When creating your content strategy for your blog, you need to consider how you are going to go about getting your content out there. Will the material be written by you personally, or do you intend to focus each post on an external authority? How can you get this content translated into different languages?
The number of solutions available on the market today is extensive; Speech dictation software should be at the top of your list.
Converse Smartly
We included Converse Smartly in this list of the best free speech to text software because of its powerful and robust technology. It can quickly and accurately convert any audio stream to text including dialogue or discourse from team meetings, conferences, interviews and seminars. It enables organisations and individuals to work faster and smarter with greater accuracy.
Created by Folio3, the primary aim behind Converse Smartly is to increase the workflow efficiency of any organisation. The app uses advanced speech recognition technology based on the IBM Watson Speech API and the Natural Language Processing ToolKit and is one of the best text to speech software with natural voices. Top features include:
– Speech Analysis
– Text Analysis
– Summary Generation
– Perform sentiment analysis
– Generate word cloud from input speech and writing
– Identify key entities and themes during speech or conversation
– Live Audio Transcription
– Detect multiple speakers
– Spot keywords
Compatibility: Any device with an internet connection, browser and internet connection
Price: Free trial version
Demo Link: https://www.folio3.ai/converse-smartly-try-now/
Dragon Anywhere
Best mobile speech-to-text app
Dragon Anywhere is the Nuance mobile product for Android and iOS devices, however this is no ‘lite’ app, but rather offers fully-formed dictation capabilities powered via the cloud.
So essentially you get the same excellent speech recognition as seen on the desktop software – the only meaningful difference we noticed was a very slight delay in our spoken words appearing on the screen (doubtless due to processing in the cloud). However, note that the app was still responsive enough overall.
It also boasts support for boilerplate chunks of text which can be set up and inserted into a document with a simple command, and these, along with custom vocabularies, are synced across the mobile app and desktop Dragon software. Furthermore, you can share documents across devices via Evernote or cloud services (such as Dropbox).
This isn’t as flexible as the desktop application, however, as dictation is limited to within Dragon Anywhere – you can’t dictate directly in another app (although you can copy over text from the Dragon Anywhere dictation pad to a third-party app). The other caveats are the need for an internet connection for the app to work (due to its cloud-powered nature), and the fact that it’s a subscription offering with no one-off purchase option, which might not be to everyone’s tastes.
Even bearing in mind these limitations, though, it’s a definite boon to have fully-fledged, powerful voice recognition of the same sterling quality as the desktop software, nestling on your phone or tablet for when you’re away from the office.
Nuance Communications offers a 7-day free trial to give the app a try before you commit to a subscription.
Dragon Professional
Business-grade speech-to-text solution
Should you be looking for a business-grade dictation application, your best bet is Dragon Professional. Aimed at pro users, the software provides you with the tools to dictate and edit documents, create spreadsheets, and browse the web using your voice.
According to Nuance, the solution is capable of taking dictation at an equivalent typing speed of 160 words per minute, with a 99% accuracy rate – and that’s out-of-the-box, before any training is done (whereby the app adapts to your voice and words you commonly use).
As well as creating documents using your voice, you can also import custom word lists. There’s also an additional mobile app that lets you transcribe audio files and send them back to your computer.
This is a powerful, flexible, and hugely useful tool that is especially good for individuals, such as professionals and freelancers, allowing for typing and document management to be done much more flexibly and easily.
Overall, the interface is easy to use, and if you get stuck at all, you can access a series of help tutorials. And while the software can seem expensive, it’s just a one-time fee and compares very favorably with paid-for subscription transcription services.
Otter
Otter is a cloud-based speech to text program especially aimed for mobile use, such as on a laptop or smartphone. The app provides real-time transcription, allowing you to search, edit, play, and organize as required.
Otter is marketed as an app specifically for meetings, interviews, and lectures, to make it easier to take rich notes. However, it is also built to work with collaboration between teams, and different speakers are assigned different speaker IDs to make it easier to understand transcriptions.
There are three different payment plans, with the basic one being free to use and aside from the features mentioned above also includes keyword summaries and a wordcloud to make it easier to find specific topic mentions. You can also organize and share, import audio and video for transcription, and provides 600 minutes of free service.
The Premium plan also includes advanced and bulk export options, the ability to sync audio from Dropbox, additional playback speeds including the ability to skip silent pauses. The Premium plan also allows for up to 6,000 minutes of speech to text.
The Teams plan also adds two-factor authentication, user management and centralized billing, as well as user statistics, voiceprints, and live captioning.
Verbit
Verbit aims to offer a smarter speech to text service, using AI for transcription and captioning. The service is specifically targeted at enterprise and educational establishments.
Verbit uses a mix of speech models, using neural networks and algorithms to reduce background noise, focus on terms as well as differentiate between speakers regardless of accent, as well as incorporate contextual events such as news and company information into recordings.
Although Verbit does offer a live version for transcription and captioning, aiming for a high degree of accuracy, other plans offer human editors to ensure transcriptions are fully accurate, and advertise a four hour turnaround time.
Altogether, while Verbit does offer a direct speech to text service, it’s possibly better thought of as a transcription service, but the focus on enterprise and education, as well as team use, means it earns a place here as an option to consider.
