Nuance announced a new Windows version of its dictation software on today in Australia, and the company says NaturallySpeaking 15.6 is 20% more accurate than its predecessor.
That’s big news, because the version 14 of NaturallySpeaking is surprisingly accurate, even without any training. If this new version is actually 20% more accurate out of the box, its speech recognition precision will be approaching 100%.
In addition to that new-found accuracy, Nuance added 100 new features to NaturallySpeaking, and says the application will be faster and easier to use with additional help menus, new voice commands and more customization options.
For instance, Nuance told us that NaturallySpeaking’s capability to write tweets using speech recognition — and then have them immediately published — has been modified, so now you can turn off that feature if you never use it. That’s a good thing, because in version 11.5, we’ve noticed it was frequently enabled by accident.
Another welcome improvement will be the accuracy of the choices presented to users in the application’s correction window. The company says there will be more (and more likely) choices when users bring up NaturallySpeaking ‘s correction window.
The company also announced that Dragon Remote, an app that lets users speak into an iPhone as a dictation device, will now be available as an Android app as well.
NaturallySpeaking does more than just recognize what you’re saying and type it on the screen — it’s also adept at helping you navigate applications and browser windows using just your voice. Now, Nuance says it’s improved some of those capabilities, such as NaturallySpeaking’s operation with Gmail and Hotmail. This improved routine gives users full text control, letting them using speech commands to control the most frequent actions for these email packages while using Internet Explorer 9, Firefox 12 or higher, or Google Chrome 16 and higher.
Support for Bluetooth headsets has been improved, too. According to Erica Hill, “NaturallySpeaking now supports 16kHz Bluetooth — that’s the wideband Bluetooth that gives you higher fidelity — and that will give you better speech recognition for Bluetooth devices.” She added, “That 16kHz support will be available in the Premium Edition and above.”
Another welcome addition to the NaturallySpeaking feature list is what the company calls Smart Format Rules. In previous versions of NaturallySpeaking, it was possible to improve the software’s recognition of specialized terms, but I found the routine awkward, and it often didn’t work at all. This new capability makes it much easier to teach the software specific words or phrases you use, and Nuance says it immediately adapts to your formatting preferences. For example, out of the box, the current version of NaturallySpeaking is flummoxed by the terms 720p and 1080p, and this new Smart Format Rules feature promises to make it easier for the software to understand such specialized terminology. Link to a review.
Voice Recognition, Australia’s authorised dealer of Nuance’s Dragon has provided a full list of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 15.6 new features and capabilities in their website.