A New Dragon Emerges

Nuance Communications in early August unveiled Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10, the latest version of its popular dictation software. The new version allows users to not only dictate documents and email but also to search the Web, fill in forms, and control their PCs and their many applications entirely by voice.

Dragon 10 is faster and more accurate than the previous release, according to Peter Mahoney, vice president and general manager of desktop dictation products at Nuance. “Not only did we increase accuracy by 20 percent, but the speed with which things show up on screen by a factor of two,” he says.

Dragon 10 captures up to 160 words per minute (compared to the 35 words per minute average typing speed) and “can deliver accuracy up to 99 percent, while never making a spelling mistake,” Mahoney adds.

Another new feature of the software is an acoustic regional accent module that automatically adjusts to support several speaking styles. Within the English version of Dragon 10, supported regional accents include those from the United Kingdom, India, Australia, Southeast Asia, and the U.S. Southwest and Midwest. “When you enroll with the system, you train it, [then] it does an adaptation and picks the accent model most appropriate for you,” Mahoney explains.

Dragon 10 also supports Spanish, French, Dutch, and Italian. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 is available in Standard, Preferred, and Professional editions. Within the specialized versions for key industry verticals, Nuance has added some industry-specific features as well. The Professional version, for example, supports sophisticated macros for automating document-intensive business tasks and offers complete enterprise network support, including new security features, a special management guide for information technology professionals, and support for Citrix deployments.

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