speech to text for pc

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 .

Why Type When You Can Talk?

Lilyspeech is a free* speech to text dictation application for windows with support for 51 languages   experience the freedom of typing with your voice today..

Just click or press Ctrl+D  to instantly start typing with your voice anywhere on your Windows Desktop or Laptop. Dictate, emails, documents, web searches… anything!

Powered by google’s 99.5% accurate  chrome speech to text service..

99.5%  Accurate!

LilySpeech is powered by Google Chrome’s amazing speech to text service  which is 99.5% accurate. If you’ve been sending text messages with your voice on your Android phone, then you already know how well it works.

Watch the video below to see a demonstration of just how accurate LilySpeech is.

Custom Words

You can customize LilySpeech to recognize custom words. This might be business names, web addresses, the correct spelling of peoples names, industry specific terms. Anything you wish.

Even for people in specialized Industries, LilySpeech shines with its ability to recognize unusual vocabulary.

Lightweight

LilySpeech is an extremely lightweight application which will not slow down your computer or hog your computer’s memory.

This is made possible by the fact that the actual speech-to-text conversion occurs in the cloud and does not use your local machines resources.

LilySpeech is Free* and fully functional without limitations. Read more about how this free version is possible.

Other speech recognition software costs hundreds of dollars. Start typing with your voice today for free. Download now.

See it in Action!

LilySpeech Speech Recognition Demo

LilySpeech is truly a joy to use. Click or press Ctrl+D and start dictating absolutely anything on your computer in real time.

In this demonstration we see:

• Text dictated in real time
• Customization of display in settings
• Various punctuation

The ease of use is amazing and the time savings will have you jumping for joy!

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How to use speech-to-text on a Windows computer to quickly dictate text without typing

• You can use the speech-to-text feature on Windows to dictate text in any window, document, or field that you could ordinarily type in.  
• To get started with speech-to-text, you need to enable your microphone and turn on speech recognition in "Settings."
• Once configured, you can press Win + H to open the speech recognition control and start dictating. 
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One of the lesser known major features in Windows 10 is the ability to use speech-to-text technology to dictate text rather than type. If you have a microphone connected to your computer, you can have your speech quickly converted into text, which is handy if you suffer from repetitive strain injuries or are simply an inefficient typist.

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It's likely that speech-to-text is not turned on by default, so you need to enable it before you start dictating to Windows.

1. Click the "Start" button and then click "Settings," designated by a gear icon.

2. Click "Time & Language."

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

4. If you've never set up your microphone, do it now by clicking "Get started" in the Microphone section. Follow the instructions to speak into the microphone, which calibrates it for dictation. 

5. Scroll down and click "Speech, inking, & typing privacy settings" in the "Related settings" section. Then slide the switch to "On" in the "Online speech recognition" section. If you don't have the sliding switch, this may appear as a button called "Turn on speech services and typing suggestions."

How to use speech-to-text on Windows

Once you've turned speech-to-text on, you can start using it to dictate into any window or field that accepts text. You can dictate into word processing apps, Notepad, search boxes, and more. 

1. Open the app or window you want to dictate into. 

2. Press Win + H. This keyboard shortcut opens the speech recognition control at the top of the screen. 

3. Now just start speaking normally, and you should see text appear. 

If you pause for more than a few moments, Windows will pause speech recognition. It will also pause if you use the mouse to click in a different window. To start again, click the microphone in the control at the top of the screen. You can stop voice recognition for now by closing the control at the top of the screen. 

Common commands you should know for speech-to-text on Windows

In general, Windows will convert anything you say into text and place it in the selected window. But there are many commands that, rather than being translated into text, will tell Windows to take a specific action. Most of these commands are related to editing text, and you can discover many of them on your own – in fact, there are dozens of these commands. Here are the most important ones to get you started:

• Punctuation . You can speak punctuation out loud during dictation. For example, you can say "Dear Steve comma how are you question mark." 
• New line . Saying "new line" has the same effect as pressing the Enter key on the keyboard.
• Stop dictation . At any time, you can say "stop dictation," which has the same effect as pausing or clicking another window. 
• Go to the [start/end] of [document/paragraph] . Windows can move the cursor to various places in your document based on a voice command. You can say "go to the start of the document," or "go to the end of the paragraph," for example, to quickly start dictating text from there. 
• Undo that . This is the same as clicking "Undo" and undoes the last thing you dictated. 
• Select [word/paragraph] . You can give commands to select a word or paragraph. It's actually a lot more powerful than that – you can say things like "select the previous three paragraphs." 

Related coverage from  Tech Reference :

How to use your ipad as a second monitor for your windows computer, 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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How to get the most out of voice typing

Whether you prefer brainstorming ideas out loud, can talk faster than you can type, or need an accessible, hands-free option for getting words on the screen, the Windows 11  voice-typing feature has you covered. Learn how to use this voice typing to your advantage and get the most out of the speech-to-text functionality on your Windows 11 device .

How does Windows speech-to-text software work?

