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Dear Lisa, As others have commented previously, speech recognition can be excellent and it can act as a distraction. Do read through the information on the www.dyslexic.com, Techdis and ScanSoft sites. There is a real need to upgrade to patches, when available. The patch, on the ScanSoft site, that upgrades NaturallySpeaking 7 to 7.2 is a very good one, for example. Always remembered that the minimum specifications given are exactly that, speech recognition uses RAM in much the same way as we use short-term (working) memory. So purchasing the software to work on a system using a 500MHz processor (not Celeron or Duron) and 128MB of RAM will work, barely. It will also be extremely slow and frustrating for the user. An onboard soundcard will work for most, the preferably only on faster machines with much more RAM. Another part of the human factor mentioned by Terry is the need for patience. In many cases I have found that those were using speech recognition because of dexterity and other physical problems, offer more willing to stick with such software (perhaps because they have fewer choices). Most, like me, use a combination of multimedia keyboard, Internet touchpad, shortcuts and speech recognition. Nevertheless, I feel that I could never have survived in employment without Dragon products. Regards, Celia At 13:21 08/12/2003, Peter Hill wrote: >Hi Lisa > >The following may be of interest. > >http://www.worc.ac.uk/services/equalopps/VRProject/VRproject.htm > >Note: The project was carried out a couple of years ago and the >software (and hardware) has improved significantly since then. > >Be wary of the 'knockers'. This software has a lot to offer if used >correctly. For some, it can be a real eye opener - and for others it >offers considerable autonomy. > >Obviously, it can't write an assignment for you - it's only a >transcription tool - but well worth investigating. > >Regards > >Peter Hill > >L Gault, Planning and Administration Support wrote: > >>Dear all, >> >>Can anyone give me any information on the Pros and Cons of using 'Dragon >>Naturally Speaking'? Problem areas, software conflicts, Microphone issues >>etc. >> >>Any advice gratefully received. >> >>Many Thanks >> >>Lisa >>---------------------------------------------- >>Lisa Gault >>IT Disability Coordinator >>Planning and Administration Support >>University of Bristol >>Tyndall Avenue >>Bristol >>BS8 1TJ >>Tel: 0117 331 6739. Internal: 16739 >>---------------------------------------------- >>[log in to unmask] >> > >-- >Peter Hill >Dyslexia Consultancy and Resources >01905 753439 >[log in to unmask] >www.study-pro.com Regards, Celia L Cockburn Disability Co-ordinator, Equality & Diversity Department, King's College London, 7.36 James Clerk Maxwell Building, 57 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8WA; Tel: 020 7848 3799; Fax: 020 7848 3490. This message may have been typed, but on a typically bad RSI /WMSDs (Work related Musculoskeletal Disorders) day it will have been produced using speech recognition software; please ignore any dictation errors I failed to recognise and correct. For appointments, please contact Claire Carter, the Departmental Co-ordinator: ([log in to unmask]); 020 7848 3398.