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UPDATE – MacSpeech has just announced Dictate Legal for legal professionals. This application promises improved recognition of legal jargon, better speech recognition for common legal terms (reportedly 30,000 legal terms) and other key features for attoneys. Once we have had a chance to review this product we will post a separate review.
As most of you know, TechnoEsq posted a review by Victor Medina of the early version of MacSpeech back in March 2008. That review has now become the most read post on TechnoEsq, probably due to the overwhelming demand by attorneys and law firms for dictation software. Earlier this year, MacSpeech released the latest version of MacSpeech Dictate version 1.0. As most of you know, MacSpeech’s Dictate program is powered by the same dictation engine as the windows application Dragon NaturallySpeaking produced by Nuance. Unfortunately, MacSpeech Dictate uses the Dragon NaturallySpeaking dictation engine number 9.0 instead of the latest 10.0 Dragon NaturallySpeaking users are raving about. As a result of this, it can be said that MacSpeech Dictate in some respects lags behind the Windows version of the dictation software. However within the past month and a half, MacSpeech has released version 1.5 which is a major update to Dictate. This update, costing upgrade users $55 and $199 for new users, is perhaps the greatest update in an application without moving to the 2.0 version of software ever seen. As a result of this, I highly recommend paying for this nominal upgrade fee.
What makes this new upgrade worth $55 is the update of MacSpeech Dictate’s speech recognition engine to the 10.0 engine. This engine is the same one utilized by our Windows brethren running Dragon NaturallySpeaking. As a result of this upgrade, MacSpeech claims an improved speech recognition of 20%, however I feel this is probably an understatement as I have seen an almost 50% increase in speech recognition. As well as improved accuracy, many of the insufferable bugs which were previously present in version 1.0 of Dictate have completely disappeared. These include random letters being generated at the end of sentences, problems in going back through dictation for editing as well as an improved speed difference which is very welcome.
As a practicing attorney, I do utilize a legal transcriptionist for dictation. When using Dictate 1.0 I was growing increasingly irritated with the bugs mentioned above and found myself going back to my transcriptionist because it was just too hard to deal with these issues. However after the upgrade to dictate 1.5 I have gone back dictating to my transcription less and less. This is directly correlated to the improvements with the new speech recognition engine and the bug fixes.
This is not to say that using a program such as MacSpeech Dictate does not have its faults. Obviously, it is very difficult to when there is any sort of background noise, especially other speakers. While a human being may have no problems in isolating the intended user’s speech, MacSpeech Dictate and any program used for dictation have a difficult time in determining which speaker is to be listened to and whose words are to be transcribed. On this note, I’ve spoken with a number of other attorneys who have attempted to use MacSpeech Dictate as well as other dictation programs who have had limited success in having their speech recognized effectively. More often than not, this is a result of using subpar microphones and headsets in the dictation process. MacSpeech has consistently stated that in order to achieve the best transcription percentages, it is imperative to use either the included headset with MacSpeech Dictate or one of the recommended microphones on MacSpeech’s website.
As a test of the microphone’s effect on dictation, I have attempted to use my Blue Snowball, a microphone far superior to the headset included with MacSpeech Dictate, for dictation. Using this other microphone, I noticed an immediate decline in accuracy. This is likely due to the location of the microphone in relation to my mouth and Dictate’s profiles in what type of microphone it is used to receiving audio from. Thus, don’t assume using a superior microphone or headset to the one included with Dictate will work better.
Setting up Dictate is extraordinarily easy. After running the installation program and loading the data CD which comes with the program, you are led through approximately 3 to 5 minute reading lesson in which Dictate learns the nuances of your speech. After this training, Dictate is literally ready to go. You can open up any application such as Microsoft Word, any basic text editor or the built in word processing program within Dictate and begin dictating immediately.
Transparent “help” windows are available to the right of the application you are dictating into which provide the most common available commands for that program. There is a slight learning curve in learning the miscellaneous text editing and movement commands, however these helper windows are essential as you begin dictating. I typically recommend individuals use these windows in the beginning and then as they get used to the commands close them to save on screen real estate.
If you follow the instructions in terms of speaking clearly as well as in complete sentences you’ll notice a marked improvement in the accuracy of the programs transcription. Most users have difficulty when they pause and stop either waiting for the program to catch up with their speech or when they are speaking very slowly for the transcription program. This speaking in fits and starts causes serious problems for dictation programs as they use percentages and likelihood of words appearing next to each other in order to determine what words you used and in what context you used them. Navigation is as easy as stating “Train the Word”, “Insert before” or “Insert After” and the word which you are offering two. Dictate will then go back through the cache of words that it has transcribed and locate the word you are looking for and begin the command which you have instructed it to perform. At that point you can simply state “Go to end” and proceed with the dictation.
A welcome new feature in version 1.5 is the ability for Dictate to go through any document files which you give to it and go through them for words it is unfamiliar with to add to its dictionary. This is particularly useful for lawyers as Dictate does not have a specific lawyer application. Thus much of the legal jargon and medical terms attorneys use can be easily and quickly added and immediately available for Dictate to understand.
As mentioned previously, Dictate is able to transcribe your speech into any program which you have open on your computer, including social media sites such as twitter and Facebook, as well as mail and any other program which accepts text input. You can also use Dictate for complete control of your computer going even as far as opening and closing programs and control of the cursor. One reader of TechnoEsq.com has commented that due to certain disabilities he is forced to use Dictate for complete control of his computer which he is able to do quite effortlessly.
Probably my only complaint with Dictate is its inability to import a dictation file from a digital recorder or other audio file. This feature was available in the previous MacSpeech dictation program iListen, which has its origins with MacSpeech however this ability was not included in any of the versions of Dictate for unknown reasons. My suspicion is that the microphone quality of portable dictation recorders is not up to par with the type of microphone used with Dictate and that this causes an unacceptable number of recognition errors.
If you need any assistance, MacSpeech has even put up videos covering such topics as installing the software, phrase training, text macros and editing documents. These are great for those users who want to see what Dictate can do prior to purchasing the software.
Overall the upgrade to version 1.5 is most welcome and is well worth the $55 upgrade for previous users of Dictate and $199 for new users. The speed increase and amazing accuracy this upgrade provides is second to none. If you’re willing to speak clearly and think prior to actually speaking, MacSpeech Dictate can work wonders at replacing or at least augmenting your transcriptionist in your practice. As you suspected, I dictated this entire review using MacSpeech Dictate version 1.5 and only used the keyboard for inputting those commands within the quotation marks which were not able to be dictated.
We welcome any comments from current users of version 1.5 or any users of version 1.0 have who have recently upgraded. I will make the disclaimer that MacSpeech did provide a review copy of version 1.0 and version 1.5 of Dictate to TechnoEsq.com however as with all product reviews this played no part in our opinion concerning the application.