Voice recognition - educational benefits

Advantages: allow poor writers/physically handicapped to write
Disadvantages: long training time, must be used regularly for kids

...Imagine never having to touch your keyboard again. Imagine writing your ciao reviews simply by talking to your computer, and seeing the words magically appear on the screen. More importantly imagine school pupils with severe learning problems producing coherent essays by using their powers of speech alone. This is the scenario promised by voice recognition software. There are three main players in the field: IBM, Dragon and Phillips. I have used Dragon at home but have been working with IBM at school, primarily to help one pupil with very poor reading/writing but strong verbal abilities. This opinion is about the use of the product as an educational aid and will hopefully help parents and teachers to make informed choices. I began using IBM voice recognition software in January 2000. The pupil was a 13 year old boy who had...

colinlivingstone 05.04.2001 (20.04.2001) · Read review
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Review of ViaVoice Pro 7.0 Complete package

Voice Recognition?! No Way!

Advantages:
Disadvantages: Doesn't recognise words properly

...The idea of voice recognition software, where you can happily dictate and your computer types away for you, certainly appeals to me. IBM ViaVoice sounded like a great concept, until I tried it. After spending ages plodding through the process of getting it to 'recognise' my voice, I tried it out. The result? Total and utter rubbish! It was very disappointing, no sentences came out correctly on screen and even simple words such as 'I' were mis-represented. I know other people who've used it and had exactly the same problems, even with the same words. If you really want a good voice recognition package, to be honest I wouldn't waste your money on this....

rjn 23.07.2000 · Read review
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Review of ViaVoice Pro 7.0 Complete package

Voice chat, Voice Recognition, Games and more!

Advantages: Sound quality, Customisable, Multiple uses, Noise-cancelling, Adjustable, Volume control, Mic on/off switch
Disadvantages: Does get uncomfortable after a while unless you're used to it

...I got myself a copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, a piece of voice recognition software I have reviewed. Using my desktop microphone to input text was inefficient and IRRITATING because it picked up background noises easily, thought they were words and was not picking up what I saying very well. I kept reading that I should be using an approved noise cancelling headset with the voice recognition software so that was it, I had decided to get a headset. I went hunting on eBay and found the 'Logitech Internet Chat Headset' up for bid but it was "refurbished" and you do not get all the bits like you would with a new one so I looked elsewhere for it. I saw it on Amazon for £19 99 but eventually bought it on Ebuyer since it was cheaper at just over £16. The headset looks like a normal pair of round-the-ear and round...

Deru 17.02.2005 (30.09.2005) · Read review
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Review of Logitech Internet Chat Headset Headset

VOICE OF AN ANGEL

Advantages: Classic songs, superb vocals, the voice of an angel
Disadvantages: Absolutely none

...♪♫INTRODUCTION♪♫ I recently wrote a review of Alison Moyet?s Raindancing. In the conclusion, I said that she had recently released an album called ?Voice? ? in September 2004, and that I planned to buy it soon, so you can imagine my delight when Santa delivered it in my Christmas stocking! For a brief synopsis of Alison Moyet?s career see my previous review of Raindancing. I don?t want to fill this review with history, but rather concentrate on just how great this album is. This has got to be one of the most unique recordings released by any artist in a very long time. I knew I would like it, but I didn?t know that I would love it and feel as passionate about this release as I do. It truly is the most spectacular, amazing, stunning, exceptional, magnificent CD to hit the shelves in the last few years...

fantasybeliever 28.12.2004 · Read review
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Review of Voice - Alison Moyet

Perfect voice recognition for couch potatoes!

Advantages: Very simple, quick and easy to set up
Disadvantages: Does require a large amount of computer memory

...For those of you that are unaware. I have been suffering this week with a severe frozen shoulder, and this has prompted me to research voice recognition software. After much research on the Internet I landed upon Dragon NaturallySpeaking preferred 8 which is the winner of over 170 awards worldwide for accuracy and ease-of-use. This package costs approximately £95 excluding VAT from Amazon. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 claims to deliver up to 99% accuracy, although this does depend how well you set up the package on installation. The product integrates with most e-mail and Internet applications, including Microsoft Internet Explorer, AOL, Yahoo mail, MSN Hotmail and Microsoft Outlook Express. So, what comes in the box? You are provided with a very ' sexy' headset, which makes me look like a telephone operator! There is also a very...

sjljersey 09.08.2005 · Read review
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Review of Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred 8 Complete package

