Tuesday 26 April 2016

Vocal variations

V is for Voice in a variety of apps

A-Z Challenge – Apps in April

speech

Speech recognition

Devices and apps with built-in speech recognition software enable transcription of voice to text. This is often an underused function available in a wide range of apps. Speech recognition software works best when words are enunciated clearly. If at first one’s voice is not recognised, slow down speech and practise using speech recognition in a quiet environment.

On iOS anytime the keyboard is activated look for the microphone symbol, located next to the Space bar. Tap the microphone to begin speaking and watch your words transformed into text.
On Android the microphone symbol is located at the top of the keyboard. This is a boon for those who have difficulty using keyboards accurately or need to quickly take a note on a phone.

Speech recognition is available in browsers like Safari and Chrome, calendars, email and note apps. Some apps covered in this A-Z series that have speech recognition are: Adobe Slate, Chrome, Google Docs, Gmail, Google maps, Google Keep and Notegraphy. Depending on your device and the latest software update of your system and your apps, look for the microphone and test to see if your favourite app can use speech recognition.

Voice recording

Voice recording is a quick way to capture thoughts, music, sounds and interviews. Apps with voice recording incorporate a playback mode. Some apps covered in this A-Z series that incorporate voice recording software are: Adobe Voice, Book Creator, Evernote, Explain Everything, and Hangouts.

A dedicated voice recorder app is useful and both the App store and Google play have a wide range of choices. On my iPad I currently have AudioNote and on my Android phone, SmartVoice. Now that Evernote incorporates voice recordings I am more likely to use that for spoken memos and one of the voice recording apps for longer interviews for family history purposes.

Text to spoken word

Many mobile devices incorporate the option for having text on screen read aloud.

On Android head to Settings> Accessibility>TalkBack and switch to On. Follow the onscreen instructions. If you wish to change the speed of the text read, go to Settings> Language and input> Text-to-speech output.
On iOS go to Settings> General> Accessibility to switch on VoiceOver.

Have you been making the most of the voice capabilities of your mobile device?

Next up W - Words of wonder

This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2016/04/vocal-variations.html

5 comments:

  1. I'm finding the Google voice recognition tool excellent so haven't bothered installing Dragon on my new laptop.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My phone does have some kind of voice recognition feature but I hardly use it. I think i must try it our more often..
    @yenforblue from
    Spice of Life!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I seem to forget what I want to say as soon as I hit the record button. Recently I have been testing the VoiceR Pro app. Can't remember if I paid or got the pro on one of those free days. It is meant to be better quality recording than some.
    3 days to go!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lots of my apps have been acquired on 'free' days or offers. Finally finished all my posts on Tuesday so now have time for reading.

      Delete

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