download a speech package for dictation

Microsoft Dictate 5.0.1 Speech recognition app for Windows

Review: Software that allows users to dictate text in Microsoft Office applications using their voice.

Screenshot of Microsoft Dictate - User interface

TTS add-in for Microsoft Office products to talk to your PC.

How to use Microsoft Dictate with its interface

To sum it up, features of microsoft dictate.

Accuracy : High accuracy of speech recognition.
Cloud Integration : Automatically save documents to the cloud.
Dictation : Type quickly using your voice.
Dictation Customization : Customize dictation settings to your needs.
Document Sharing : Easily share documents with others.
Formatting : Change font size, style and color of your text.
Hotkeys : Create custom hotkeys to speed up dictation.
Multi-language Support : Supports multiple languages.
Real-Time Translation : Translate spoken words into multiple languages.
Speech Recognition : Converts spoken words into text.
Text-to-Speech : Convert text into spoken words.
Text Editing : Edit your text with voice commands.
Transcription : Easily transcribe audio recordings.
Voice Commands : Control the Windows environment with voice commands.
Voice Profiles : Create custom voice profiles for enhanced accuracy.

Compatibility and License

Is microsoft dictate free.

Microsoft Dictate is provided under a freeware license on Windows from text to speech software with no restrictions on usage. Download and installation of this PC software is free and 5.0.1 is the latest version last time we checked.

Is Microsoft Dictate for Windows 11?

Microsoft Dictate Download
Free Text to Speech Software
Software for Windows 11

AdamFowlerIT.com

Enabling dictation in windows 10.

Dictation is a pretty cool feature in Windows 10. Press Winkey + H, and up comes a small prompt in the middle of your screen telling you it’s listening – you can start talking, and your words start appearing wherever your cursor is.

Not only that, but you can give commands like a light version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking such as ‘delete test’ to delete the last word ‘test’. Or ‘Select the next three words ‘ to highlight them – basic cursor management you’d normally need a mouse for.

A managed Windows 10 computer however, may not have all the components required to use Dictation, and a user may not have the access to download the speech packs themselves.

I hit a problem where Dictation would say ‘Download a Speech package for dictation’, but clicking that link would take me to settings and show that it was already installed. An admin of the PC doing this however, would somehow trigger a component to install and Dictation would work fine.

An admin of the PC doing this however, would somehow trigger a component to install and Dictation would work fine.

Under the user context, going to the Speech settings would show all the options as greyed out and blank:

After raising this with Microsoft Support, this was the method we found to make it all work:

These are the components that I required for Dictation:

• Language Basic component • Language Text-to-speech component • Language Speech component

These components are available to download via the “Windows 10 Features on Demand Pack 1” which you can find in your MSDN My Visual Studio downloads (the latest being version 2004). You’ll probably need a subscription for this.

Features On Demand are also available via Windows Update but this may not help you if you have a WSUS server.

The resulting ISO, e.g. en_windows_10_features_on_demand_part_1_version_2004_x64_dvd_7669fc91.iso will contain a separate .cab file for each feature. From this, it’s then a matter of using the DISM tool to inject each feature into Windows 10:

Note you can add multiple packages to the above command, so could do all three with a single line. If you want to know what packages are already installed on a Windows 10 device:

There’s one big other catch with Dictation. You’ll need to enable ‘Online speech recognition’ which leverages Microsoft cloud based services as part of using Dictation.

If you’re running a computer that’s logged on under a Microsoft account, everything you say is being captured. You can view this data here and choose to delete it:

https://account.microsoft.com/privacy/activity-history?view=voice

I’m still clarifying how this works in other scenarios, and will update this blog post if I find out any more information.

If as a company, you’ve decided and accepted this scenario, you can toggle the option on for users using this registry setting:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Speech_OneCore\Settings\OnlineSpeechPrivacy HasAccepted DWORD 0 = Off 1 = On

Maybe you won’t need to do any of the above at all – but it’s worth understanding what’s out there, and if you understand and accept the privacy aspect; and if you do, then promoting it to your userbase as a potentially big timesaver… especially for those 1 finger keyboard typists!

It’s also worth nothing that several Microsoft 365 products include Dictate inside the app, more about that here .

Set up voice access

This article is for people who want to control their PC and author text using their voice with Windows. This article is part of the Accessibility support for Windows content set where you can find more information on Windows accessibility features. For general help, visit Microsoft Support home .

To complete the initial set up voice access in Windows, you need an internet connection. For a list of voice access commands, go to Voice access command list .

Voice access is a feature in Windows 11 that enables everyone to control their PC and author text using only their voice and without an internet connection. For example, you can open and switch between apps, browse the web, and read and author email using your voice. For more information, go to Use voice access to control your PC & author text with your voice .

Voice access is available in Windows 11, version 22H2 and later. For more information on Windows 11 22H2 new features, and how to get the update, see What's new in recent Windows updates . Not sure which version of Windows you have? See: Find Windows version .

In this topic

Launch voice access, download language files, set up your microphone.

You can launch voice access from Settings or by using Windows search.

Start voice access from Settings

Accessibility settings page with Voice access toggled on and check boxes to start voice access before or after sign-in.

In the Start menu, select Settings Accessibility Speech .

Turn on the Voice access switch.

Tip: If you want to automatically launch voice access every time you start your computer, select the “ Start voice access before you sign in to your PC ” or “ Start voice access after you sign into your PC” checkboxes.

Start voice access from Windows search

You can search for voice access from Start or use the search option in the taskbar. If you type voice access, it comes up as the top result.

Open Windows search and type voice access .

Select Open to start voice access.

Tip: Select Pin to Start or Pin to taskbar to make voice access quicker to find in the future.

Voice access is currently available in the following languages and dialects: English–US, English–UK, English–India, English–New Zealand, English–Canada, English–Australia, Spanish–Spain, Spanish–Mexico, German–Germany, French–France, and French–Canada. The first time you launch voice access we check if your display language is something that is supported. If yes, you can continue with the setup experience. If we identify that your display language is not in the supported list of languages, we still give you the option to launch voice access, but in English (US). You can either choose to proceed at this point or turn off voice access.

When you turn on voice access for the first time, you are prompted to download voice access language files to be used by on-device speech recognition. Select Download to continue or Not now if you want to do it later. The download might take a few minutes.

If you want to learn more before downloading, select the More about voice access and Microsoft Privacy Statement links.

You can switch to a different language at any time from Voice Access Settings Languages .

Once the language files have been downloaded, voice access works regardless of your internet connection status.

If you face any problems downloading the language files, refer to Troubleshooting live captions or voice access setup issues for further guidance.

After successfully downloading the language files, you can now use voice access both online and offline. However, before you get started, you have to select which microphone you want to use.

When the speech model is downloaded, the Set up your mic for voice access window opens. Select the microphone you want to use from the Microphone list if it's not already selected.

If you are unable to find the microphone you want to use from the list, select Add new microphone . If you need to check or adjust any sound-related settings, select Sound settings .

Select (Next), and then select Done to finish setting up voice access and start using it right away. Alternatively, you can first read the interactive guide. For more information, refer to Getting started with voice access .

Note: Use of the microphone by voice access is controlled by your privacy settings. To check that microphone use is allowed, navigate to Settings Privacy & security Microphone Let apps access your microphone Let desktop apps access your microphone .

Set up your mic for voice access window asking you to select the mic you want to use

Note: Voice access works best with a microphone that is less likely to capture background and ambient sounds. For more information, refer to section "Voice access settings" in Getting started with voice access .

Dictate text with voice

Get started with voice access

Use voice to work with windows and apps

Using the mouse with voice

Use voice to interact with items on the screen

Use the keyboard with voice

Technical support for customers with disabilities

Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.

If you are a government, commercial, or enterprise user, please contact the enterprise Disability Answer Desk .

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Best dictation software of 2024

For easy speech recording

Best overall

Best for on the move, best for microsoft 365 users, best free for apple users, best for google users, best for multi-linguals, best virtual assistant, best for icloud users, how we test.

The best dictation software makes it simple and easy to record speech on your desktop or mobile device.

1. Best overall 2. Best for on the move 3. Best for Microsoft 365 users 4. Best value 5. Best free for Apple users 6. Best for Google users 7. Best for multi-linguals 8. Best virtual assistant 9. Best for iCloud users 10. FAQs 11. How we test

It also allows you to speak instead of typing and converts your spoken words into text. This can save you a lot of time and energy and is very useful for anyone who might have difficulty typing for any period, such as those with RSI or a disability.

Although dictation software has been around since the 1990s, it was mostly seen as a gimmick due to low accuracy. However, technological advancements have made them more accurate and usable; you can now dictate text with accuracy levels of over 90%.

The most popular office software, Word, comes with a built-in speech-to-text converter, and it's back engine has almost certainly been helped by Microsoft 's purchase of the Dragon software company, which leads the field when it comes to dictation software for all applications. Apple and Google also provide similar options for their software platforms.

However, there are other competitors worth looking at, according to your needs and budget. Below we list what we think are the best dictation software options currently available.

We've also featured the best speech-to-text software.

The best dictation software of 2024 in full:

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Website screenshot for Dragon Professional

1. Dragon Professional Individual

Our expert review:

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid.

Dragon Professional Individual dictation software is widely recognized as the best in the business. Dragon products are reliable, easy to use, and among the most accurate available.

Having used Dragon dictation software on our laptop, we can attest to its best-in-class performance. In a 300 word test, the software got 299 words correct.

Like most advanced dictation software platforms, Dragon software leverages deep learning technology and artificial neural networks. These technologies enable Dragon to adjust its transcription based on several factors, such as the amount of ambient noise, the speaker’s accent, and even the tone with which they speak.

For businesses, several Dragon dictation products may be suitable. This is because Dragon has gone beyond merely offering one software package for all purposes, and has created dictation software custom-designed for specific industries. The most popular are Dragon Legal, Dragon Medical One, and Dragon Law Enforcement.

The biggest downside of Dragon dictation software is the substantial cost for a license. However, Nuance are currently offering 12-months' access to Dragon Anywhere at no extra cost with any purchase of Dragon Home or Dragon Professional Individual.

Read our full Dragon Professional Individual review .

^ Back to the top

2. Dragon Anywhere

So powerful is Dragon’s mobile dictation software that it deserves its own spot on our list. Unlike its desktop counterpart, Dragon Anywhere is purchased through an ongoing subscription, rather than a one-off purchase.

As you might expect, the mobile version of Dragon is a pocket-sized version of the desktop software. There is little if any compromise on performance or accuracy. Dragon Anywhere uses cloud-based datasets and deep learning algorithms to provide a desktop experience on mobile.

Another feature we like is the ability to teach the software new words, expand its vocabulary, and ensure that it works for you, not the other way around. This makes using Dragon Anywhere a stress-free experience.

One of our only complaints about the platform is that you can only dictate text from within the app. If you want to move the transcribed text to another application, you’ll have to copy and paste it. This puts the platform at a disadvantage compared to in-built dictation software used in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or on iOS devices.

Also note that Nuance are currently offering 12-months' access to Dragon Anywhere at no extra cost with any purchase of Dragon Home or Dragon Professional Individual.

Read our full Dragon Anywhere review .

3. Microsoft Word speech to text

Although not a standalone dictation software platform, we believe Microsoft Word’s dictation functionalities merit a spot on this list. Built directly into Microsoft Word , and included with all Microsoft 365 subscriptions, it is a powerful and accurate dictation tool.

The platform relies on vast amounts of training data and artificial neural networks, meaning it is continuously improving its ability to transcribe voice to text. Having tested Microsoft’s dictation software, we’re confident it competes in accuracy and ease of use with the leading dictation software providers.

There are few standout features to mention, but we see this as a strength. Microsoft Word’s dictation software is straightforward to use, with no setup or installations required. It is accessible directly from the Word application, and it only takes one click to begin voice typing.

