Good Cross-Platform Speech-Recognition Programs? 175
CryoStasis writes "I am a graduate student getting my degree in biomedical sciences. Because my work often requires me to maintain a local sterile environment (under a biological hood) I find that I am unable to physically touch my computer, which sits beside me, in order to open my notes, protocols, etc. while I'm working. As a result, I have begun to search for a voice-recognition program that will allow me to tell the computer what files/programs to launch. I know that the general field of voice recognition has come a long way, but I find that the built-in speech recognition systems in both OS X and Vista are clunky and difficult to use. Are there any good, cross-platform speech-recognition programs available that might fit the bill?"
Nope, there isn't. (Score:5, Informative)
Dragon Naturally Speaking is as close as it gets. And it's only really good for basically writing down your voice, it's not really that good for controlling your computer. I believe it works in both Vista and OS X.
There used to be ViaVoice that also worked in Linux IIRC - but it basically stopped working on it circa 2001/2002.
Perhaps another input device is called for, because voice recognition right now will only frustrate you more than anything for what you want to use it for.
BTW, I believe OS X has voice recognition built in you may want to check out for controlling your computer - but it's been ages since I used it. It's actually geared toward controlling your computer, and not to replace typing.
Kaiser Uses Dragon (Score:2, Informative)
Kaiser MDs use Dragon.
Re:Why must it be cross platform? (Score:2, Informative)
We use mainly OSX macs in the lab, but if possible I would also like to install the program on some of our other Vista machines for hands free use.
Re:Kaiser Uses Dragon (Score:1, Informative)
How is this a troll? Kaiser Permanente is a health care provider.
Re:Use PocketSphinx (Score:4, Informative)
I used Sphinx4 in my final year project at uni. It's free and Java based, with open source code so is fully customisable to those who want to spend a little effort doing so. As it is written in Java, it works on any operating system with a Java Runtime Environment.
In the process of finding Sphinx4 I spent a lot of time trying other multi-platform software, but due to its open source nature found this to be the best (that actually worked).
Re:Paper (Score:3, Informative)
Dragon Naturally Speaking is it... (Score:3, Informative)
Period, end of report. In the PC world there essentially is no other general purpose voice interface tech that is even worth bothering with.
That being said, there are much better ones for very specific vertical markets, but not for general use.
Note that this means you ARE restricted to Windows. The stuff built into OSX and Vista are not even worth messing around with. They might in theory meet some very casual or narrow specific need of particular users but they are literally an order of magnitude slower and less reliable than Naturally Speaking.
If you MUST use a Mac or Linux etc then basically the answer is, you're SOL, there's nothing. Yeah, there are a few OSS bits out there, but frankly they aren't even at the level of being really functional software, let alone meeting speed or accuracy required from this type of software. It would be AWESOME if there was something open, but the fact is this area is just so technically demanding it appears to be beyond the reach of non-commercial effort.