Dictaphones and voice recognition/dictation software?

[anonymous-user]

Not sure if this should be in gadgets, business, jobs… but I’ll try here first.

Does anyone use a dictaphone and more specifically, one that can link to, or be used with voice recognition software?

Or just a decent dictaphone and/or separate (decent) voice recognition software?

I’m about to start doing a couple of months worth of property inspections, which involve visiting 2 or 3 sites in a day, taking photos and describing the age, archetype, condition, location, etc of the property, and then typing that up into a report.

The guys I work with either just remember everything they saw, and then sit typing it all up on their laptop after each site, or they scribble notes at each site, then type it all up at the end of the day.

I’m hoping to be more efficient by recording my report on a dictaphone as I walk around each site, then using software to turn it all into typing automatically… a quick edit and shuffle around of the paragraphs in Word and I should be good.

Any suggestions of really decent dictaphones and voice software? I know Philips make a ‘Voice Tracer’ package but I’ve no idea how good it is.

Thanks

[colin79666]

Could you just use a smart phone? Apple and Android have decent speech to text built in. Could save into something like OneNote which would sync and be there on your PC when you want to edit and save it off.

[anonymous-user]

colin79666 said:

Could you just use a smart phone? Apple and Android have decent speech to text built in. Could save into something like OneNote which would sync and be there on your PC when you want to edit and save it off.

Thanks.

I have an iPhone 11 and a MacBook for work, but never used either of them for dictation or speech to text.

I’ll have a look into that more before buying a standalone recorder.

[Mandat]

I do similar surveying work, and occasionally dictate inspection reports.

In the beginning I was looking at similar software solutions but even with industry standard software I was getting poor results.

I now use the services of a remote dictation transcribing service, where I upload the dictation file to them, and I get a word document back within a day or so. The end result is always good quality, with all spelling & grammar as it should be.

I pay £1 per minute of dictation, which I think is good value, and in any case, it's charged as an expense.

[anonymous-user]

Mandat said:

I do similar surveying work, and occasionally dictate inspection reports.

In the beginning I was looking at similar software solutions but even with industry standard software I was getting poor results.

I now use the services of a remote dictation transcribing service, where I upload the dictation file to them, and I get a word document back within a day or so. The end result is always good quality, with all spelling & grammar as it should be.

I pay £1 per minute of dictation, which I think is good value, and in any case, it's charged as an expense.

Interesting. I wasn’t aware of ‘pay per minute’ transcription services. I will look into that.

I’ll maybe try the software method first, and once that is failed, I will use the professionals!

[Derek Smith]

I have carpel tunnel syndrome so use voice recognition software. Ironic, as I'm a touch-typist. I use a Sony PX370 for dictation. Had it for years. It's robust and reliable. Simple controls so easy to use when it is dark. £40 or so for new on ebay.

I download the track and then play it through Dragon Naturally Speaking, version 11 (had it for years). Not cheap, but the best I've used, and by some distance. £180 for Home edition, £440 for Pro.

You soon learn how to speak. Steady pace, rather than slowly, with good diction. It's never 100%, especially if there's background noise, but it's accurate. Works for me.

[anonymous-user]

Derek Smith said:

I have carpel tunnel syndrome so use voice recognition software. Ironic, as I'm a touch-typist. I use a Sony PX370 for dictation. Had it for years. It's robust and reliable. Simple controls so easy to use when it is dark. £40 or so for new on ebay.

I download the track and then play it through Dragon Naturally Speaking, version 11 (had it for years). Not cheap, but the best I've used, and by some distance. £180 for Home edition, £440 for Pro.

You soon learn how to speak. Steady pace, rather than slowly, with good diction. It's never 100%, especially if there's background noise, but it's accurate. Works for me.

Thanks Derek. Useful to know.


As a minor update, I have just experimented with both the dictation option in MS Word and also the speech function in 'Notes' on my iPhone.

Surprisingly, speaking normally, both worked absolutely perfectly with almost no errors even for a few long paragraphs to give them a good test. Word just used the microphone on my MacBook and was great, so I guess a dictaphone could be played back into Word with ease.

But even better, open the Notes function on my iPhone, tap for a new note and start speaking and it types out the words in real time onto the page. Very impressive and worked almost flawlessly even when speaking a bit faster.

Looks like I don't have to buy anything I can just use my iPhone. I can tap a new note for each property, dictate as I walk, and then simply copy and paste the Notes into Word at the end of the day.

Also useful is the fact that I just discovered you can take photos with the phone and the pics drop into the Notes page you have open at the time, so it even helps keep the photos organised with whatever property you are speaking about. No more trying to remember which photos match which scribbled notes...

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 17th August 15:05

[Derek Smith]

Lord Marylebone said:

Thanks Derek. Useful to know.


As a minor update, I have just experimented with both the dictation option in MS Word and also the speech function in 'Notes' on my iPhone.

Surprisingly, speaking normally, both worked absolutely perfectly with almost no errors even for a few long paragraphs to give them a good test. Word just used the microphone on my MacBook and was great, so I guess a dictaphone could be played back into Word with ease.

But even better, open the Notes function on my iPhone, tap for a new note and start speaking and it types out the words in real time onto the page. Very impressive and worked almost flawlessly even when speaking a bit faster.

Looks like I don't have to buy anything I can just use my iPhone. I can tap a new note for each property, dictate as I walk, and then simply copy and paste the Notes into Word at the end of the day.

Also useful is the fact that I just discovered you can take photos with the phone and the pics drop into the Notes page you have open at the time, so it even helps keep the photos organised with whatever property you are speaking about. No more trying to remember which photos match which scribbled notes...

Edited by Lord Marylebone on Wednesday 17th August 15:05

Good news. I'm all for cheap as can be.

Since getting Dragon, I've had no need to try other VR software so haven't kept up.

[NDA]

I do business with a chap who is deaf - he uses 'Fireflies' and I have seen it in action a few times. Very fast, very accurate.

https://fireflies.ai

[crowfield]

Philips SpeechExec - transcription service also available if required. All Cloud based https://www.dictation.philips.com/gb/industry-solu...

Edited by crowfield on Wednesday 17th August 16:52

[Who me ?]

"DICTAPHONE " - as a company ,does it still exist. Possibly an example to UK bosses today of what happens to a company when you lookout for management and ignore those earning the money.

[AstonZagato]

I have been trialling otter.ai on an iphone. The free service is fine. Industry specific terms are a bit too hit and miss. As a comparison, I'm using a smart pen (LiveScribe Symphony) which converts handwriting into text. My writing is pretty clear but the software is hilariously bad at converting it. However, the utility of having my handwritten notes available on my phone regardless of whether the note is in a pad at home or in the office has been a bit of a a lifesaver on a couple of occasions.

[anonymous-user]

Another update:

I have found that if you have Office 365 then you also have free online Transcription in Word.

Go onto Word online via 365, open a new blank Word file, and under the Microphone logo for dictation is a drop down where you can choose 'Transcribe', and then upload any audio file of dictation, and Word will then rapidly transcribe it all, and even break the transcription into different voices and label them accordingly.

So if you want to use a digital dictaphone or digital recording, you can dimply drop the MP3/WAV into Word and it will do the work for you.

[Frik]

You also have this feature in Teams which can transcribe meeting recordings, I discovered recently.

[anonymous-user]

Frik said:

You also have this feature in Teams which can transcribe meeting recordings, I discovered recently.

Interesting. Could be very handy as I attend quite a few Teams meetings and often thought a transcript of what was discussed/agreed would be good.