Speech recognition software

[dencorso]

It's not for me, but for a writer friend of mine. So the software in question will be used mostly for text processing and also for operating the system without typing. Hence, a low word-recogniton error rate is fundamental. It's not important that it be able to recognize any voice other than that of the main user, since it'll be used in a single user machine. It may be free or for pay. And it should be able to work both in Portuguese and in English (and this, I fear, may be the requirement most difficult to meet). Please do chime in.

[jaclaz]

Well, the state of the art is obviously Commercial.

AFAIK, it is basically a monopoly, led by nuance.

Since it's going to be a pro tool, I guess that the added "transcription and synchronixzed playback" is needed, and thus:

http://www.nuance.com/for-business/by-product/dragon/dragon-for-the-pc/ND_004125

the professional version is needed.

BUT AFAIK, no Portuguese support:

http://nuance.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3315

OT, but a nice take on early telephon voice recognition systems :

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/05/05bdate.phtml

On the Open Source front, this is a good "start point":

http://voxforge.org/home

but it seems to me like the good guys are well in a very initial stage.

jaclaz

[dencorso]

Thanks a lot for your prompt reply! jaclaz, the finder, you do rock!

[CoffeeFiend]

And it should be able to work both in Portuguese and in English (and this, I fear, may be the requirement most difficult to meet)

This is the deal killer. Win 7's speed recognition is actually quite good (I use it in a project) but supports only so many languages: English (U.S.), English (U.K.), German (Germany), French (France), Spanish (Spain), Japanese, Chinese (Traditional), and Chinese (Simplified). It's pretty good really, but I wouldn't hold my breath for Portuguese support.

Last I've tried the other big name (Dragon NaturallySpeaking) it wasn't better than Win7's voice recognition in any significant way (definitely not worth the $100 to $800 price tag!) and it supports less languages too (no Portuguese either as jaclaz said earlier)...

You just might be up that famous creek, without a paddle...

[dencorso]

Yeah, I know... That's why I try to keep to English software as much as I can. But since my friend's work depends on the language, things get complicated.

Yet, I've just been to nuance's site and found out they have just released a new Spanish version, so I contacted them about any plans for Portuguese, or even a beta-test, if there is one. But it seems they only operate on office hours, so I don't expect hearing from them before next Monday. Even an early beta might be worth considering, for my friend's condition is getting worse all the time, so anything that helps reduce his dependency on typing is worth a shot. MS software would be welcome as a solution, too, but I doubt Portuguese is very high on the to-do list, at present, for them. In any case, Brazil is a reasonably big market, too, so eventually both will turn their eyes to it, so there's some space for hope.

[jaclaz]

Brazil is a reasonably big market, too, so eventually both will turn their eyes to it, so there's some space for hope.

There are Brazil Portuguese "engines", how effective they are needs to be tested:

http://voxforge.org/home/forums/other-languages-forum/portuguese/fala-brasil---speech-recognition-for-the-brazilian-portuguese

There is also the MS own Beta (current status UNknown):

http://www.microsoft.com/portugal/mldc/betaprograms/winclientdesktop.mspx

jaclaz