Scout for Success

Dragon NaturallySpeaking - Thumbs Up for Great Speech Recognition Software!

While I knew that the speech recognition program Dragon NaturallySpeaking had been around for a while, I was surprised to learn that it had originally been developed in the early 1980s. I’ve been considering buying the software for some time and finally ordered it last week.

The intuitive interface and the accuracy of the program are amazing. I foresee using this software tool more and more frequently in my work, primarily because it is so accurate. I actually created most of this post using Dragon NaturallySpeaking, and I am getting more proficient every time I use it.

After installation, within about two hours I had mastered most of the dictation commands, corrections, editing and formatting functions. It’s best to do the set-up and training when you have some quiet time for yourself, as it does require concentration and you will want to practice. However, I can already tell that with each use it will become simpler and more natural to speak into the noise-canceling headset (comes with the software) and I’m looking forward to the increased productivity and the time savings that this product offers.

On a separate note, I wanted to learn more about Dragon NaturallySpeaking and other similar software because of the trend toward speech recognition in electronic records management, especially in the medical field. EMR, or Electronic Medical Records, will hopefully become the norm for the healthcare industry in the United States. I also foresee a need for qualified trainers who are familiar with these programs to provide specialized and accelerated instruction to physicians, nurses and other healthcare staffing personnel.  Definitely a Scout-recommended product!