Dictation to text tool

baby-mechanic

Hi Folks

Is there a decent, free dictation to text tool out there ?

I've got a couple of recorded telephone conversations that I need to get transcribed, and wondered if there was an easier, quicker way of getting it done compared to me listening and typing.

Thanks for looking in

:j

robmar0se

I am no expert on voicemail to text, but you could read the overview @ http://www.tubblog.co.uk/blog/2012/03/01/how-to-convert-voicemails-to-text-for-uk-mobile-phone-users/

arrallas

You could try the Voice Recognition which is in every copy of Windows 7, which works quite well as long as you have a good quality mic and slow, steady, clear voice. I think even the best paid-for solution (Dragon Naturally Speaking) would struggle with the poor quality of a recorded phone call.

HO87

arrallas wrote: »

You could try the Voice Recognition which is in every copy of Windows 7, which works quite well as long as you have a good quality mic and slow, steady, clear voice. I think even the best paid-for solution (Dragon Naturally Speaking) would struggle with the poor quality of a recorded phone call.

+1

Dragon NS relies on pattern recognition built up over time from good quality recordings which makes it somewhat peculiar to its individual users. I have used it for some years to transcribe reports I dictate and its pretty accurate. I have also tried to use it to transcribe recordings from a telephone recorder and it failed dismally even though it was reasonably used to my speech patterns.

I know of an open source (i.e. free) project to gather speech-pattern data but this does not provide speech recognition software simply data that can form the basis of such software. I believe there are a number of similar projects but I don't think any of them have yet produced a workable tool.

There is a system for Mac's but I don't recall what its called.

baby-mechanic

Had 'Voice Express' for ex years ago, but it seemed to take ages to get it to recognise her voice pattern, so I thought things had moved on, especially when you see the ads for the newer smart phones.

Thanks for your input guys , looks like I'm listening and typing !!!