Several voice commands enable you to take control of the document. These include punctuation marks and formatting tools.

A final thing we like about Microsoft Word’s speech to text software is its support for nine different languages, with many more in the testing stage.

Read our full Microsoft Word review .

One of the few dictation software platforms that can come close to Dragon is Otter. This popular software package is one of the easiest to use. It comes with several advanced features that separate it from some of the lower-ranked providers in this list.

One of our favorite features is speaker identification. This is ideal for meetings or for when multiple are speaking in succession. When Otter software identifies a change in the speaker, it will signal this in the transcribed text.

Otter also allows you to record from directly within the app, or import audio and video files stored on your device. And unlike Dragon, an Otter subscription includes a mobile version of the software.

There are three Otter plans available. The free-forever plan is competitive and enables you to transcribe up to 600 minutes of audio per month. The Premium Plan includes 6000 minutes of transcription per month and a suite of premium features. A Teams plan offers all features mentioned above plus enterprise-specific features.

Read our full Otter review .

5. Apple dictation

Apple’s built-in dictation software is available for free on all Apple devices. It certainly isn’t the best dictation software overall, but it’s earned the final spot on our list because it is free yet highly functional.

The software can be accessed directly from the on-screen keyboard on an iOS device, or via a keyboard shortcut on macOS devices. There is no installation or setup required—just activate the software and begin to speak.

The software is reliable, with an accuracy rate of roughly 95%. However, you can only dictate for short periods at a time, meaning this software isn’t ideal for long texts or for people who dictate throughout their day.

Apple dictation is ideal for infrequent use or for those who want a free but reliable dictation solution.

6. Google Docs Voice Typing

Google Docs is a popular online world processor offered by Google, the tech giant best known for its search engine. It works just like Microsoft Word but online instead of a desktop app. It’s also free to use, so you don’t have to pay any extra fee for a dictation tool.

Google Docs allows you to type with your voice. When you open the software, just select Tools > Voice Typing and give it access to your device’s microphone. Then, you can click the pop-up microphone button anytime you want to dictate text. During our test, it was very accurate and typed in the correct words that were dictated. Just ensure you speak loudly and legibly because little pauses and stutters can confuse it.

All you need to use Google Docs is a working Google account. There’s no setup or installation required; you just have to sign in and open a new document. The drawback is that you can not use the voice typing feature offline.

Read our full Google Docs review .

7. SpeechTexter

SpeechTexter is a free tool that lets you dictate words and convert your voice into text for easy note-taking. You can access it online or download the Android app. There’s no desktop app or app for Apple devices like the iPhone and iPad, which is a drawback.

One good thing about this tool is that supports many languages other than English. In total, it supports over 70 languages including ranging from English, French, and Chinese to less popular ones like Khmer, Sinhala, and Sundanese. However, we observed complaints from users that SpeechTexter is not as good at transcribing other languages as it does with English. This is not surprising because English is the most popular language globally, meaning more training data is available for the software to recognize English words.

You’ll have to grant SpeechTexter access to your microphone to use it. Then, you can dictate words and automatically convert them to text. We tested it using English and it was very accurate. The slight flaw we noticed is that SpeechTexter added extra spaces between some words, which needed editing.

Read our guide to using SpeechTexter .

8. Braina Pro

Braina Pro is a sophisticated speech recognition program that supports over 100 languages. You can dictate text to your device with ease, e.g., to fill out online forms or type on Microsoft Word.

You can download the Android or iOS app for Braina Pro. It does not have a dedicated desktop app but, instead, you can turn your iOS or Android device into an external microphone for your desktop and dictate text. This dictation tool is very sophisticated and has high accuracy. It can work in noisy environments even though that isn’t ideal.

Out of the box, Braina can recognize unusual vocabulary, which is helpful if you’re in a technical field where you use uncommon words. Even at that, you can train the software to recognize custom words and give it custom dictation commands, e.g., “New Line” = start a new line of text or “Space” = insert a space in the document.

Unlike some other tools on this list, Braina Pro is not free. You have to pay $79 for an annual license and continually renew it or $199 for a lifetime license.

Read our full Braina Pro review .

Website screenshot for Just Press Record

9. Just Press Record

Just Press Record is an audio tool built specifically for iOS users. Transcribing is one of its main features, so you can easily turn your speech into searchable text. This software is user-friendly, having the kind of visually-appealing and smooth interface that iOS is known for.

Once you launch the app, just tap the button to dictate your words and you'll automatically see them written. It supports over 30 languages, which is large but not as large as some other software on this list. You can set up custom voice commands for the app to prevent punctuation errors.

One good thing about Just Press Record is that it syncs with iCloud , Apple’s popular cloud storage tool. Thus, you can access your voice recordings and transcribed text from any iOS device linked to your account. For example, you can dictate with your iPhone and switch to your iPad to edit the final text.

Once you’re done dictating and transcribing your text, you can store it on your device or share it with other people through any app that supports sending audio or text. Likewise, you can keep it in your iCloud account for future use.

Just Press Record is famous for its ease of use and sophistication. However, it is not free; you’ll have to pay $4.99 to download the app.

We've also listed the best text to speech software .

Which dictation software is best for you?

When deciding which dictation software to download and use, first consider what your actual needs are, as sometimes free and budget software options may only provide basic options, so if you need to use advanced tools you may find a paid platform is much more worthwhile. Additionally, higher-end software can really cater for every need, so do ensure you have a good idea of which dictation features you think you may require.

To test for the best dictation software we first set up an account with the relevant software platform, whether as a download or as an online service. We then tested the service to see how the software could be used for different purposes and in different situations. The aim was to push each dictation software platform to see how useful its basic tools were and also how easy it was to get to grips with any more advanced tools.

Read how we test, rate, and review products on TechRadar .

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The Best Dictation Software

A person in front of a MacBook computer and a microphone using dictation software.

By Kaitlyn Wells

Dictation software makes it easy to navigate your computer and communicate without typing a single phrase.

This flexibility is great if you simply need a break from your keyboard, but it’s especially important for people with language-processing disorders or physical disabilities. Firing off a quick text or typing a memo can be difficult—or even totally infeasible—if you have limited hand dexterity or chronic pain, but this kind of software can make such tasks a relative breeze.

After considering 18 options, we’ve found that Apple Voice Control and Nuance Dragon Professional v16 are more accurate, efficient, and usable than any other dictation tools we’ve tested.

Everything we recommend

Apple Voice Control

The best dictation tool for apple devices.

Apple’s Voice Control is easier to use and produces accurate transcriptions more frequently than the competition. It also offers a robust command hub that makes corrections a breeze.

Buying Options

Upgrade pick.

Nuance Dragon Professional v16

The best dictation tool for windows pcs.

Dragon Professional v16 is the most accurate dictation tool we tested for any operating system—but its hefty price tag is a lot to swallow.

But the technology behind dictation software (also called speech-to-text or voice-recognition software) has some faults. These apps have difficult learning curves, and the inherent bias that humans program into them means that their accuracy can vary, especially for people with various accents, sociolects and dialects like African American Vernacular English, or speech impediments. Still, for those able to work within the technology’s constraints, our picks are the best options available for many people who need assistance using a word-processing tool.

Apple’s Voice Control comes installed with macOS, iOS, and iPadOS, so it’s free to anyone who owns an Apple device. In our testing, it produced accurate transcriptions most of the time, especially for speakers with standard American accents. Competing tools from Google and Microsoft averaged 15 points lower than Apple’s software in our accuracy tests. Among our panel of testers, those with limited hand dexterity loved Voice Control’s assistive-technology features, which made it easy to navigate the OS and edit messages hands-free.

But while the experience that Voice Control provides was the best we found for Apple devices, it often misunderstood words or entire phrases spoken by testers with regional or other American accents or speech impediments such as stutters. Although such accuracy issues are expected for speech-recognition modeling that has historically relied on homogenous data sources , other tools (specifically, Nuance Dragon Professional v16 , which is available only for Windows) performed slightly better in this regard. Apple’s tool may also lag slightly if you’re running multiple processor-intensive programs at once, which our panelists said slowed their productivity.

At $700, Nuance Dragon Professional v16 is the most expensive speech-recognition tool we’ve found, but it’s the best option for people who own Windows PCs. Professional v16 replaces our previous Windows PC pick, the now-discontinued Nuance Dragon Home 15 . It offers added functionality for those working in finance, healthcare, and human services—and is probably overkill for most people. (If you need a free PC option, consider Windows Voice Recognition , but know it has significant flaws .)

Like its predecessor, Professional v16 involves a learning curve at first, but the Dragon tutorial does a great job of getting you started. Our panelist with language-processing disabilities said Dragon was one of the most accurate dictation options they tried, and the robust command features made it possible for them to quickly navigate their machine. Like our Apple pick, Dragon had trouble with various American dialects and international accents; it performed better for those testers with “neutral” American accents. It also struggled to eliminate all background noise, though you can mitigate such problems by using an external microphone or headset. Although Dragon produced the fastest transcriptions of any tool we tested, this wasn’t an unqualified positive: Half of our panelists said that they preferred slower real-time transcriptions to Dragon’s sentence-by-sentence transcription method because they found its longer pauses between sentences’ appearance on their screen to be distracting.

The research

Why you should trust us, who this is—and isn’t—for, how we picked and tested, the best dictation tool for apple devices: apple voice control, the best dictation tool for windows pcs: nuance dragon professional v16, other good dictation software, how to use dictation software, should you worry about your privacy when using dictation software, the competition.

As a senior staff writer at Wirecutter, I’ve spent five years covering complex topics, writing articles focusing on subjects such as dog DNA tests , blue-light-blocking glasses , email unsubscribe tools , and technology-manipulation tactics used by domestic abusers . I was an early adopter of dictation software back in the early aughts, with a much less polished version of Nuance’s Dragon software. Like other people I interviewed for this guide, I quickly abandoned the software because of its poor performance and difficult learning curve. Since then, I’ve occasionally used dictation and accessibility tools on my devices to send quick messages when my hands are sticky from baking treats or covered in hair product from my morning routine. While writing this guide, I dictated about a third of the text using the tools we recommend.

But I’m not someone who is dependent on dictation tools to communicate, so I consulted a variety of experts in the AI and disability communities to better understand the role that this kind of software plays in making the world more accessible for people with disabilities. I read articles and peer-reviewed studies, I browsed disability forums that I frequent for advice on my chronic pain, and I solicited input from affinity organizations to learn what makes a great dictation tool. And I brushed up on the latest research in AI technology and voice-recognition bias from Harvard Business Review , the Stanford University Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Institute , and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Speech Accessibility Project , among others.

I also chatted with Meenakshi Das , a disability advocate and software engineer at Microsoft, and Diego Mariscal, CEO of the disabled-founders startup accelerator 2Gether-International , about the limitations of dictation tools for people with various disabilities. I discussed the ethics of artificial intelligence with Princeton University PhD candidate Sayash Kapoor . I attended a lecture by Kapoor’s advisor, Arvind Narayanan, PhD , entitled “ The Limits Of The Quantitative Approach To Discrimination .” I spoke with Christopher Manning , co-director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence at Stanford University, about the evolution of dictation software. And I consulted with Wirecutter’s editor of accessibility coverage, Claire Perlman, to ensure that my approach to this guide remained accessible, nuanced, and reflective of the disability community’s needs.

Lastly, I assembled a testing panel of nine people with varying degrees of experience using dictation software, including several with disabilities ranging from speech impediments to limited hand dexterity to severe brain trauma. Our testers also self-reported accents ranging from “neutral” American to “vague” Louisianan to “noticeable” Indian.

Assistive technology such as speech-to-text tools can help you do everything from sending hands-free texts while driving to typing up a term paper without ever touching your keyboard.

