The Best Mac Voice Recognition Software

The Best Mac Voice Recognition Software
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VoiceOver 3

Snow Leopard comes with a built-in voice recognition software called VoiceOver 3. I had no idea that it existed until my son told me about it. His friends use it all the time to open and close menus and programs, tell not-so-funny jokes.

I tested the VoiceOver 3 for the first time this morning. You have to press the Command-Shift-Escape combination to get the microphone to appear in the circular icon. Speak in a clear voice to open and close windows, programs. I didn’t ask it to tell me a joke when it suddenly said, “Knock, knock.”

I got it to open and close Firefox but it would not open Adobe Photoshop, even with the variations in the software title. VoiceOver 3 is a basic mac voice recognition software that adds some functionality to your Mac.

MacSpeech Dictate

MacSpeech Dictate

MacSpeech Dictate is a mac voice recognition software that types the words that you speak inside your favorite word processor or any program that allows text. There is a learning curve, as the software tries to figure out your speech patterns during the voice training sessions. You will have to memorize commands, such as “About This Application” and where this command is located.

You can have MacSpeech Dictate learn new vocabulary by importing your own files in the Vocabulary Training feature in the Tools panel. Also in the Tools panel are the Commands option, profile editor, microphone setup, and voice training.

If you are not happy with your initial training, you can retake the voice training until MacSpeech has captured all of your words without too much difficulty.

College students, lawyers, doctors, professionals, and freelance writers use MacSpeech Dictate for a variety of written documents. The program saves them time and money because they do not have to hire a transcriptionist to transcribe their reports or manuscripts. It saves them time because they can edit the document that MacSpeech typed out for misspellings or grammar errors, caused by the user.

MacSpeech Dictate is not just for dictation. You can use it to assign voice commands to your Mac. From the Commands menu, you have the following options: Dictation, Command, Spelling, and Sleep. Tell MacSpeech to open Firefox, close Word, or go to sleep. Those are a few of the many commands that you can use with this mac voice recognition software.

Conclusion

VoiceOver 3 and MacSpeech Dictate are the two most up to date mac voice recognition software that I found. VoiceOver will help you with the repetitive tasks of opening and closing programs and documents. MacSpeech Dictate will take your dictation and turn it into a text file, saving you the time and expense of hiring a transcriptionist. Both programs will help disabled people use their computers by responding to the sounds of their voices.