on? I'm in Vista.
I'm in Windows 7. Maybe they
I'm in Windows 7. Maybe they improved it? I ran the tutorial at the beginning which helped train the speech recognition software. It mades some mistakes, like 1 or 2 words in each sentence, but then I was able to make corrections.
It's not fast. This tiny blog post took me like 20 minutes to "write" using this method. Still, I only used my voice from start to finish, and if I couldn't use my hands, that would be a huge help.
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