We wrote this guide with two types of users in mind: people with disabilities who rely on dictation software to communicate, and people with free use of their hands who occasionally use these tools when they need to work untethered from their keyboard. However, we put a stronger focus on people with disabilities because dictation software can better serve that population and can ultimately make it easier for them to access the world and communicate.

Users with limited or no hand dexterity, limb differences, or language-processing challenges may find speech-recognition software useful because it gives them the freedom to communicate in their preferred environment. For example, our panelists with learning disabilities said they liked to mentally wander or “brain dump” while using voice-recognition software to complete projects, and they felt less pressure to write down everything perfectly the first time.

Still, our approach had limits: We focused on each tool’s ability to integrate with and edit text documents, rather than to verbally navigate an entire computer screen, which is a feature that some people with cerebral palsy, Parkinson’s disease, quadriplegia, and other neurological disabilities need—especially if they have no speaking issues and limited or no motor control. Our picks offer some accessibility features, such as grid navigation, text editing, and voice commands, that make using devices easier, but not everyone who tested the software for us used those features extensively, and the majority of voice-recognition software we considered lacks these premium options.

Aside from the absence of accessibility features, there are other potential hindrances to these software programs’ usefulness, such as how well they work with a range of accents.

The biases of dictation software

Speech-recognition software first became increasingly available in the 1980s and 1990s, with the introduction of talking typewriters for those with low vision , commercial speech-recognition software, and collect-call processing, according to Christopher Manning , co-director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence . But “speech recognition used to be really awful,” he said. “If you were an English-Indian speaker, the chances of it [understanding you] used to be about zero; now it’s not that bad.”

As we found in our tests, an individual’s definition of “bad” can vary widely depending on their accent and their speaking ability. And our AI experts agreed that the limitations of the natural language processing (NLP) technology used in dictation software are laid bare when faced with various accents, dialects, and speech patterns from around the world.

Sayash Kapoor , a second-year PhD candidate studying AI ethics at Princeton University, said that NLP tools are often trained on websites like Reddit and Wikipedia, making them biased against marginalized genders and people from Black, indigenous, and other communities of color. The end result is that most dictation software works best with canonical accents, said Manning, such as British and American English. Our experts told us that some speech-to-text tools don’t have fine-grain modeling for different dialects and sociolects, let alone gender identity, race, and geographic location.

In fact, one study found that speech-to-text tools by Amazon, Apple, Google, IBM, and Microsoft exhibited “ substantial racial disparities ,” as the average word-error rate for Black speakers was nearly twice that of white speakers. This limitation affects not only how easily speakers can dictate their work but also how effectively they can correct phrases and give formatting commands—which makes all the difference between a seamless or painful user experience.

Inherent bias in speech-recognition tools extends to speech impediments, as well. Wirecutter approached several people with stutters or other types of speech and language disabilities, such as those resulting from cerebral palsy or Parkinson’s disease, about joining our panel of testers. But most declined, citing a history of poor experiences with dictation tools. Disability advocate Meenakshi Das, who has a stutter, said she doesn’t use any speech-to-text tools because more work needs to be done industry-wide to make the software truly accessible. (Das is a software engineer at Microsoft, which owns Nuance , the company that produces our pick for Windows PCs .)

Both Das and Kapoor have noticed a trend of accelerators working to close the bias gap for people with accents, speech impediments, and language-processing disabilities in order to make it possible for those groups to use dictation tools. In October 2022, for example, the University of Illinois announced a partnership with Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and nonprofits on the Speech Accessibility Project to improve voice recognition for people with disabilities and diverse speech patterns.

But until truly inclusive speech-to-text tools arrive, people in those underserved groups can check out our advice on how to get the most out of the software that’s currently available.

We solicited insights on speech-to-text tools from our experts and read software reviews, peer-reviewed studies, disability forums, and organization websites to learn what makes a great dictation tool.

We identified 18 dictation software packages and compared their features, platform compatibility, privacy policies, price, and third-party reviews. Among the features we looked for were a wide variety of useful voice commands, ease of navigation, the presence of customizable commands and vocabulary, multi-language support, and built-in hint tools or tutorials. Those programs that ranked highest on our criteria, generally offering a mix of robust features and wide platform availability, made our short list for testing:

Apple Dictation ( macOS , iOS , iPadOS )
Apple Voice Control ( macOS , iOS , iPadOS )
Google Assistant on Gboard
Google Docs Voice Typing
Microsoft Word Dictate
Nuance Dragon Home 15 (discontinued)
Windows Voice Recognition
Windows Voice Typing

We defaulted these tools to the American English setting and rotated using each tool for a couple of hours on our computers and mobile devices. Afterward, we graded their performance on accuracy, ease of use, speed, noise interference, and app compatibility. We placed an emphasis on accuracy rates, performing a series of control tests to see how well the dictation tools recognized 150- to 200-word samples of casual speech, the lyrics of Alicia Keys’s song “No One,” and scientific jargon from a peer-reviewed vaccine study . From there, we advanced the dictation tools with the highest marks to our panel-testing round.

Nine panelists tested our semifinalists over the course of three weeks. Our diverse group of testers included those with disabilities ranging from speech impediments to limited hand dexterity to severe brain trauma. They self-reported accents ranging from American to Catalan to Indian. All the panelists had varying degrees of prior experience with dictation software.

Meet our testers:

Aum N., 34, who works in quality assurance and has an Indian accent
Ben K., 41, an editor with a “moderate” stutter and a “standard” American accent
Chandana C., 64, an analyst with a “noticeable” Indian accent
Claire P., 31, an editor with a musculoskeletal disability called arthrogryposis
Davis L., 27, an audio producer with a “vague” Louisianan accent
Franc C. F., 38, a software engineer from Spain
Juan R., 52, who survived a car accident that caused severe brain trauma and now has limited short-term memory and limited reading comprehension
Polina G., 49, an engineering manager with ADHD
Vicki C., 33, a software engineer with a shoulder injury and repetitive stress injury

The panelists sent text messages, drafted emails, and coded software using the various speech-to-text tools, after which they provided extensive notes on their experiences and identified which tools they would feel comfortable using regularly or purchasing on their own.

To arrive at our picks, we combined the panelists’ experiences with the results of our control round, as well as recommendations from our experts.

Screenshot of a Microsoft Word document with text transcribed using Apple Voice Control.

Price: free Operating system: macOS, iOS, iPadOS Supported languages: 21 to 64 languages , depending on the settings, including Hindi, Thai, and several dialects of English and Italian.

Apple Voice Control is easy to use, outperforms major competitors from Google, Microsoft, and Nuance, and offers dozens of command prompts for a smoother experience, an especially helpful feature for people with limited hand dexterity. Because Voice Control is deeply integrated into the Apple ecosystem, it’s more accessible than many of the other tools we tested. It’s available for free in macOS , iOS, and iPadOS ; you can activate it by going to Settings > Accessibility on your preferred device. Once you activate it, you may notice that it works similarly to the Dictation and Siri functions on your phone. That’s because they use the same speech-recognition algorithms. This means the learning curve inherent to all speech-to-text tools is marginally less difficult with Voice Control, particularly if you’ve used Dictation or Siri before, as they’re already familiar with your speech patterns. (If you’re wondering how Dictation and Voice Control differ, Dictation is a speech-to-text tool that omits the various accessibility and navigation functions of Voice Control.)

In our tests, Voice Control routinely produced more accurate transcriptions than the competition, including Nuance Dragon, Google Docs Voice Typing , and Windows Voice Recognition . In our control tests, it was 87% accurate with casual, non-accented speech. Comparatively, Dragon was 82% accurate, while Windows Voice Recognition was only 64% accurate. Google Docs Voice Typing performed on a par with Voice Control, but it failed at transcribing contractions, slang, and symbols much more frequently. Most of the tools we tested, Voice Control included, were about 10% less accurate during our jargon-rich control tests that included scientific words from an immunology study. (One notable exception in this regard was Dragon, which showed no noticeable drop-off with more technical language.)

Chart comparing Apple Voice Control transcriptions with the original lyrics of a song.

Half of our testers agreed that they would regularly use Voice Control, and that they would even pay for it if they relied on dictation software. Specific words they used to describe the software included “accurate,” “good,” and “impressive.” Still, our real-world tests pushed Voice Control to its limits, and the software often misunderstood words or phrases from testers who had diverse accents or stutters. Unfortunately, such accuracy issues are to be expected for speech-recognition modeling that has historically relied on homogenous data sources. But Voice Control’s performance improves the more you use it , so don’t give up immediately if you find inaccuracies frustrating at first.

Apple’s assistive technology was a standout feature for our testers with limited hand dexterity, as it allowed them to navigate their machines and edit their messages hands-free. These command prompts have a challenging learning curve, so you’re unlikely to have a flawless experience out of the gate. But asking “What can I say?” brings up a library that automatically filters contextually relevant commands depending on your actions. For example, selecting a desktop folder produces a short list of prompts related to file access (such as “Open document”), while moving the cursor to a word-processing tool brings up “Type.” The interface allows you to quickly sort through the relevant commands, a feature that some panelists found useful.

Screenshot of Microsoft Word document with Apple Voice Control’s grid over it.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Our panelists with accents experienced mixed accuracy results using Apple Voice Control. Testers with nonstandard English accents or speech impediments said that the performance of Apple’s software improved when they spoke slowly. “When using it to type, sometimes it got things quite off,” noted panelist Franc, a native Spanish and Catalan speaker who tested the software in English. Similarly, my own experience dictating this guide proved challenging: I found that I had to overenunciate my words to prevent Voice Control from capitalizing random words and mistyping the occasional phrase.

Our panelists agreed that Apple Voice Control was the slowest tool they tested for transcribing text, though that difference in speed was a matter of seconds, not minutes. Sometimes speech-recognition software processes a complete sentence, rather than single words, before displaying the text on the screen, a tendency that about half of our panelists found frustrating. “It was really distracting to wait to see whether [Voice Control] had picked up what I said,” noted tester Vicki, who has a repetitive stress injury that makes typing difficult.

Wirecutter’s editor of accessibility coverage, Claire Perlman, who also served on our panel, echoed this sentiment. She said the lag time was marginal at the start of her session but became noticeably painful the longer she used the software. Claire also noted that her 2019 MacBook Pro, equipped with a 1.4 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, overheated while running Voice Control for extended periods. “The lag that I’m experiencing now is very distracting and makes me feel like I have to slow my thought process in order to have it typed correctly,” she said. We attempted to replicate this issue with a 2019 MacBook Pro equipped with a 2.6 GHz six-core Intel Core i7 processor, and after an hour of use we found that Apple’s Speech Recognition process fluctuated between occupying 54% to 89% of our CPU and that Apple Dictation’s usage ranged from 1% to 35%, confirming that the robust platform requires a lot of processing power. That said, you may find that the lag disappears when you close other CPU-intensive programs, such as Chrome or a game.

As we previously mentioned, successfully wielding Voice Control’s command prompts requires experience and finesse. Testers who read through the quick-start guide and watched YouTube tutorials reported the easiest experience. “There is a learning curve,” said tester Chandana, who has an Indian accent. But the software’s “What can I say?” screen was a big help, Chandana said: “I was able to use many functions that I wanted to use before but did not know that I could.”

Lastly, Voice Control works best within Apple’s own apps, and some people may find that inherent limitation challenging or annoying. “I found it to be more accurate in Pages and iMessage than Google Docs and WhatsApp,” Claire noted. In just one example, although Voice Control correctly captured dictated commands such as “Select line” or “Delete ” in Pages , it couldn’t execute them in Google Docs.

Screenshot of a Microsoft Word document with text transcribed using Nuance Dragon Home 15.

