Speech Recognition

Over the last few weeks, my boss has been dictating a lot of emails to me.  All that typing, on top of  knitting, has really aggravated the tendinitis in my left wrist. This has been quite a frustrating especially when I want to knit.  So recently, when I saw a speech recognition software on sale I decided to buy it.  After installing it at work and using it a few times I couldn’t believe how accurate it was. My boss, who was very skeptical, was even impressed.

I tried to install the same software on my personal computer but because I am running a 64 bit operating system the software was not compatible.  I was totally bummed, because I thought speech recognition software would be so helpful for emails and blog posts, and to save my hand from the excessive of typing.

After doing some research, to try to figure out a way to get the software to work on my computer I found that Microsoft Windows Vista comes fully equipped with speech recognition software.  After doing a short tutorial, my computer was ready for me to start dictating to it.  With any speech recognition software, there have been a few difficult stumbling blocks along the way, but as I continue to use the software the computer get smarter and understands what I say better each time.

It is actually quite fun speaking to the computer rather than having to type every single word.  I think it will be harder for me to learn all the commands that are required for editing then it will be for the computer to get better at understanding what I say.

This blog post was almost entirely dictated with only a few keystrokes along the way.  I know overtime, as I learn all the commands, and as the computer better understands what I say, dictating blog posts and emails will become a standard in my world.

Which means my wrist and hands will have more rest time and I will be able to knit more.  For that matter, I can knit while I dictate a blog post.