[PLUG] Current state of Linux voice recognition

[Alex Bedard]

Surprisingly, the state of speech recognition, at least when it comes to 
speech to text / dictation solutions, was actually better 10 years ago 
as far as Linux is concerned today. At least when it comes to affordable 
consumer/end user solutions

The predecessor of Dragon's Naturally Speaking actually had a Linux 
version which worked pretty well. However, after IBM sold that business 
unit to Nuance/Dragon, they stopped offering the Linux version of their 
product.

Apparently, it is possible to use Naturally Speaking through Wine, 
although I haven't tested it... Using things emulated through Wine can 
be pretty hit or miss.

There are some open source voice recognition engines for Linux, but 
generally speaking they are terrible for dictation/speech to text.

Also, in regards to sound cards, either in Windows or Linux, I would 
recommend not using your soundcard with a 3.5mm jack microphone. Good 
USB microphones generally have a DSP chip that produces a clearer sound 
and I've had better success with dictating through these than with 
analog/3.5mm microphones. Some of these can be found for as low as ~30$.

Alex

On 06/28/2017 06:52 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
> Up until about ten years ago, while still using Windows, I was following
> voice recognition. At that time the only option was commercial product
> which cost too much and wasn't a good match for my desires at that time.
>
> Time has passed and I'm retired. What I'm looking for would be a large
> vocabulary, single speaker, continuous speech system. The application
> would be straight text note taking - I'm a slow and lousy typist.
>
> I'm already investigating good microphones with good A/D resolution and
> preferably high sample rate [I've ideas on pre-processing I would like
> to experiment with].
>
> Can anyone recommend some survey articles &/or competent current reviews.
> TIA
>
>
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