Price: $700 per license Operating system: Windows Supported languages: English, French, Spanish (depending on purchase region)

Nuance Dragon Professional v16 is the best option for Windows PC users because it surpasses the Microsoft Word and Windows dictation tools in accuracy, quickly processes and displays transcriptions, and offers a helpful training module and selection of command prompts to get you swiftly up to speed. Unlike most other dictation software in our tests, it worked well with technical, jargon-heavy language, an advantage that could make it useful for people who work in the sciences. (While we only tested the now-discontinued Nuance Dragon Home 15 for this guide, Professional v16 uses the same technology while making it easier to dictate large amounts of data in a corporate setting. Plus, if you’ve used earlier versions of Dragon in the past, you’ll be happy to know that this version of Dragon represents a significant improvement over previous generations.)

Our panelists said that Dragon was one of the most accurate speech-recognition tools they tried, describing it as “extremely accurate,” “reliable,” and in at least one case, “flawless.” Wirecutter’s Claire Perlman, who has arthrogryposis , said, “I was truly blown away by the accuracy of Dragon. It had only two to three errors the whole time I used it.” Our control tests found similar results. Dragon was 82% accurate in transcribing casual speech (slightly behind Apple Voice Control, which produced 87% accuracy), and in transcribing technical language, it didn’t exhibit the steep decline in accuracy that we saw from other software, including Apple’s Voice Control and Dictation tools.

Chart comparing Nuance Dragon Home 15 transcriptions with the original lyrics of a song.

Dragon’s transcriptions appeared with minimal lag time on testers’ screens, whereas tools like Otter and Windows Voice Recognition took twice as long to produce phrases or sentences. But panelists found Dragon’s sentence-by-sentence transcription to be a mixed bag. Some testers preferred to see entire phrases or sentences appear simultaneously on the screen. “The speed combined with the accuracy meant that I did not feel like I had to pay constant attention to what was happening on the screen and could instead focus on my thoughts and writing,” Claire said. Other testers preferred real-time, word-by-word transcriptions: “There were definitely moments where I was sitting there drumming my fingers and waiting,” said Wirecutter editor Ben Keough. Dragon lets you adjust for less lag time or better accuracy by going to Options > Miscellaneous > Speed vs. Accuracy. But we didn’t notice a difference in performance when we changed this setting during our control tests.

Like all the dictation software we tested, Dragon requires a bit of know-how to get the most out of its features and achieve the best performance, but its multitude of accessibility voice commands were a favorite feature among our panelists. Unlike most of the options we tested, Dragon launches with a brief tutorial that walks you through how to use it, from setting up the best microphone position to dictating text to using punctuation prompts.

You can revisit the tutorial at any point if you need a refresher, which panelist Juan found helpful with his traumatic brain injury and short-term memory problems. “The tutorial gives you a good start on its functionality,” he said. Wirecutter’s Claire Perlman noted, “I used to use Dragon years ago, and back then, training the system to recognize your voice was an onerous process. This time, I found the whole setup and training process genuinely helpful and very quick. And I felt like I could really operate it hands-free.”

Screenshot of Dragon Home’s interactive tutorial and correction menu.

The biggest drawback to Dragon is that it costs $700 per license. The experts we spoke with said that this barrier to entry may make using this software infeasible for many people who are disabled, including those who are on a limited income because they can’t find remote work that accommodates their disabilities. Additionally, having to download and enable the software can be a hassle that reminds people with disabilities that their situation is an afterthought in the digital age—especially in comparison with Apple Voice Control or even Windows Voice Recognition, which are integrated into device operating systems.

This software is compatible only with the Windows desktop operating system; you can’t install it on Android, Apple’s operating systems, or ChromeOS. (That is, unless you partition your hard drive, but in that case you run the risk of slowing down the operating system, which one panelist with a drive partition experienced.) Users can subscribe to Dragon Anywhere ($150 a year), which works with iOS and Android devices. But because our panelists didn’t test Dragon Anywhere, we can’t comment on its usability or accuracy.

Dragon isn’t a speech-recognition tool that you can use right out of the box—the first time you load the software, it prompts you to complete a series of short tutorials. This means it’s important to set aside some time getting to know the program before rushing to write, say, an overdue memo or term paper. (That said, regardless of the speech-to-text tool you choose, we recommend familiarizing yourself with it before diving into a text-heavy project.)

Although Dragon was the most accessible and accurate Windows-compatible dictation software we tested, it still faltered in its transcriptions at times, especially for testers who didn’t use a dedicated microphone or headset. Nuance recommends buying its Dragon USB headset ($35) or Dragon Bluetooth headset ($150) for the best experience and says that users can improve the program’s accuracy rate by making corrections to text via voice prompt and running its Accuracy Tuning feature to optimize its language models. Judging from our testing, we can say that any high-quality dedicated mic that’s positioned correctly will improve your results. Even so, one panelist who used a wired headset noticed that Dragon could not capture diverse names like “Yeiser” but had no issues with traditionally Anglo names like “Brady.”

Finally, this dictation software is available in only three languages—English, French, and Spanish—a stark reminder that accessibility isn’t always accessible to all. Within those constraints, you can specify a language region to ensure that the spelling matches your preferred region, such as Canadian English versus American English. (The ability to purchase a preferred-language license may vary depending on where you live .)

If you want a free Windows-compatible option: Consider Windows Voice Recognition . In our tests, its accuracy rate was 64% compared to Dragon’s 82%, but like Dragon you can train Windows to better understand your voice the more you use it. Other free tools we tested that had subpar accuracy rates can’t be trained, including Google Docs Voice Typing .

Our panelists agreed that no dictation software is perfect, but for the most part, such programs’ functionality improves the more you use them. Here’s how to get the most out of your speech-to-text tool:

Take the tutorial. Seriously. Some of these tools have difficult learning curves, with specialized commands for numerals, punctuation, and formatting. Before dictating your memoir, make sure to review the software’s instruction manual and keep a list of its command shortcuts nearby.
Set your primary language. Less than half of the tools we tested allow you to set your primary language if it’s outside the country of origin. But if your tool has this option, make sure to use it. This can make the difference between the software transcribing theater or theatre , or even recognizing your accent at all.
For immediate accuracy, enunciate. For long-term success, speak naturally. Many dictation tools offer vocabulary builders or claim to learn your speech patterns over time, so don’t force yourself to sound like a machine—unless you want to use that stiff voice every time you dictate.
Consider a dedicated microphone. Speech-to-text tools, including our top picks, work better when you keep your mouth close to the microphone and work in a quiet environment. In general, you can cut out the majority of background disturbances and transcription misfires by using a dedicated external USB microphone or a wireless or wired headset that crisply captures your voice.
Pay attention to the on/off switch. Some of these tools go into sleep mode after a few seconds of silence, or they may pick up side conversations you don’t want to transcribe. If you pause to collect your thoughts or turn around to answer a colleague’s question, make sure the dictation tool is on the right setting before you speak.

You give up some privacy when you speak into a microphone so that a speech-to-text tool can transcribe your words. As is the case when you’re speaking on the phone, anyone nearby may hear what you say. And many dictation tools feed your audio into their learning algorithms to improve their service or to sell you something. In some cases, a company may even turn over all of your speech-to-text recordings and transcriptions to law enforcement. Ultimately, if you’re dealing with sensitive data and have another means to communicate—which we know isn’t possible for many people who need these tools—it’s best not to share your information with a speech-to-text program. Of course, we could say the same thing about sending unsecured texts or uploading documents into the cloud, too.

Here’s what the makers of our picks do with your data:

Apple’s Voice Control processes dictations and commands only locally, on your device , so no personal data is shared or saved with a third party. But some information that you speak into sibling programs Dictation and Siri may transmit to Apple’s servers. (Because many people, including several of our panelists, use Dictation and Siri, we concluded that the differences are worth calling attention to.)

Typically, Apple can’t access Dictation and Siri audio recordings that you compose on your device unless you’re dictating into a search box or the service requires third-party app access. Apple may collect transcripts of Siri requests, dictation transcripts, IP addresses, and contact information to perform app tasks, improve its services, and market its products. And anytime Apple interacts with a third-party app, such as a transcription service for meeting notes, that voice data may be sent to Apple, or you could be subject to that app’s separate terms and conditions and privacy policy. When you opt in to Apple’s “Improve Siri and Dictation,” the audio recordings and transcripts that Apple saves are accessible to its employees , and data is retained for two years, though the company may extend retention beyond that period at its discretion.

Apple also uses your audio and transcripts to market products and services. You can opt out of allowing Apple to review your audio files under System Settings ( Settings on mobile devices) > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements ; you can delete your six-month history by going through System Settings ( Settings on mobile devices) > Siri & Search > Siri & Dictation History . With iOS 14.6, however, according to Gizmodo , Apple may still collect some analytics data even if you opt out.

As for information shared with third parties, certain providers must delete personal information at the end of the transaction or take undisclosed steps to protect your data. And Apple may disclose your information to law enforcement agencies as required by law.

Nuance, which owns Dragon software, routinely collects dictation data. The service can access any sensitive information you dictate, including medical records or proprietary information, and doesn’t always require your direct consent to do so. For example, in its privacy policy , Nuance says, “If we are processing personal data on behalf of a third party that has direct patient access, it will be the third party’s responsibility to obtain the consent.” And “snippets” of audio recordings are reviewed by people who manually transcribe the data in order to improve Nuance’s services. Nuance retains data for three years after you stop using the services, and you can request that the company delete your data record .

Additionally, although Nuance collects electronic data such as your IP address and registration information to market its products, the company says it doesn’t sell customer data to third parties. However, Nuance affiliates and partners may have access to the data through its sales division or customer service division. And like Apple, Nuance may share personal data to comply with the law .

Beyond considering dictation software in particular, be sure to examine the data-retention policies of any software you’re dictating into (whether that’s Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or whatever else), which fall under the maker’s own privacy practices.

Apple Dictation ( macOS , iOS , iPadOS ) performs similarly to our pick, Apple Voice Control, but it lacks the robust features that many people want in a speech-to-text tool, including key command functions.

We can’t recommend Microsoft Word Dictate or Otter due to their transcription lag times and subpar accuracy rates, which ranged from 54% to 76%, far behind Apple Voice Control’s 87% and Dragon’s 82%. Additionally, Otter’s platform is not a great choice for document dictation, as it doesn’t integrate well with word-processing tools; it’s better suited for live-event closed captioning.

The Braina Pro tool was popular in the mid-aughts, but its website is outdated, and it hasn’t had any user reviews in years.

The Google Assistant on Gboard interface works only with Gboard-compatible mobile devices, which means it’s useless to desktop users and anyone who doesn’t own an Android or iOS smartphone.

In our tests, Google Docs Voice Typing failed to accurately capture sociolects and casual speech. It also doesn’t work well for people with speech impediments, has poor formatting features, and is nearly impossible to use for anyone who can’t access a mouse and keyboard.

IBM’s Watson Speech to Text is a transcription service that charges by the minute after the first 500 minutes. And the free plan deletes your transcription history after a month of inactivity. We think those shortcomings are enough to disqualify it.

Windows Voice Typing isn’t as robust a tool as Windows Voice Recognition, and we found its accessibility commands to be limiting.

We considered several Chrome-specific apps, including Chromebook Dictation , Speechnotes , and SpeechTexter , but we skipped testing them because of their limited features and usage restrictions that made them inaccessible to most people.

We also considered the following options but quickly learned that they’re designed for specific commercial uses:

Amazon Transcribe is built for commercial products.
Speechmatics is designed for commercial products, such as live transcription for video conferences, so it’s too expensive and inaccessible for the average person.
Suki Assistant is designed for medical dictation.
Verbit offers transcription services for businesses.

This article was edited by Ben Keough and Erica Ogg.