Speechmatics
Leading speech recognition technology
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
REASONS TO BUY
+Supports different accents+Media captioning+Keyword triggers
Speechmatics offers a machine learning solution to converting speech to text, with its automatic speech recognition solution available to use on existing audio and video files as well as for live use.
Unlike some automated transcription software which can struggle with accents or charge more for them, Speechmatics advertises itself as being able to support all major British accents, regardless of nationality. That way it aims to cope with not just different American and British English accents, but also South African and Jamaican accents.
Speechmatics offers a wider number of speech to text transcription uses than many other providers. Examples include taking call center phone recordings and converting them into searchable text or Word documents. The software also works with video and other media for captioning as well as using keyword triggers for management.
Overall, Speechmatics aims to offer a more flexible and comprehensive speech to text service than a lot of other providers, and the use of automation should keep them price competitive.
Braina Pro
A virtual assistant for your PC
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
REASONS TO BUY
+Powerful digital assistant+Nifty Android app for remotely controlling PC
REASONS TO AVOID
-Subscription only (no one-off purchase)
Braina Pro is speech recognition software which is built not just for dictation, but also as an all-round digital assistant to help you achieve various tasks on your PC. It supports dictation to third-party software in not just English but almost 90 different languages, with impressive voice recognition chops.
Beyond that, it’s a virtual assistant that can be instructed to set alarms, search your PC for a file, or search the internet, play an MP3 file, read an ebook aloud, plus you can implement various custom commands.
The Windows program also has a companion Android app which can remotely control your PC, and use the local Wi-Fi network to deliver commands to your computer, so you can spark up a music playlist, for example, wherever you happen to be in the house. Nifty.
There’s a free version of Braina which comes with limited functionality, but includes all the basic PC commands, along with a 7-day trial of the speech recognition which allows you to test out its powers for yourself before you commit to a subscription. Yes, this is another subscription-only product with no option to purchase for a one-off fee. Also note that you need to be online and have Google’s Chrome browser installed for speech recognition functionality to work.
Amazon Transcribe
Cloud-based speech to text technology
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
REASONS TO BUY
+For enterprises+Vocabulary editing+Audio for apps+Recognizes speakers and channels
Amazon Transcribe is as big cloud-based automatic speech recognition platform developed specifically to convert audio to text for apps. It especially aims to provide a more accurate and comprehensive service than traditional providers, such as being able to cope with low-fi and noisy recordings, such as you might get in a contact center.
Amazon Transcribe uses a deep learning process that automatically adds punctuation and formatting, as well as process with a secure livestream or otherwise transcribe speech to text with batch processing.
As well as offering time stamping for individual words for easy search, it can also identify different speaks and different channels and annotate documents accordingly to account for this.
There are also some nice features for editing and managing transcribed texts, such as vocabulary filtering and replacement words which can be used to keep product names consistent and therefore any following transcription easier to analyze.
Overall, Amazon Transcribe is one of the most powerful platforms out there, though it’s aimed more for the business and enterprise user rather than the individual.
Microsoft Azure Speech to Text
Part of the Azure platform’s Cognitive Services
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
REASONS TO BUY
+Real time transcription+Customization for proper nouns+Handles multiple speakers+
Microsoft’s Azure cloud service offers advanced speech recognition as part of the platform’s speech services to deliver the Microsoft Azure Speech to Text functionality.
This feature allows you to simply and easily create text from a variety of audio sources. There are also customization options available to work better with different speech patterns, registers, and even background sounds. You can also modify settings to handle different specialist vocabularies, such as product names, technical information, and place names.
The Microsoft’s Azure Speech to Text feature is powered by deep neural network models and allows for real-time audio transcription that can be set up to handle multiple speakers.
As part of the Azure cloud service, you can run Azure Speech to Text in the cloud, on premises, or in edge computing. In terms of pricing, you can run the feature in a free container with a single concurrent request for up to 5 hours of free audio per month.
Microsoft Dictate
Microsoft’s Dictate is here to prove that the even best text to speech software can be free and be just as good as premium software. Created by Microsoft Garage (a division of the company where employees get to work on their ideas as projects), this feature-rich application boasts the same advanced speech recognition technology that powers the Microsoft Cortana Virtual Assistant.
Dictate is essentially a Microsoft Office add-on and works well with Word, PowerPoint and Outlook. You can install it from the Microsoft store if you don’t already have it pre-installed with a copy of Microsoft 365. Once installed, you can access it through the “Dictation” tab that shows up in the top right of the Ribbon toolbar. The app supports voice commands for most standard operations such as typing or editing text, moving the cursor to a new line and adding punctuations either manually or automatically.
Furthermore, the app offers features such as visual feedback to specify that it is processing speech input. Microsoft dictates also supports dictation with real-time translation 60 different languages. Microsoft Dictate is compatible with Office versions 2013 and above and works well with Windows versions 8.1 and above.
Apps Compatibility: Windows devices only
Price: Free
Download Link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/garage/profiles/dictate/
Conclusion
Instant speech-to-text conversion is now possible with the advent of speech to text software. This software can quickly transcribe your spoken words into written text that can be viewed on a display. However, the software is not free and typically costs money.