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So...is Speech to Text in Beta? It Only Works 50% of the Time for Me
- Thread starter VideoNewbie
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Not really. It works rather well for the few times I've used it. And yes, it's still in beta... all of Siri is beta.
Apple was very clear that it is beta. They said it during the announcement and many items since then. Unlike Google and others where everything is in beta Apple does not say this lightly.
I find it works great a lot of the time, better than anything else out there, but other times it is frustrating.
I find it works great a lot of the time, better than anything else out there, but other times it is frustrating.
It's utterly hopeless IMO. At this rate it's twenty plus years off being ready.
I don't think it's got an entire sentence right so far despite a lot of attempts.
Phazer
I don't think it's got an entire sentence right so far despite a lot of attempts.
Phazer
I honestly think it depends on how well you speak English because it works perfectly for me almost 100% of the time and recently it looks like they updated their servers and out extremely fast.
Actually typed this entire post using voice dictation. I haven't really type very much at all since I got my iPhone 4S it's been great
Actually typed this entire post using voice dictation. I haven't really type very much at all since I got my iPhone 4S it's been great
Sure, of course.
Or it might be that it's been tuned for a very tiny group compared to the wide variety of English accents, and while it works okay for some people (and I flat out don't believe anyone has more than 90% success given no voice recognition program in human history has in real terms), it works hopelessly badly for many others.
Phazer
I believe it doesnt necessarily have to do with how well someone speaks english or if they have an accent. I think it comes down to the sound of your voice lol. I can say somethings to Siri and it wont recognize it but when my girlfriend says the same thing, Siri recognizes it. I have a pretty deep voice.
If you would like I can gladly film a video of me using it. I'm telling you it's extremely accurate maybe one in 100 words aren't correct.
It will occasionally get words wrong because it interpreted incorrectly but it will underline them with the blue line if you click it what you wanted to say will occasionally be there.
As for accents I have seen videos of people with Indian accents and English accents and other accents in between the difference is they pronounce the words correctly it doesn't matter if you have an accent it matters how well you speak.
I can't possibly tell if I personally have an accent since I hear myself every day but I do enunciate my words properly and I speak quite well. I don't think it will work very well if you mumble your words or speak with a lot of slang though. Even know it does seem to know recognize several words that I wouldn't expect it to. the other thing I think is really interesting about dictation and Siri in general is that it will actually look at what you've written and determine what it should put as far as the words are concerned like sometimes if you use the word there it will determine which version you need sometimes you'll say to Woodhold determine which version you use even if you're using a brand-name like apple based on what else is in the phrase they will determine if that's Apple company or if it's apple fruit and capitalize it or not capitalized.
I've even had some things that I've written using voice dictation where it had to do with time and I said 1:45 and it put 1:45 instead of just doing 145. it's really an impressive bit of programming as I remember reading it was actually programmed initially by DARPA so it was for military applications which of course explains why it's so incredibly robust.
Apple getting their hands on it of course was one of the best things they could've done since they're going to now push voice dictation and voice control to the next level as they always have with touch control and other things that they have done. Just so you know I've actually typed this entire text using voice dictation and I haven't made a single correction. so even if there are some incorrect words in there every now and then it's actually quite amazing especially compared to things like droid that pretty much gets everything wrong and Dragon dictation that you have to actually train in order to get its work properly I didn't have to do any training on to do is pick it up and start talking.
Just understand that when I say people need to be able to speak proper English I'm not bashing anybody I understand that some people are raised speaking in slang and speaking improperly this is not a bash on that person. What I'm saying is you need to be able to speak clearly and enunciate your words if you don't do that then obviously it can't work. I don't speak to my phone like a robot I just speak. Actually speak quite conversationally when I'm speaking to it I just speak I don't slowdown I don't speed up I just speak at normal pace. And it does a great job it doesn't seem to have any problem with the way that I speak or the tone that I use or how quickly I speak occasionally I'll mumble a couple words and it will miss them, but for the most part it's quite accurate.
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Yes this is also true. For my girlfriend I can't say tell Melissa blah blah blah, I have to say text Melissa blah blah blah because for some reason if I say tell it always thinks I said call. With my mom it's exactly the opposite I can't say text mom blah blah blah because it doesn't know what I'm saying but if I say tell mom blah blah blah it gets it just fine.
They did just update the server recently though so I might have to try that again and see how well it works. I just gave it a shot and it looks like the update did fix that.
actually i want to make this clear...im not referring to the sound of ones voice or accent or other misc erros...
i am referring to the fact that i speak into it and it "Thinks" and then it comes up with nothing.
the speech never ends up processing..simply put half the time when i try to use speech to text it doesnt work. nothing even comes out,
is something wrong with my phone??? or is this a widespread problem?
Typed up two entire History essays for me last week, just a couple edits during my proofs and I was all set. I got 100 on both. So obviously, it differs for different people and scenarios. Definitely not 20+ years off, though.
Works very well for me except for the system outages this week. The downtimes made me realize how useful it'd become.
That sounds like a problem with either your phone or network...I've only had that happen a few times when in a bad network area.
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LOL, yes! When I started getting the "cannot connect to network" error it left me feeling like, well now my phone is useless! Which is actually a great sign, meaning Siri really works and I'm depending on it for a lot of functions. After this weekend tho everything is working better and faster!
Honestly this beta excuse is getting tiring. Apple specifically (during the announcement) said that it is beta only because they are still adding languages. Functionality wise it is a release.
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I have found it to be about 95% accurate which is freakish to me.
Maybe some of you mumble too much or have some sort of messed up accent.
I have found it to be about 95% accurate which is freakish to me.
Maybe some of you mumble too much or have some sort of messed up accent.
Better than 95% accuracy here, which is amazingly close to Dragon given Siri works straight out of the box.
It's a beta because the Siri servers need the data from millions of people using it to refine its vocabulary.
It's a beta because the Siri servers need the data from millions of people using it to refine its vocabulary.
I don't recall Apple saying that. I find it interesting that Apple would say something like that. Do you have a link or source for what you said?
yes!
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Well, if you are getting no result that means its not connecting. Voice interpretation is not done locally. You speak into your phone, it records the data, sends it to their mainframe, which interprets your words and sends back text. If your phone can't reach the server...or it is getting corrupted as it travels you will get no result. A way to see if its a service problem is, tell siri something...if she responds back, sorry I am having trouble connecting...then you know thats the problem. Another issue could possibly be how you are holding the phone....if you cover up the mic it won't get you.