Meenakshi Das, disability advocate and software engineer, Microsoft , text interview , September 30, 2022

Sayash Kapoor, PhD candidate, Center for Information Technology Policy, Princeton University , phone interview , October 6, 2022

Christopher Manning, co-director, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, Stanford University , Zoom interview , October 5, 2022

Diego Mariscal, founder, CEO, and chief disabled officer, 2Gether-International , Zoom interview , October 26, 2022

Steve Dent, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta and Google to improve speech recognition for people with disabilities , Engadget , October 3, 2022

Su Lin Blodgett, Lisa Green, Brendan O’Connor, Demographic Dialectal Variation in Social Media: A Case Study of African-American English (PDF) , Proceedings of the 2016 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing , November 1, 2016

Prabha Kannan, Is It My Turn Yet? Teaching a Voice Assistant When to Speak , Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, Stanford University , October 10, 2022

Allison Koenecke, Andrew Nam, Emily Lake, Sharad Goel, Racial disparities in automated speech recognition , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , March 23, 2020

Speech Recognition for Learning , LD OnLine, “Tech Works” brief from the National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI) , August 1, 2010

Arvind Narayanan, The Limits Of The Quantitative Approach To Discrimination , James Baldwin Lecture Series, Department of African American Studies, Princeton University , October 11, 2022

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The best dictation software in 2024

These speech-to-text apps will save you time without sacrificing accuracy..

The early days of dictation software were like your friend that mishears lyrics: lots of enthusiasm but little accuracy. Now, AI is out of Pandora's box, both in the news and in the apps we use, and dictation apps are getting better and better because of it. It's still not 100% perfect, but you'll definitely feel more in control when using your voice to type.

I took to the internet to find the best speech-to-text software out there right now, and after monologuing at length in front of dozens of dictation apps, these are my picks for the best.

The best dictation software

What is dictation software.

If this isn't what you're looking for, here's what else is out there:

AI assistants, such as Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, and Microsoft's Cortana, can help you interact with each of these ecosystems to send texts, buy products, or schedule events on your calendar.

Transcription services that use a combination of dictation software, AI, and human proofreaders can achieve above 99% accuracy.

What makes a great dictation app?

How we evaluate and test apps.

Dictation software comes in different shapes and sizes. Some are integrated in products you already use. Others are separate apps that offer a range of extra features. While each can vary in look and feel, here's what I looked for to find the best:

High accuracy. Staying true to what you're saying is the most important feature here. The lowest score on this list is at 92% accuracy.

Ease of use. This isn't a high hurdle, as most options are basic enough that anyone can figure them out in seconds.

Availability of voice commands. These let you add "instructions" while you're dictating, such as adding punctuation, starting a new paragraph, or more complex commands like capitalizing all the words in a sentence.

Availability of the languages supported. Most of the picks here support a decent (or impressive) number of languages.

Versatility. I paid attention to how well the software could adapt to different circumstances, apps, and systems.

I tested these apps by reading a 200-word script containing numbers, compound words, and a few tricky terms. I read the script three times for each app: the accuracy scores are an average of all attempts. Finally, I used the voice commands to delete and format text and to control the app's features where available.

What about AI?

Also, since this isn't a hot AI software category, these apps may prefer to focus on their core offering and product quality instead, not ride the trendy wave by slapping "AI-powered" on every web page.

Tips for using voice recognition software

Though dictation software is pretty good at recognizing different voices, it's not perfect. Here are some tips to make it work as best as possible.

Speak naturally (with caveats). Dictation apps learn your voice and speech patterns over time. And if you're going to spend any time with them, you want to be comfortable. Speak naturally. If you're not getting 90% accuracy initially, try enunciating more.

Punctuate. When you dictate, you have to say each period, comma, question mark, and so forth. The software isn't always smart enough to figure it out on its own.

Learn a few commands . Take the time to learn a few simple commands, such as "new line" to enter a line break. There are different commands for composing, editing, and operating your device. Commands may differ from app to app, so learn the ones that apply to the tool you choose.

Know your limits. Especially on mobile devices, some tools have a time limit for how long they can listen—sometimes for as little as 10 seconds. Glance at the screen from time to time to make sure you haven't blown past the mark.

Practice. It takes time to adjust to voice recognition software, but it gets easier the more you practice. Some of the more sophisticated apps invite you to train by reading passages or doing other short drills. Don't shy away from tutorials, help menus, and on-screen cheat sheets.

The best dictation software at a glance

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The interface for Apple Dictation, our pick for the best free dictation app for Apple users

Look no further than your Mac, iPhone, or iPad for one of the best dictation tools. Apple's built-in dictation feature, powered by Siri (I wouldn't be surprised if the two merged one day), ships as part of Apple's desktop and mobile operating systems. On iOS devices, you use it by pressing the microphone icon on the stock keyboard. On your desktop, you turn it on by going to System Preferences > Keyboard > Dictation , and then use a keyboard shortcut to activate it in your app.

Apple Dictation price: Included with macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and Apple Watch.

Apple Dictation accuracy: 96%. I tested this on an iPhone SE 3rd Gen using the dictation feature on the keyboard.

Best free dictation software for Windows

Windows 11 speech recognition (windows).

The interface for Windows Speech Recognition, our pick for the best free dictation app for Windows

Windows 11 Speech Recognition (also known as Voice Typing) is a strong dictation tool, both for writing documents and controlling your Windows PC. Since it's part of your system, you can use it in any app you have installed.

To start, first, check that online speech recognition is on by going to Settings > Time and Language > Speech . To begin dictating, open an app, and on your keyboard, press the Windows logo key + H. A microphone icon and gray box will appear at the top of your screen. Make sure your cursor is in the space where you want to dictate.

When it's ready for your dictation, it will say Listening . You have about 10 seconds to start talking before the microphone turns off. If that happens, just click it again and wait for Listening to pop up. To stop the dictation, click the microphone icon again or say "stop talking."

As I dictated into a Word document, the gray box reminded me to hang on, we need a moment to catch up . If you're speaking too fast, you'll also notice your transcribed words aren't keeping up. This never posed an issue with accuracy, but it's a nice reminder to keep it slow and steady.

While you can use this tool anywhere inside your computer, if you're a Microsoft 365 subscriber, you'll be able to use the dictation features there too. The best app to use it on is, of course, Microsoft Word: it even offers file transcription, so you can upload a WAV or MP3 file and turn it into text. The engine is the same, provided by Microsoft Speech Services.

Windows 11 Speech Recognition price: Included with Windows 11. Also available as part of the Microsoft 365 subscription.

Windows 11 Speech Recognition accuracy: 95%. I tested it in Windows 11 while using Microsoft Word.

Best customizable dictation software

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In 1990, Dragon Dictate emerged as the first dictation software. Over three decades later, we have Dragon by Nuance, a leader in the industry and a distant cousin of that first iteration. With a variety of software packages and mobile apps for different use cases (e.g., legal, medical, law enforcement), Dragon can handle specialized industry vocabulary, and it comes with excellent features, such as the ability to transcribe text from an audio file you upload.

For this test, I used Dragon Anywhere, Nuance's mobile app, as it's the only version—among otherwise expensive packages—available with a free trial. It includes lots of features not found in the others, like Words, which lets you add words that would be difficult to recognize and spell out. For example, in the script, the word "Litmus'" (with the possessive) gave every app trouble. To avoid this, I added it to Words, trained it a few times with my voice, and was then able to transcribe it accurately.

It also provides shortcuts. If you want to shorten your entire address to one word, go to Auto-Text , give it a name ("address"), and type in your address: 1000 Eichhorn St., Davenport, IA 52722, and hit Save . The next time you dictate and say "address," you'll get the entire thing. Press the comment bubble icon to see text commands while you're dictating, or say "What can I say?" and the command menu pops up.

Once you complete a dictation, you can email, share (e.g., Google Drive, Dropbox), open in Word, or save to Evernote. You can perform these actions manually or by voice command (e.g., "save to Evernote.") Once you name it, it automatically saves in Documents for later review or sharing.

Accuracy is good and improves with use, showing that you can definitely train your dragon. It's a great choice if you're serious about dictation and plan to use it every day, but may be a bit too much if you're just using it occasionally.

Dragon by Nuance price: $15/month for Dragon Anywhere (iOS and Android); from $200 to $500 for desktop packages

Dragon by Nuance accuracy: 97%. Tested it in the Dragon Anywhere iOS app.

Best free mobile dictation software

The interface for Gboard, our pick for the best mobile dictation software

Back to the topic: it has an excellent dictation feature. To start, press the microphone icon on the top-right of the keyboard. An overlay appears on the screen, filling itself with the words you're saying. It's very quick and accurate, which will feel great for fast-talkers but probably intimidating for the more thoughtful among us. If you stop talking for a few seconds, the overlay disappears, and Gboard pastes what it heard into the app you're using. When this happens, tap the microphone icon again to continue talking.

Wherever you can open a keyboard while using your phone, you can have Gboard supporting you there. You can write emails or notes or use any other app with an input field.

The writer who handled the previous update of this list had been using Gboard for seven years, so it had plenty of training data to adapt to his particular enunciation, landing the accuracy at an amazing 98%. I haven't used it much before, so the best I had was 92% overall. It's still a great score. More than that, it's proof of how dictation apps improve the more you use them.

Gboard price : Free

Gboard accuracy: 92%. With training, it can go up to 98%. I tested it using the iOS app while writing a new email.

Best dictation software for typing in Google Docs

The interface for Google Docs voice typing, our pick for the best dictation software for Google Docs

Just like Microsoft offers dictation in their Office products, Google does the same for their Workspace suite. The best place to use the voice typing feature is in Google Docs, but you can also dictate speaker notes in Google Slides as a way to prepare for your presentation.

To get started, make sure you're using Chrome and have a Google Docs file open. Go to Tools > Voice typing , and press the microphone icon to start. As you talk, the text will jitter into existence in the document.

You can change the language in the dropdown on top of the microphone icon. If you need help, hover over that icon, and click the ? on the bottom-right. That will show everything from turning on the mic, the voice commands for dictation, and moving around the document.

It's unclear whether Google's voice typing here is connected to the same engine in Gboard. I wasn't able to confirm whether the training data for the mobile keyboard and this tool are connected in any way. Still, the engines feel very similar and turned out the same accuracy at 92%. If you start using it more often, it may adapt to your particular enunciation and be more accurate in the long run.

Google Docs voice typing price : Free

Google Docs voice typing accuracy: 92%. Tested in a new Google Docs file in Chrome.

Best dictation software for collaboration

It's not as robust in terms of dictation as others on the list, but it compensates with its versatility. It's a meeting assistant, first and foremost, ready to hop on your meetings and transcribe everything it hears. This is great to keep track of what's happening there, making the text available for sharing by generating a link or in the corresponding team workspace.

The reason why it's the best for collaboration is that others can highlight parts of the transcript and leave their comments. It also separates multiple speakers, in case you're recording a conversation, so that's an extra headache-saver if you use dictation software for interviewing people.

When you open the app and click the Record button on the top-right, you can use it as a traditional dictation app. It doesn't support voice commands, but it has decent intuition as to where the commas and periods should go based on the intonation and rhythm of your voice. Once you're done talking, Otter will start processing what you said, extract keywords, and generate action items and notes from the content of the transcription.

If you're going for long recording stretches where you talk about multiple topics, there's an AI chat option, where you can ask Otter questions about the transcript. This is great to summarize the entire talk, extract insights, and get a different angle on everything you said.

Otter price: Free plan available for 300 minutes / month. Pro plan starts at $16.99, adding more collaboration features and monthly minutes.

Otter accuracy: 93% accuracy. I tested it in the web app on my computer.

Otter supported languages: Only American and British English for now.

Is voice dictation for you?

Dictation software isn't for everyone. It will likely take practice learning to "write" out loud because it will feel unnatural. But once you get comfortable with it, you'll be able to write from anywhere on any device without the need for a keyboard.

And by using any of the apps I listed here, you can feel confident that most of what you dictate will be accurately captured on the screen.

