Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Dragon NaturallySpeaking Cliffnotes

I’ve noticed some DNS interest in this community so I thought I’d drop of this information to hopefully resolve some of your questions. If allowed I would very much like to stop by every now and then and answer any other questions that come up on the forum.

1. If you’re using Vista you should have 3-4 GB of RAM. For an XP platform you will require 2 GB of RAM. The software will run on less but won’t be very effective.

NOTE: If you're looking at buying a new computer to use with DNS I would consider looking at ASUS computers. Regardless of what system you by, you want a Core2 Duo 2 GHz or better CPU speed, 2 GB of RAM an XP platform (3 GB on Vista), 2 - 4 MB of L2 cache, a SATA hard drive of at least 100 GB although you may be able get 160 for about the same price. Your soundcard will be important so go with a mid to high end Soundblaster.


2. Unless you’re using a Soundblaster card don’t depend on the integrated soundcard in your computer as it is probably poorly shielded. Get yourself an external soundcard (USB Pod) and use a USB port on the back of your computer as opposed to the front.

3. Here is a copy of the manual we wrote for version 9. It’s designed as version 9.5 upgrade manual but if you are a new user to DNS you can download a full copy manual at KnowBrainer.com. KnowBrainer Manual http://www.knowbrainer.com/downloads/KnowBrainer_Manual.PDF


4. Here is a copy of the KnowBrainer Quick Tips which is PDF help file for day to day troubleshooting that is updated all the time from questions answered on our forum. http://www.knowbrainer.com/downloads/NatPro_Quick_Tips.pdf

5. Here is a copy of our DNS 9 Review. I think you’ll find it pretty thorough. http://www.knowbrainer.com/downloads/v9_review.pdf

6. For research feel free to use the KnowBrainer Speech Recognition Forum as it is by far the largest and most active of its kind. http://www.knowbrainer.com/PubForum/

KnowBrainer, Inc. Support Staff – Tom Hamilton
Now Providing FREE (1st 5 min.) Tech Support 615-884-4558
A Nuance Gold Certified Endorsed Vendor
ALWAYS Ask If Your Speech Recognition Vendor Is Nuance Certified

Hey, Tom:

I have read and appreciated your posts on other forums. Thanks for stopping by.

I find Dragon NaturallySpeaking Medical version 9.5 to work exceptionally well with Amazing Charts, but others have not fared so well. I personally wouldn't trade anything for it.

Thank you for the welcome. I’m glad Medical 9.5 is working out for you although we tend to recommend Pro 9.5 with medical vocabularies because you get the same product for a lot less money. If DNS works well for you with Amazing Charts it should work well for anyone unless they had some unique hardware issues such as RAM or a troublesome utility in their computer.

The thread (EMR Update is in Chaos) was a good read.

KnowBrainer, Inc. Support Staff – Tom Hamilton
Now Providing FREE (1st 5 min.) Tech Support 615-884-4558
A Nuance Gold Certified Endorsed Vendor
ALWAYS Ask If Your Speech Recognition Vendor Is Nuance Certified

Tom:

Yes, if I knew then what I knew now, I might have tried the combination of Pro and KnowBrainer medical vocabulary.

I was a novice and started with DNS Preferred, which didn't work well for my purpose and didn't allow for upgrade.

Instead of paying full price for Pro or Medical, I found a cheap copy of DNS Medical 7.0 on eBay, and then paid for an upgrade to Medical 9.5 and came out cheaper than if I had paid for Pro plus KnowBrainer.

Still, I sometimes wonder if DNS 9.5 has TOO extensive of a vocabulary. I would like to try out one of the smaller KnowBrainer vocabularies someday.

Tom,

Welcome and thanks for your input. I was one who has not fared well with DNS. I'll have to check my computer at work (Dell Optiplex with XP Pro)...perhaps I didn't have enough memory as you suggested above.

It just seems that something always interfered - the program stalled, the words that are displayed at times could not have come from my mouth, and other times it was flawless. Since it always seemed to be running in the background, I finally uninstalled it.

Barbara:

Have you given up on DNS, or is it something you would try again if it could be brought up to your prior expectations?

I find DNS indispensible, and it works great for me.

I would like to have more "command and control" capabilities. I am not sure if my version has that capability, or if you have to get an add-on program.

Barbara,
Check your computer specs and also check your soundcard and your microphone and report back. You should really have 2 GB of RAM and the soundcards on Dell computers (especially notebooks) are notoriously bad for speech recognition. The microphone that comes in the box should also be considered a back-up mic at best. If you want to have one more go at it you might consider reinstalling the software, creating a new user and after running the audio set up wizard hit “play” instead of finish. Use the exact same soundcard, mic, etc as you did before and listen for any interference on the playback. When you create your user and run the audio set up wizard make sure to speak in the manner and tone you will when you actually work. The mic placement shouldn’t be to close to your mouth and should be off to the corner as opposed to directly in front or DNS may mistake your breath for utterances. Make sure to dictate several sentences at a time as opposed to three or four words at a time. When you bought your software you bought 10 licenses so you might as well try one more time and I’ll help you out with here on the forum.


Brian,
You are using Medical 9.5 so the sky is the limit. You can create commands to do just about anything to automate your workload. The only drawback is learning to use the tools to create these automations. There are several 3rd party add-on programs that have done most of the work for you such as KnowBrainer 2007 . The advantage in KnowBrainer is that many of the commands have already been built for you and the act of creating your own has been simplified.

KnowBrainer, Inc. Support Staff – Tom Hamilton
A Nuance Gold Certified Endorsed Vendor