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Voice recognition and transcription software


Voice recognition software allows you to dictate directly into a microphone and convert your voice to typed text, after training the software to recognise your voice. The advantage is that it can save time if you find spelling difficult, if you have difficulty writing, or if you have dyslexia.

However, you will still need to go over the material to check it and fix any particular mistakes.

The software will usually read your text to you in a very human sounding voice. When you're training it to recognise your voice, be sure to choose the accent that is closest to your own.

I really like dictating and avoid typing because I find it painful and distracting. But I must admit it took a bit of experimenting to get it working well because I'd chosen an Australian accent when I was training the speech recognition software and somehow my words were still coming out garbled. Later a friend reminded me that, in fact, my accent was more English, so I would be better to train it to British English. After I did that, it recognised pretty much most of my voiced words.
— Rebecca
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