Improve your productivity automatically. Use Zapier to get your apps working together.

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The Best (Free) Speech-to-Text Software for Windows

Looking for the best free speech-to-text software on Windows? We compare speech recognition options from Dragon, Google, and Microsoft.

Looking for the best free speech to text software on Windows?

The best speech-to-text software is Dragon Naturally Speaking (DNS) but it comes at a price. But how does it compare to the best of the free programs, like Google Docs Voice Typing (GDVT) and Windows Speech Recognition (WSR)?

This article compares Dragon against Google Docs Voice Typing and Windows Speech Recognition for three typical uses:

Writing novels.
Academic transcription.
Writing business documents like memos.

Comparing Speech Recognition Software: Dragon Vs. Google Vs Microsoft

We will look at the nuances between the three below, but here's an overview on their pros and cons which will help you quickly make a decision.

1. Dragon Speech Recognition

Dragon Naturally Speaking beats Microsoft's and Google's software in voice recognition.

DNS scores 10% better on average compared to both programs. But is Dragon Naturally Speaking worth the money?

It depends on what you're using it for. For seamless, high-accuracy writing that will require little proof-reading, DNS is the best speech-to-text software around.

2. Windows Speech Recognition

If you don't mind proofreading your documents, WSR is a great free speech-recognition software.

On the downside, it requires that you use a Windows computer. It's also only about 90% accurate, making it the least accurate out of all the voice recognition software tested in this article.

However, it's integrated into the Windows operating system, which means it can also control the computer itself, such as shutdown and sleep.

3. Google Docs Voice Typing

Google Docs Voice Typing is highly limited in how and where you use it. It only works in Google Docs, in the Chrome Browser, and with an internet connection.

But it offers several options on mobile devices. Android smartphones have the ability to transcribe your voice to text using the same speech-to-text engine that also works with Google Keep or Live Transcribe.

And while Dragon Naturally Speaking offers a mobile app, it's treated as a separate purchase from the desktop client.

Dragon and Microsoft work in any place you can enter text. However, WSR can execute control functions whereas Dragon is mostly limited to text input.

Download : Live Transcribe for Android (Free)

Speech-to-Text Testing Methods

In order to test the accuracy of the dictation with the tools, I read aloud three texts:

Charles Darwin's "On the Tendency of Species to Form Varieties"
H.P. Lovecraft's "Call of Cthulhu"
California Governor Jerry Brown's 2017 State of the State speech

When a speech-to-text software miscapitalized a word, I marked the text as blue in the right-column (see graphic below). When one of the software got a word wrong, the misspelled word was marked in red. I did not consider wrong capitalizations to be errors.

I used a Blue Yeti microphone which is the best microphone for podcasting and a relatively fast computer. However, you don't need any special hardware. Any laptop or smartphone transcribes speech as well as a more expensive machine.

Test 1: Dragon Naturally Speaking Speech-to-Text Accuracy

Dragon scored 100% on accuracy on all three sample texts. While it failed to capitalize the first letter on every text, it otherwise performed beyond my expectations.

While all three transcription suites do a great job of accurately turning spoken words into written text, DNS comes out way ahead of its competitors. It even successfully understood complicated words such as "hitherto" and "therein".

Test 2: Google Docs Voice Typing Speech-to-Text Accuracy

Google Docs Voice Typing had many errors compared to Dragon. GDVT got 93.5% right on Lovecraft, 96.5% correc t for Brown, and 96.5% for Darwin. Its average accuracy came out to around 95.2% for all three texts.

On the downside, it automatically capitalized a lot of words that didn't need capitalization. It seems the engine also hasn't improved in accuracy since I last tested GDVT three years ago.

Test 3: Microsoft Windows Speech Recognition Text-to-Speech Accuracy

Microsoft's Windows Speech Recognition came in last. Its accuracy on Lovecraft was 84.3% , although it did not miscapitalize any words like GDVT. For Brown's speech, it got its highest accuracy rating of around 94.8% , making it equivalent to GDVT.

For Darwin's book, it managed to get a similarly high score of 93.1% . Its average accuracy across all texts came out to 89% .

Related: The Best Free Text-to-Speech Tools for Educators

Are Free Transcription Services Worth Using?

Dragon Naturally Speaking got a perfect 100% accuracy for voice transcription.
Microsoft's free voice-to-text service, Windows Speech Recognition scored an 89% accuracy.
Google Docs Voice Typing got a total score of 95.2% accuracy.

However, there are some major limitations to free text-to-speech options you should always keep in mind.

GDVT only works in the Chrome browser. On top of that, it only works for Google Docs. If you need to enter something in a spreadsheet or in a word processor other than Google Docs, you are out of luck.

Our test results indicate it is more accurate than WSR, but you have to keep in mind that it only works in Chrome for Google Docs. And you will always need an internet connection.

WSR can make you more productive with its hands-off computer automation features. Plus, it can enter text. Its accuracy is the weakest out of the services that I tested.

That said, you can live with its misses if you are not a heavy transcriber. It's on par with Google Docs Voice Typing but limited to Windows.

For most users, the free options should be good enough. However, for all those who need high levels of transcription accuracy, Dragon Naturally Speaking is the best option around. As an occasional user, if you need a free service, Google Docs Voice Typing is a viable alternative.

These tools prove that your voice can make you more productive. Now, try out Google Voice Assistant which is the best voice-control assistant you can use right now to manage everyday tasks.

Plus, be sure to check out these free online services to download text to speech as MP3 .

How to add text-to-speech voices to Windows 10 so that text can be read in the tone or language of your choice

You can add text-to-speech voices to Windows 10 through your PC's Settings app.
Once you've added a text-to-speech voice to Windows, you can use it in programs like Microsoft Word, OneNote, and Edge.
Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories .

Microsoft has a text-to-speech feature built into a number of Windows programs, including Microsoft Office, the Edge web browser, and OneNote.

By default, the voices for your computer's current language are already installed. But if you need to install a second language, or if additional voices are released for your primary language, you can install them as well.

The text-to-speech voices for all Microsoft apps are installed in the Settings app. Here's how to find and add them to Windows .

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

Windows 10 (from $139.99 at best buy), acer chromebook 15 (from $179.99 at walmart), how to add text-to-speech voices in windows 10.

1. Click the Start button in the bottom-left, and then click the Settings icon, which looks like a gear.

2. In Settings, click "Time & Language."

3. In the navigation pane on the left, click "Language."

4. Click "Add a preferred language" and then scroll through the list until you see the language you want to add. Click it, and then click "Next." It'll be installed.

5. After it's installed, select it in the list of languages and click "Options."

6. On the language's details page, click "Download." This will install the language pack, which includes the voices for this language.

How to choose a voice for text-to-speech in Windows 10

After you've downloaded voices, you can choose which one Windows uses for text-to-speech.

1. While still in the "Time & Language" section of Settings, click "Speech" in the left sidebar.

2. Underneath "Speech language," make sure it's set to the language you want text-to-speech to use.

3. Underneath "Voices," click the "Choose a voice" drop-down menu and select the voice you want to use by default. You can vary its speed and preview the voice here as well.

Some programs let you pick a text-to-speech voice that's different from the one the rest of Windows uses.

In Word, for example, click "Review" and then click "Read Aloud." A playback control menu will appear in the top-right of the screen. Click the gear icon to open the Read Aloud settings. Here, you can choose the voice you want to use in Word.

Likewise, the Edge browser has a similar option. When you choose "Read aloud" from the three-dot menu, "Voice options" appears at the top of the page. Click it to change voices.

Related coverage from Tech Reference :

How to use speech-to-text on a windows computer to quickly dictate text without typing, you can use text-to-speech in the kindle app on an ipad using an accessibility feature— here's how to turn it on, how to use text-to-speech on discord, and have the desktop app read your messages aloud, how to use google text-to-speech on your android phone to hear text instead of reading it, 2 ways to lock a windows computer from your keyboard and quickly secure your data.

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Designed with three ergonomic zones, it has been tested and proven by users to have the most comfortable fit in the human hand. The dictation zone is optimized to keep thumb movement to a minimum and allows for blind operation. The buttons needed for the actual dictation functions take up the greatest amount of space in the central area of the device. Less frequently needed function buttons are clearly arranged above and below. The trackball uses a laser sensor that allows precise cursor movements. It contains an integrated confirmation button for simple control of PC functions and can also be used to control playback volume.

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How to install a language pack with "text-to-speech, speech recognition, handwriting" features enabled in Windows 10 or 11

How to install particular language (For Ex: Arabic, Italian, Swedish, Spanish etc..) pack in Windows with "text-to-speech, speech recognition, handwriting" features enabled from native language pack list when these options are not enabled for the particular language in native language pack list?

Do we any alternative to enable these features for a language?

If the alternative is present, what is the process for that?

How the provided solution affects existing system?

Report abuse

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Replies (8) 

Microsoft Agent |

Hi Sneha_Naik,

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

I'm Hahn and I'm here to help you with your concern.

To install a language pack with "text-to-speech, speech recognition, handwriting" features enabled in Windows 10 or 11, you can follow these steps:

- Open the Start menu on your Windows device and select Settings > Time & Language.

- Choose Language or Language & region > Add a language.

- Search for a language in the search bar or choose one from the list. Language packs with text-to-speech capabilities will have the text-to-speech icon.

- Select the language you want to add speech to, and then select Next.

- Check the boxes for the features you want to install, such as text-to-speech, speech recognition, and handwriting. Note that not all languages support all features. You can view the available features and their download sizes before installing them.

- Select Install and wait for the download to complete.

- After the new language is installed, navigate to the Language and find it in your Preferred languages list. Select your language and choose Options to adjust other language settings, download features, etc.

- If you want to make this language your default display language, select it and use the up-arrow button to move it to the top of the list.

- Go back to Speech settings and make sure the Speech language setting is aligned with your new language. You can also change the voice and speed of the text-to-speech feature here.

These steps are based on the information from: Download languages and voices for Immersive Reader, Read Mode, and Read Aloud - Microsoft Support

Please note that the availability of features like text-to-speech, speech recognition, and handwriting recognition may vary by language. Some languages may have limited support for these features compared to major languages like English or Spanish. If a language doesn't have full support for these features in the native Windows language pack, there may not be an alternative solution within the operating system itself.

Enabling these features for a language that doesn't have native support might require third-party software or additional language-specific software packages, which may not integrate seamlessly with the Windows operating system and may have varying levels of functionality.

Overall, this allows you to enable text-to-speech, speech recognition, and handwriting for languages that don't have full native support in Windows. Let me know if you have any other questions!

Your Sincerely

Hahn - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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Thanks for your feedback.

Thank you for the response.

Could you please let me know what are the third-party software or additional language-specific software packages can be used to enable "text-to-speech, speech recognition, handwriting" features for a language.

Please let me know what is the complete procedure for integrating this with Windows OS.

Is there any update on the posted query?

There are some third-party software or additional language-specific software packages that can be used to enable "text-to-speech, speech recognition, handwriting" features for a language that is not natively supported by Windows. However, I cannot guarantee their quality, compatibility, or security, and I cannot provide any technical support for them. You should use them at your own risk and discretion.

Unfortunately, as a Microsoft agent I am unable to recommend third-party applications to you and suggest that you can search the web for them yourself.

To integrate these software with Windows OS, you will need to follow the installation instructions provided by each vendor. Generally, you will need to download the executable file or the zip file from their website and run it on your device.

1 person found this reply helpful

1. Could you please let me know how to enable this "native language support" for each language.

For Ex: We have "Display language, text-to-speech, speech recognition, handwriting" options enabled for "Chinese", "German",

"French" and "Spanish". In the same way, how to enable all these options for "Arabic, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian."

Please let me know on the process to achieve this.

