Unnaturally critical?
A Letter to the Editor of Computer Currents
By Deborah Quilter
First published March 3, 1998

Deborah Quilter's review of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, "Speech Recognition and Other Unnatural Acts" (Ergonomic Office, February 3, 1998), does great disservice to people with RSI and those at risk of getting this painful condition. Other people could also benefit from this revolutionary technology, which permits users to talk to their computers and have the words appear on-screen.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking won all the major awards at Comdex and received favorable reviews in a number of publications. In spite of all these favorable comments from computer specialists, Deborah Quilter sees fit to excoriate this program and claims she can type faster and with more ease. At a trade show in New York, a challenge was given for anyone in the audience to type faster and more accurately than NaturallySpeaking. Although many tried, none could match it.

One wonders how assiduously Quilter trained her program to recognize her voice. Many people have told me about their favorable experiences with NaturallySpeaking. One man who had previously been unable to type due to severe carpal tunnel syndrome said, "Now I have a second chance at life." Would Quilter deny such people Dragon NaturallySpeaking? That is what her misguided article attempts to do.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking will be hailed by future generations as the most significant development in communication since the invention of moveable type in the 15th century.

-Clair Calhoon, president WorkLink ADA Solutions
(a distributor of Dragon products)

It was not my intention to excoriate NaturallySpeaking; I simply reported my own experience with it. As my editors and the technical support staff for Dragon Systems can attest, I spent weeks training with NaturallySpeaking and hours on the phone seeking advice from Dragon in an attempt to get the best results from the program. When I experienced repeated problems with the Personal edition, I tried the Preferred edition but got only marginally better results. If the program had worked well, I would have gladly said so, because I agree that occasional, judicious use of speech recognition software could help reduce hand strain.

NaturallySpeaking may have won awards from computer experts, but I evaluate products from a health/consumer advocate perspective. Excessive speaking is a risk factor for vocal injury.

Calhoon writes that my column does a disservice to people with repetitive strain injury. A man with RSI, Paul Taylor, got a severe vocal injury from using DragonDictate (a similar program). He said he wished he had been warned about this danger. According to a study by Lois Singer, a speech-language pathologist and director of the Voice Laboratory and Treatment Centre of Ontario in Toronto, people who have experienced RSI are more susceptible to vocal injuries.

Finally, I did not say I could "type faster and with more ease." I said it was easier to make corrections with my hands because the program would not respond to my voice corrections after five or six tries.

-Deborah Quilter

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