Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 - Speech Recognition That Changes People's Lives
Nuance Announces Winners of the 'I Speak Dragon' User Story Contest
New Release Hailed by Users and Experts Alike
London, 9 September, 2008 – Nuance Communications (NASDAQ: NUAN), a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions, today announced the UK-based winners of its "I Speak Dragon!" contest, which invited Dragon® NaturallySpeaking® users to share their unique experiences using the world's most accurate and best-selling speech recognition software for the PC. The company also announced that the just-released Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 is surpassing expectations, hailed by users, press and experts alike.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 turns speech into text at up to 160 words per minute, with up to 99 percent accuracy. The product lets people create documents and email up to three times faster than manual typing, and can be used to surf the web and use PC applications, completely by speaking.
Over 1,000 original user stories were submitted to the "I Speak Dragon" contest, each providing insight as to how speech recognition improves people's lives – some in profound and touching ways, and some with more humour than a 'productivity' benefit. People from all walks of life participated – including college students, writers, teachers, artists, senior citizens, doctors, genealogists, bloggers, lawyers, police officers and military personnel – providing personal insight to the improved productivity, accessibility and creativity achieved simply through using Dragon NaturallySpeaking.
Four U.K. winning entries covering three categories were selected by a panel of judges from the many exceptional user stories received:
'I Speak Dragon to Improve My Creativity' – Winner
Amanda Little, Aspiring Author
"Dragon NaturallySpeaking has enabled me to create the world's in which my character's live much more quickly, and because I am able to dictate what my characters look like, their images and descriptions are much more dimensional and real," said Amanda. "This is very important when you are a writer, because you have to describe things in much more detail to the reader. Dragon NaturallySpeaking is absolutely fantastic for this as you can say exactly what is inside your head."
Amanda says that Dragon NaturallySpeaking is a vital tool and an asset for any writer. "Dragon NaturallySpeaking has improved and inspired my creativity no end. I would recommend Dragon NaturallySpeaking to anyone with or without a disability, as it will really enhance your quality of life. Most importantly, Dragon has given me a power of speech that I never thought I had. Amanda added, "Dragon NaturallySpeaking will enrich your meaning and interpretation of the English language beyond your comprehension."
'I Speak Dragon to Improve My Life' – Winner
Jean Cooke, Caring Daughter
Jean has an 84-year-old mother who suffers from progressive loss of hearing and is now profoundly deaf. Her mother's loss of hearing has greatly reduced the ability of family and friends to communicate with her, leaving them the option of short hand-written notes. Jean turned to Dragon NaturallySpeaking, giving her the ability to quickly 'talk' to her mother, who reads the text on the screen.
"The accuracy and speed of Dragon NaturallySpeaking is impressive and now I am able to have near normal conversations with my mother," said Jean. "With the wireless microphone I am able to move around the room whilst speaking at normal conversational speed. My words instantly appear on the computer screen, enabling my mother to read them. Dragon NaturallySpeaking has transformed both our lives and I feel strongly that more people involved with the deaf should be aware of the vast improvement in this software and its potential benefits."
'I Speak Dragon to Improve My Work' – 2 Winners
Carl Rohsler – Solicitor Specialising in Gambling Law
About six months ago Carl was contacted by a publisher to see if he would write a work about the UK's new gambling legislation. The book was to be approximately 2,000 pages, of which Carl would be responsible for 250,000 words of analysis. A big task, and one that Carl would have to complete at the same time as his normal day job.
Carl decided to experiment with Dragon NaturallySpeaking and within an hour he was hooked. "After only a few days I had started to develop my own commands for citations, abbreviations and numbering. But it was the speed and the increase in stamina that was most impressive", said Carl. Normally, after about 10 or 11 hours, Carl gets too tired to type accurately (his typing rate is about 40 words per minute). Dragon has allowed Carl to do everything more quickly and more accurately than manual typing. "I was sometimes able to produce more than 15,000 words of finished text in a weekend! I finished the whole project in six months."
Dragon's ability to change Carl's working life did not stop there. A few years ago, he met his wife, who is French, and began to learn to speak a language that he had not used since schooldays. He is now fairly fluent as a speaker, but had never read or written in French, and so his spelling and grammar was poor. Carl had the idea of using the French version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking to dictate e-mails and messages in French. "I knew what I wanted to say and Dragon did the grammar, accents, genders and spelling. I still can't get over watching French text appear like magic on the screen, which I could never possibly write myself!" Now Carl can email his family in France. "I cannot think of anything else which has had such a profound effect on my working life - a really, seriously, seriously amazing piece of kit, and for the same price as a pair of theatre tickets," said Carl.
Jonathan Silverman - Founding Partner, London City Law Firm
Jonathan's firm Silverman Sherliker LLP has been providing legal services to both UK and overseas clients for approximately 28 years. The company was introduced to Dragon in its very early days and was immediately able to demonstrate that the software was a very cost-effective tool for its practice.
"I started back in the days of version 1, dictating word by word diligently, and progressed through to the most recent release, which is simply stunning and beyond anyone's expectations!" said Jonathan. The traditional company structure was that it had one secretary between two lawyers, meaning when new lawyers joined, they had to find the space and the resources to cater for more secretaries. Dragon NaturallySpeaking cuts out the middle-man, saving the company £250,000 a year, which is a significant saving for a firm this size.
"Dragon has enabled us to grow as a firm without being a burden to the overhead of secretarial support and all the consequential costs. Gone are the days of recording a dictation, giving it to a secretary and waiting for it to come back. Our competitiveness stems from our ability to respond quickly and effectively, whether by e-mail or in correspondence and Dragon is central to that capability. We couldn't have reached our level of turnover or profitability without using Dragon; it has quite simply revolutionised our practice."
To read additional user stories from the "I Speak Dragon" contest, then please visit:
www.nuance.co.uk/dragonstories/readstories.asp
Video testimonials are also available online and can be viewed at: www.nuance.co.uk/dragonstories/
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