2. For "Danish" language, I could be able to install language with "Display language, text-to-speech, speech recognition, handwriting" options enabled, but the same language is not getting reflected in Control panel.

I have installed language successfully. But in the below mentioned path I am not able to see the "Danish" language. Please let me know what the cause for this issue is and the solution for the same issue.

Control Panel --> Ease of Access --> Speech Recognition --> Text to speech --> "Speech Selection" combo box under "Speech Recognition" tab

Control Panel --> Ease of Access --> Speech Recognition --> Text to speech --> "Voice Selection" combo box under "Text to Speech" tab

Could you please provide your input on the above query.

This information is required to achieve a task and I am blocked as of now. Could you please respond to my queries on urgent basis.

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SpeechRecognition 3.10.4

pip install SpeechRecognition Copy PIP instructions

Released: May 5, 2024

Library for performing speech recognition, with support for several engines and APIs, online and offline.

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Project links, github statistics.

Open issues:

View statistics for this project via Libraries.io , or by using our public dataset on Google BigQuery

License: BSD License (BSD)

Author: Anthony Zhang (Uberi)

Tags speech, recognition, voice, sphinx, google, wit, bing, api, houndify, ibm, snowboy

Requires: Python >=3.8

Classifiers

5 - Production/Stable
OSI Approved :: BSD License
MacOS :: MacOS X
Microsoft :: Windows
POSIX :: Linux
Python :: 3
Python :: 3.8
Python :: 3.9
Python :: 3.10
Python :: 3.11
Multimedia :: Sound/Audio :: Speech
Software Development :: Libraries :: Python Modules

Project description

UPDATE 2022-02-09 : Hey everyone! This project started as a tech demo, but these days it needs more time than I have to keep up with all the PRs and issues. Therefore, I’d like to put out an open invite for collaborators - just reach out at me @ anthonyz . ca if you’re interested!

Speech recognition engine/API support:

Quickstart: pip install SpeechRecognition . See the “Installing” section for more details.

To quickly try it out, run python -m speech_recognition after installing.

Project links:

Library Reference

The library reference documents every publicly accessible object in the library. This document is also included under reference/library-reference.rst .

See Notes on using PocketSphinx for information about installing languages, compiling PocketSphinx, and building language packs from online resources. This document is also included under reference/pocketsphinx.rst .

You have to install Vosk models for using Vosk. Here are models avaiable. You have to place them in models folder of your project, like “your-project-folder/models/your-vosk-model”

See the examples/ directory in the repository root for usage examples:

First, make sure you have all the requirements listed in the “Requirements” section.

The easiest way to install this is using pip install SpeechRecognition .

Otherwise, download the source distribution from PyPI , and extract the archive.

In the folder, run python setup.py install .

Requirements

To use all of the functionality of the library, you should have:

The following requirements are optional, but can improve or extend functionality in some situations:

The following sections go over the details of each requirement.

The first software requirement is Python 3.8+ . This is required to use the library.

PyAudio (for microphone users)

PyAudio is required if and only if you want to use microphone input ( Microphone ). PyAudio version 0.2.11+ is required, as earlier versions have known memory management bugs when recording from microphones in certain situations.

If not installed, everything in the library will still work, except attempting to instantiate a Microphone object will raise an AttributeError .

The installation instructions on the PyAudio website are quite good - for convenience, they are summarized below:

PyAudio wheel packages for common 64-bit Python versions on Windows and Linux are included for convenience, under the third-party/ directory in the repository root. To install, simply run pip install wheel followed by pip install ./third-party/WHEEL_FILENAME (replace pip with pip3 if using Python 3) in the repository root directory .

PocketSphinx-Python (for Sphinx users)

PocketSphinx-Python is required if and only if you want to use the Sphinx recognizer ( recognizer_instance.recognize_sphinx ).

PocketSphinx-Python wheel packages for 64-bit Python 3.4, and 3.5 on Windows are included for convenience, under the third-party/ directory . To install, simply run pip install wheel followed by pip install ./third-party/WHEEL_FILENAME (replace pip with pip3 if using Python 3) in the SpeechRecognition folder.

On Linux and other POSIX systems (such as OS X), follow the instructions under “Building PocketSphinx-Python from source” in Notes on using PocketSphinx for installation instructions.

Note that the versions available in most package repositories are outdated and will not work with the bundled language data. Using the bundled wheel packages or building from source is recommended.

Vosk (for Vosk users)

Vosk API is required if and only if you want to use Vosk recognizer ( recognizer_instance.recognize_vosk ).

You can install it with python3 -m pip install vosk .

You also have to install Vosk Models:

Here are models avaiable for download. You have to place them in models folder of your project, like “your-project-folder/models/your-vosk-model”

Google Cloud Speech Library for Python (for Google Cloud Speech API users)

Google Cloud Speech library for Python is required if and only if you want to use the Google Cloud Speech API ( recognizer_instance.recognize_google_cloud ).

If not installed, everything in the library will still work, except calling recognizer_instance.recognize_google_cloud will raise an RequestError .

According to the official installation instructions , the recommended way to install this is using Pip : execute pip install google-cloud-speech (replace pip with pip3 if using Python 3).

FLAC (for some systems)

A FLAC encoder is required to encode the audio data to send to the API. If using Windows (x86 or x86-64), OS X (Intel Macs only, OS X 10.6 or higher), or Linux (x86 or x86-64), this is already bundled with this library - you do not need to install anything .

Otherwise, ensure that you have the flac command line tool, which is often available through the system package manager. For example, this would usually be sudo apt-get install flac on Debian-derivatives, or brew install flac on OS X with Homebrew.

Whisper (for Whisper users)

Whisper is required if and only if you want to use whisper ( recognizer_instance.recognize_whisper ).

You can install it with python3 -m pip install SpeechRecognition[whisper-local] .

Whisper API (for Whisper API users)

The library openai is required if and only if you want to use Whisper API ( recognizer_instance.recognize_whisper_api ).

If not installed, everything in the library will still work, except calling recognizer_instance.recognize_whisper_api will raise an RequestError .

You can install it with python3 -m pip install SpeechRecognition[whisper-api] .

Troubleshooting

The recognizer tries to recognize speech even when i’m not speaking, or after i’m done speaking..

Try increasing the recognizer_instance.energy_threshold property. This is basically how sensitive the recognizer is to when recognition should start. Higher values mean that it will be less sensitive, which is useful if you are in a loud room.

This value depends entirely on your microphone or audio data. There is no one-size-fits-all value, but good values typically range from 50 to 4000.

Also, check on your microphone volume settings. If it is too sensitive, the microphone may be picking up a lot of ambient noise. If it is too insensitive, the microphone may be rejecting speech as just noise.

The recognizer can’t recognize speech right after it starts listening for the first time.

The recognizer_instance.energy_threshold property is probably set to a value that is too high to start off with, and then being adjusted lower automatically by dynamic energy threshold adjustment. Before it is at a good level, the energy threshold is so high that speech is just considered ambient noise.

The solution is to decrease this threshold, or call recognizer_instance.adjust_for_ambient_noise beforehand, which will set the threshold to a good value automatically.

The recognizer doesn’t understand my particular language/dialect.

Try setting the recognition language to your language/dialect. To do this, see the documentation for recognizer_instance.recognize_sphinx , recognizer_instance.recognize_google , recognizer_instance.recognize_wit , recognizer_instance.recognize_bing , recognizer_instance.recognize_api , recognizer_instance.recognize_houndify , and recognizer_instance.recognize_ibm .

For example, if your language/dialect is British English, it is better to use "en-GB" as the language rather than "en-US" .

The recognizer hangs on recognizer_instance.listen ; specifically, when it’s calling Microphone.MicrophoneStream.read .

This usually happens when you’re using a Raspberry Pi board, which doesn’t have audio input capabilities by itself. This causes the default microphone used by PyAudio to simply block when we try to read it. If you happen to be using a Raspberry Pi, you’ll need a USB sound card (or USB microphone).

Once you do this, change all instances of Microphone() to Microphone(device_index=MICROPHONE_INDEX) , where MICROPHONE_INDEX is the hardware-specific index of the microphone.

To figure out what the value of MICROPHONE_INDEX should be, run the following code:

This will print out something like the following:

Now, to use the Snowball microphone, you would change Microphone() to Microphone(device_index=3) .

Calling Microphone() gives the error IOError: No Default Input Device Available .

As the error says, the program doesn’t know which microphone to use.

To proceed, either use Microphone(device_index=MICROPHONE_INDEX, ...) instead of Microphone(...) , or set a default microphone in your OS. You can obtain possible values of MICROPHONE_INDEX using the code in the troubleshooting entry right above this one.

The program doesn’t run when compiled with PyInstaller .

As of PyInstaller version 3.0, SpeechRecognition is supported out of the box. If you’re getting weird issues when compiling your program using PyInstaller, simply update PyInstaller.

You can easily do this by running pip install --upgrade pyinstaller .

On Ubuntu/Debian, I get annoying output in the terminal saying things like “bt_audio_service_open: […] Connection refused” and various others.

The “bt_audio_service_open” error means that you have a Bluetooth audio device, but as a physical device is not currently connected, we can’t actually use it - if you’re not using a Bluetooth microphone, then this can be safely ignored. If you are, and audio isn’t working, then double check to make sure your microphone is actually connected. There does not seem to be a simple way to disable these messages.

For errors of the form “ALSA lib […] Unknown PCM”, see this StackOverflow answer . Basically, to get rid of an error of the form “Unknown PCM cards.pcm.rear”, simply comment out pcm.rear cards.pcm.rear in /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf , ~/.asoundrc , and /etc/asound.conf .

For “jack server is not running or cannot be started” or “connect(2) call to /dev/shm/jack-1000/default/jack_0 failed (err=No such file or directory)” or “attempt to connect to server failed”, these are caused by ALSA trying to connect to JACK, and can be safely ignored. I’m not aware of any simple way to turn those messages off at this time, besides entirely disabling printing while starting the microphone .

On OS X, I get a ChildProcessError saying that it couldn’t find the system FLAC converter, even though it’s installed.

Installing FLAC for OS X directly from the source code will not work, since it doesn’t correctly add the executables to the search path.

Installing FLAC using Homebrew ensures that the search path is correctly updated. First, ensure you have Homebrew, then run brew install flac to install the necessary files.

To hack on this library, first make sure you have all the requirements listed in the “Requirements” section.

To install/reinstall the library locally, run python -m pip install -e .[dev] in the project root directory .

Before a release, the version number is bumped in README.rst and speech_recognition/__init__.py . Version tags are then created using git config gpg.program gpg2 && git config user.signingkey DB45F6C431DE7C2DCD99FF7904882258A4063489 && git tag -s VERSION_GOES_HERE -m "Version VERSION_GOES_HERE" .

Releases are done by running make-release.sh VERSION_GOES_HERE to build the Python source packages, sign them, and upload them to PyPI.

To run all the tests:

To run static analysis:

To ensure RST is well-formed:

Testing is also done automatically by GitHub Actions, upon every push.

FLAC Executables

The included flac-win32 executable is the official FLAC 1.3.2 32-bit Windows binary .

The included flac-linux-x86 and flac-linux-x86_64 executables are built from the FLAC 1.3.2 source code with Manylinux to ensure that it’s compatible with a wide variety of distributions.

The built FLAC executables should be bit-for-bit reproducible. To rebuild them, run the following inside the project directory on a Debian-like system:

The included flac-mac executable is extracted from xACT 2.39 , which is a frontend for FLAC 1.3.2 that conveniently includes binaries for all of its encoders. Specifically, it is a copy of xACT 2.39/xACT.app/Contents/Resources/flac in xACT2.39.zip .

Please report bugs and suggestions at the issue tracker !

How to cite this library (APA style):

Zhang, A. (2017). Speech Recognition (Version 3.8) [Software]. Available from https://github.com/Uberi/speech_recognition#readme .

