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Good Cross-Platform Speech-Recognition Programs?
CryoStasis writes "I am a graduate student getting my degree in biomedical sciences. Because my work often requires me to maintain a local sterile environment (under a biological hood) I find that I am unable to physically touch my computer, which sits beside me, in order to open my notes, protocols, etc. while I'm working. As a result, I have begun to search for a voice-recognition program that will allow me to tell the computer what files/programs to launch. I know that the general field of voice recognition has come a long way, but I find that the built-in speech recognition systems in both OS X and Vista are clunky and difficult to use. Are there any good, cross-platform speech-recognition programs available that might fit the bill?"
Dragon Naturally Speaking is as close as it gets. And it's only really good for basically writing down your voice, it's not really that good for controlling your computer. I believe it works in both Vista and OS X.
There used to be ViaVoice that also worked in Linux IIRC - but it basically stopped working on it circa 2001/2002.
Perhaps another input device is called for, because voice recognition right now will only frustrate you more than anything for what you want to use it for.
BTW, I believe OS X has voice recognition built in you may want to check out for controlling your computer - but it's been ages since I used it. It's actually geared toward controlling your computer, and not to replace typing.
I used Sphinx4 in my final year project at uni. It's free and Java based, with open source code so is fully customisable to those who want to spend a little effort doing so. As it is written in Java, it works on any operating system with a Java Runtime Environment.
In the process of finding Sphinx4 I spent a lot of time trying other multi-platform software, but due to its open source nature found this to be the best (that actually worked).