A small Massachusetts technology company has introduced what it says is the first commercially viable "typewriter" that operates by human speech instead of touch.
Newton-based Dragon Systems Inc. said its DragonDictate has a basic vocabulary of 30,000 words - with an 80,000-word dictionary built in as a backup - and can print out more than 40 words per minute when operated by an experienced user.The $9,000 system consists of software and a speech recognition board and requires an IBM PC AT compatible computer configured with eight megabutes RAM and an Intel 80386 microprocessor. It will work with any printer.
The system recognizes "discrete utterances" - words with at least a 1/4-second pause in between - and displays a list of possibilities when a word is spoken. It will print the top word unless told to keep looking and waits for the next word to be spoken.
A spokesman said one of DragonDictate's main features is that it will recognize anyone speaking to it and since it constantly adapts to the user even people with impaired speech can use it if words are consistently pronounced.
The company is 8 years old, privately held and employs 30 people.