How to cite this library (Chicago style):

Zhang, Anthony. 2017. Speech Recognition (version 3.8).

Also check out the Python Baidu Yuyin API , which is based on an older version of this project, and adds support for Baidu Yuyin . Note that Baidu Yuyin is only available inside China.

SpeechRecognition is made available under the 3-clause BSD license. See LICENSE.txt in the project’s root directory for more information.

For convenience, all the official distributions of SpeechRecognition already include a copy of the necessary copyright notices and licenses. In your project, you can simply say that licensing information for SpeechRecognition can be found within the SpeechRecognition README, and make sure SpeechRecognition is visible to users if they wish to see it .

SpeechRecognition distributes source code, binaries, and language files from CMU Sphinx . These files are BSD-licensed and redistributable as long as copyright notices are correctly retained. See speech_recognition/pocketsphinx-data/*/LICENSE*.txt and third-party/LICENSE-Sphinx.txt for license details for individual parts.

SpeechRecognition distributes source code and binaries from PyAudio . These files are MIT-licensed and redistributable as long as copyright notices are correctly retained. See third-party/LICENSE-PyAudio.txt for license details.

SpeechRecognition distributes binaries from FLAC - speech_recognition/flac-win32.exe , speech_recognition/flac-linux-x86 , and speech_recognition/flac-mac . These files are GPLv2-licensed and redistributable, as long as the terms of the GPL are satisfied. The FLAC binaries are an aggregate of separate programs , so these GPL restrictions do not apply to the library or your programs that use the library, only to FLAC itself. See LICENSE-FLAC.txt for license details.

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Unable download speech language in Windows 10

I want the English UK speech language in my Windows 10 PC in order to make Cortana work.

The display language English UK got downloaded, but the speech and handwriting languages options are showing errors:

I also tried installing the language pack from a lp.cab file. But it showed this error:

Tried Language Pack for 10586 build too.

Can anybody help me out with this problem. I will be very thankful.

language-pack
text-to-speech

When you click "More Details" under the errors in the GUI, what does it tell you? – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Nov 20, 2015 at 21:13
@Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 It takes me to "Manage Optional Features" where pr-installed language packs are given... It does the same if I click on the notification "Something happened and we couldn't install the feature"... – Abhijit Borade Nov 20, 2015 at 21:32
the 9926 LPs can't be used on Win10 Build 10586. use the correct MUI packs: winaero.com/blog/… – magicandre1981 Nov 21, 2015 at 7:35
@magicandre1981 does en-GB pack contain speech language??? – Abhijit Borade Nov 21, 2015 at 14:26
I have no idea. try it out with the new MUIs – magicandre1981 Nov 21, 2015 at 16:57

3 Answers 3

I had a similar problem where the only Speech language available was US English and Windows would not let me download UK English speech in order to match my Region and get Cortana to work.

I solved it with a temporary registry edit to force Windows Update to re-download all the UK language files including speech. Usual Disclaimer: "Do not attempt this unless you are comfortable editing the registry/stopping services and risking wrecking your Windows installation!"

In Settings open the 'Time & Language' section and go to the 'Region and Language' page.
Run Regedit (as an administrator) and rename HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate key to something else, e.g. WindowsUpdateXXX
Run services.msc from the search box and stop the 'Windows Update' service (right-click it)
Go back to 'Region and Language' and click your language (UK) and then the Options button
Download all the options: Basic Typing, Handwriting, Speech
Once downloaded, go to the 'Speech' page and you should see now be able to select your language there (UK)
Stop the 'Windows Update' Service again
Rename the registry key back to 'WindowsUpdate'
The WindowsUpdate service will restart itself eventually or you can start it if you like
Run Cortana and it should work, now that all your languages are the same (and supported)!

This does not only work Speech language. In my case I wanted to install Graphics Tools, but the Optional Features list didn't show anything. This is the best answer so far. Found this post via this post and it worked. – user1810087 Dec 19, 2018 at 9:17
This seemed to work on my machine where I couldn't install any language options for any language, especially Basic Typing. Wonder what the actual underlying issue is... – Sami Kuhmonen Mar 28, 2019 at 7:49
Still worked for my problem after 5 year – Harald Jul 1, 2021 at 13:31

Problem Solved!

Actually I was using Mobile Hotspot to download.

Windows 10 does not allow us to download language packs over a metered connection unless you enable downloads over metered connections from Settings .

The language pack was downloaded when I connected my PC to a WiFi network .

Later I downloaded English (India) too. Cortana is working fine now.

In my case, I had to go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU there's a value called UseWUServer . I changed it to 0 , restarted the Windows update service, after that it worked. Don't forget to change the value back to 1 and restart windows update service.

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Not the answer you're looking for browse other questions tagged windows-10 language-pack text-to-speech cortana ..

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Installation

Download the SpeechLive Desktop App on your computer.

Desktop App 3.5.11 (Windows)

Click here to download the app for Windows (.exe version, recommended for most users)

Click here to download the app for Windows (.msi installer).

Start the downloaded installation file and follow the installation process.

Start the SpeechLive Desktop App from the Windows start menu.

Enter your SpeechLive credentials to sign in.

Desktop App 3.5.11 (Mac)

Click here to download the app for Mac computers with Apple silicon

To check your processor, click on the Apple menu and choose About This Mac . Check the Chip information, if it displays Apple, you have an Apple silicon chip.

Click here to download the app for Mac computers with Intel processor

To check your processor, click on the Apple menu and choose About This Mac . Check the Chip information, if it displays Intel, you have an Intel processor

As a general rule, if your Mac is older than 2020, it most likely has an Intel processor.

Start the SpeechLive Desktop App from the Dock.

You will get a security question before you can open the app, please confirm by clicking Open .

The first time you want to use the speech recognition function (see Use the SpeechLive Desktop App ), you will get an accessibility access question:

You must grant access for the app in the system settings ( System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility ), otherwise you can’t use the speech recognition functions of the app.

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COMMENTS

Download language pack for speech
Download language pack for speech. Windows 10 Cortana. For some languages, you might need to manually download a speech pack. Go to Start and open Settings . Select Time & language > Language. Select the language you want to add speech to, and then select the Next button. Select the speech options you want included with the language.
Microsoft Dictate
Software for Windows 11. We have tested Microsoft Dictate 5.0.1 against malware with several different programs. We certify that this program is clean of viruses, malware and trojans. Microsoft Dictate, free download for Windows. Software that allows users to dictate text in Microsoft Office applications using their voice.
Enabling Dictation in Windows 10
I hit a problem where Dictation would say 'Download a Speech package for dictation', but clicking that link would take me to settings and show that it was already installed. An admin of the PC doing this however, would somehow trigger a component to install and Dictation would work fine. ... Note you can add multiple packages to the above ...
Download
Download LilySpeech and type with your voice anywhere in Windows. Free with ads or premium without ads. Supports 51 languages.
Use voice typing to talk instead of type on your PC
Use voice typing to talk instead of type on your PC. Windows 11 Windows 10. Windows 11 Windows 10. With voice typing, you can enter text on your PC by speaking. Voice typing uses online speech recognition, which is powered by Azure Speech services.
The Best Speech-to-Text Apps and Tools for Every Type of User
Dragon Professional. $699.00 at Nuance. See It. Dragon is one of the most sophisticated speech-to-text tools. You use it not only to type using your voice but also to operate your computer with ...
Set up voice access
Start voice access from Settings. In the Start menu, select Settings Accessibility Speech. Turn on the Voice access switch. Tip: If you want to automatically launch voice access every time you start your computer, select the " Start voice access before you sign in to your PC " or " Start voice access after you sign into your PC" checkboxes.
Best dictation software of 2024
Best dictation software of 2024: Quick menu. (Image credit: Pixabay) 1. Best overall 2. Best for on the move 3. Best for Microsoft 365 users 4. Best value 5. Best free for Apple users 6. Best for ...
The 2 Best Dictation Softwares of 2024
Dragon Professional v16 is the most accurate dictation tool we tested for any operating system—but its hefty price tag is a lot to swallow. Buying Options. $699 from Amazon. $699 from Nuance ...
The best dictation and speech-to-text software in 2024
The best dictation software. Apple Dictation for free dictation software on Apple devices. Windows 11 Speech Recognition for free dictation software on Windows. Dragon by Nuance for a customizable dictation app. Google Docs voice typing for dictating in Google Docs. Gboard for a free mobile dictation app.
The Best (Free) Speech-to-Text Software for Windows
For seamless, high-accuracy writing that will require little proof-reading, DNS is the best speech-to-text software around. 2. Windows Speech Recognition. If you don't mind proofreading your documents, WSR is a great free speech-recognition software. On the downside, it requires that you use a Windows computer.
SpeechExec download
The product key is on a label or card inside the box. If you have already installed SpeechExec, you can find the product key in SpeechExec by clicking Help › License information › Info on the menu bar. If you do not have a product key, click here to find out how to upgrade to the latest version. Philips Dictation. SpeechExec download.
How to install more voices to Windows Speech?
Do you want to add more voices to Windows Speech for text-to-speech applications? This question on Super User provides some useful tips and links on how to install third-party voices, both free and paid, and how to make them work with Windows. Learn how to enhance your Windows Speech experience with more voices.
Desktop dictation
Built-in support for Nuance speech recognition for a hassle-free 'plug and play' installation ... To download the installation file, enter the serial number, then click Download. ... Package contents SpeechMike Premium Dictation Microphone USB cable (connected to device)
How to Add Text-to-Speech Voices to Windows 10 in 2 Ways
1. While still in the "Time & Language" section of Settings, click "Speech" in the left sidebar. 2. Underneath "Speech language," make sure it's set to the language you want text-to-speech to use ...
Desktop dictation
The dictation zone is optimized to keep thumb movement to a minimum and allows for blind operation. The buttons needed for the actual dictation functions take up the greatest amount of space in the central area of the device. Less frequently needed function buttons are clearly arranged above and below. The trackball uses a laser sensor that ...
Set up your dictation hardware
Download the latest Philips Device Connector native host application package here and unzip the file. In the Windows folder of the installation package you'll find the necessary philips_device_connector_native_host_installer.exe. Run philips_device_connector_native_host_installer.exe on your local machine and finish the setup.
SpeechLive Desktop App
Create a new dictation Rewind and Fast forward Append, Insert, Overwrite Speech recognition Change dictation properties Add pictures or videos to your dictation Delete a dictation Send dictations to a typist Send dictations to speech recognition
How to install a language pack with "text-to-speech, speech recognition
To install a language pack with "text-to-speech, speech recognition, handwriting" features enabled in Windows 10 or 11, you can follow these steps: - Open the Start menu on your Windows device and select Settings > Time & Language. - Choose Language or Language & region > Add a language. - Search for a language in the search bar or choose one ...
SpeechRecognition · PyPI
Google Speech Recognition; Google Cloud Speech API; Wit.ai; Microsoft Azure Speech; Microsoft Bing Voice Recognition (Deprecated) ... download the source distribution from PyPI, and extract the ... (or python3-all-dev if using Python 3) packages (or their closest equivalents) using a package manager of your choice, and then install PyAudio ...
Unable download speech language in Windows 10
Run services.msc from the search box and stop the 'Windows Update' service (right-click it) Go back to 'Region and Language' and click your language (UK) and then the Options button. Download all the options: Basic Typing, Handwriting, Speech. Once downloaded, go to the 'Speech' page and you should see now be able to select your language there ...
Installation
Start the downloaded installation file and follow the installation process. Start the SpeechLive Desktop Appfrom the Windows start menu. Enter your SpeechLive credentials to sign in. Mac. Download the SpeechLive Desktop Appon your computer. Desktop App 3.5.11(Mac) Click here to download the appfor Mac computers with Apple silicon. To check your ...