Hearing voices

Advantages: Original and very readable
Disadvantages: None

...the arrangements for his engagement are going through, he suddenly begins to hear voices; more specifically, the voice of a woman, who, for some reason, has sought him out. Tsuneo initially thinks that he is losing it and goes to see a psychiatrist. However, he manages to keep his problems quiet until the day that he attends his engagement party. The woman whose voice he can hear somehow begins to manipulate him into doing strange, out of character things, which leads to his boss asking him to take time off work to solve his mental health problems. Can Tsuneo find proof of the woman's existence? And what is her reason for contacting him? The characters The book is almost without exception about Tsuneo. At first glance, he seems to be a perfectly likeable young man, although he is perhaps a little weak-willed - he certainly seems unable to find...

sunmeilan 25.10.2006 · Read review
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Review of In Search of a Distant Voice - Taichi Yamada

Little Voice - Big film

Advantages: Everything
Disadvantages: Hmmm

...(can anyone remember her?) sat Little Voice. Oh come on lady, it'll be pants. "Why?" she bellowed in her demonic thoust-doth-question-me-mortal voice. Because it's ALWAYS on offer and they obviously can't shift them. "Well tough - We're watching it"...and we did The installation of a simple phone line introduces young pigeon fancier Billy to softly spoken LV. Living with her odious mother Mari, LV sits all day in her room listening to her departed father Frank's record collection while Mari complains, whines, and deludes herself into thinking that she's still attractive. When Mari brings Ray Say (her latest 'love') home, showbiz manager Ray bears witness to LV's amazing singing voice and immediately sets about trying to promote her. The shy and introverted LV tries her best but ultimately finds herself centre stage at Mr Boo's nightclub...

TheNeil 11.12.2000 (16.10.2001) · Read review
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Review of Little Voice (DVD)

Voices of a Distant Star

Advantages: Stunning visuals, fantastic music, touching storyline.
Disadvantages: Character models slightly off, naive core values are easily criticised.

...A former graphic designer, Makoto Shinkai is used to putting in long shifts on the computer. However, for one man to write, animate and produce an anime OVA is a staggering achievement. The result of his labour, Voices of a Distant Star, is an incredibly focused, heartfelt tale of two lovers separated by time and space. Over 25 minutes, these character?s relationships are explored and stretched to breaking point, with no time for filler material. The futuristic world is shown from the insular couple?s point of view; an eerily lonely setting that appears to reflect each other?s world view. That world is never satisfactorily developed, and the rather dull characters serve more as thematic vehicles, but despite narrative shortcomings it's still an impressive technical achievement. The sci-fi story that forces the separation of the pair...

pigeon_of_doom 12.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of Voices Of A Distant Star (Animated) (DVD)

Finding His Voice

Advantages: Excellent read
Disadvantages: None

...Russell Watson first came to my attention when I heard him sing at the opening of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. He sang 'Where my Heart Will Take me' (one of mine and my hubbies all time favourite songs) and I suddenly realised what an amazing voice he had. When I knew he was writing his biography I could not wait to get a copy and read it. Russell starts the book in October 2007 at the time of his collapsed and when he was told he needed emergency surgery to remove his second brain tumour. We are then taken back to his childhood where he tells about how he grew up in Sunningdale Drive in Irlam, Manchester. He lived there with his mother and father and his younger sister Hayley. He openly talks about how he had a happy childhood due to the fact that his father always worked his hardest and his Mother always had her...

sewbizzie 21.07.2008 · Read review
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Review of Finding My Voice - Russell Watson

Voice of an Angel???????

Advantages: Good for upsetting opera lovers
Disadvantages: You could lose the will to live

...sense of pitch ? or rhythm, for that matter. Her renditions just occasionally hit the right note by accident, which highlighted even more the notes that missed their mark. You couldn?t exactly call her tone-deaf, since listening to music gave her pleasure; but she was certainly deaf to her own voice. But the fact is that her approximations produced some amazing results (amazing, that is, in the sense of , ?Can I believe what my ears tell me I?m hearing?? and not as in, ?Isn?t that lovely??). Indeed, following a road crash in 1943 involving a taxi in which she was travelling, she found she could sing ?a higher F than ever before.? In gratitude she sent the cab driver a box of Havana cigars. Attempts to describe her voice are doomed to failure. If a duck tried to sing, maybe this is what it would sound like. But I don?t need to...

Floon 06.10.2004 · Read review
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Review of The Glory of the Human Voice-Florence Foster Jenkins