The built-in speech-to-text software in Windows 11  turns your spoken words directly into text. If you’d like to compose a document or write anywhere you see a textbox by talking instead of typing, you can! As long as you’re connected to the internet and have a working microphone, you should be able to use this feature to type with your voice.

How to enable voice typing

If you’re ready to try voice typing on your Windows 11 computer, follow these steps:

• Select Windows logo key + H to open the voice typing menu.
• Select the microphone icon. 
• Wait for the Listening alert before you start speaking. Once it’s listening, you should see your spoken words turn into text on the screen almost instantly.
• When you’re ready to stop voice typing, say “Stop listening” or select the microphone button in the menu.

Within Settings , you can also toggle on Voice typing launcher . This will launch the voice typing menu whenever you are in a textbox. For punctuation support, select the Settings icon and toggle on Auto punctuation .

Setting and switching between voice typing languages

To help the speech-to-text software properly understand your dictation, make sure it’s set to the right language, region, or dialect:

• Navigate to Settings > Time & language > Speech .
• Select your preferred language, region, or dialect.
• If the language you want isn’t installed on your device, you may be able to add it in Settings > Time & language > Language & region > Preferred languages .

Would you like to switch between voice typing languages ? No problem! Select Windows logo key + Spacebar to access the language switcher.

Ways to get the most out of voice typing

Now that you have voice typing set up in the way you want it, here are a few ways to make the most of it:

• Write a truly fast first draft. Especially if you’re having a hard time getting started on the first draft of something, try speaking it aloud and letting voice typing capture all of your ideas on the spot. Within minutes, you’ll have a fast first draft to polish into something great.
• Call out your shopping list. Instead of having to type your shopping list, turn on voice typing and let it write the list for you as you look around your kitchen to confirm what you need.
• Capture family history. Family stories are precious, and now you can capture them as text. The next time you’re celebrating a holiday with loved ones, turn on voice typing to capture some of the family history and stories that mean so much.
• Speak in your Teams chat. Instead of typing your side of the conversation in your Microsoft Teams  chat, let voice typing turn your speech into chat messages for your colleagues.

With Windows 11 speech-to-text software, getting your lists, ideas, stories, and insights written down is as easy as speaking them aloud. Learn about other standout Windows 11 features in the Windows Learning Center .

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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

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

Otter for collaboration

What is dictation software?

When searching for dictation software online, you'll come across a wide range of options. The ones I'm focusing on here are apps or services that you can quickly open, start talking, and see the results on your screen in (near) real-time. This is great for taking quick notes , writing emails without typing, or talking out an entire novel while you walk in your favorite park—because why not.

Beyond these productivity uses, people with disabilities or with carpal tunnel syndrome can use this software to type more easily. It makes technology more accessible to everyone .

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.

AI meeting assistants will join your meetings and transcribe everything, generating meeting notes to share with your team.

AI transcription platforms can process your video and audio files into neat text.

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

There are also advanced platforms for enterprise, like Amazon Transcribe and Microsoft Azure's speech-to-text services.

What makes a great dictation app?

How we evaluate and test apps.

Our best apps roundups are written by humans who've spent much of their careers using, testing, and writing about software. Unless explicitly stated, we spend dozens of hours researching and testing apps, using each app as it's intended to be used and evaluating it against the criteria we set for the category. We're never paid for placement in our articles from any app or for links to any site—we value the trust readers put in us to offer authentic evaluations of the categories and apps we review. For more details on our process, read the full rundown of how we select apps to feature on the Zapier blog .

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.

I used my laptop's or smartphone's microphone to test these apps in a quiet room without background noise. For occasional dictation, an equivalent microphone on your own computer or smartphone should do the job well. If you're doing a lot of dictation every day, it's probably worth investing in an external microphone, like the Jabra Evolve .

What about AI?

Before the ChatGPT boom, AI wasn't as hot a keyword, but it already existed. The apps on this list use a combination of technologies that may include AI— machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) in particular. While they could rebrand themselves to keep up with the hype, they may use pipelines or models that aren't as bleeding-edge when compared to what's going on in Hugging Face or under OpenAI Whisper 's hood, for example. 

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

Best free dictation software for apple devices, apple dictation (ios, ipados, macos).

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.

If you want the ability to navigate your Mac with your voice and use dictation, try Voice Control . By default, Voice Control requires the internet to work and has a time limit of about 30 seconds for each smattering of speech. To remove those limits for a Mac, enable Enhanced Dictation, and follow the directions here for your OS (you can also enable it for iPhones and iPads). Enhanced Dictation adds a local file to your device so that you can dictate offline.

You can format and edit your text using simple commands, such as "new paragraph" or "select previous word." Tip: you can view available commands in a small window, like a little cheat sheet, while learning the ropes. Apple also offers a number of advanced commands for things like math, currency, and formatting. 

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.

Recommendation: For the occasional dictation, I'd recommend the standard Dictation feature available with all Apple systems. But if you need more custom voice features (e.g., medical terms), opt for Voice Control with Enhanced Dictation. You can create and import both custom vocabulary and custom commands and work while offline.

Apple Dictation supported languages: 59 languages and dialects .

While Apple Dictation is available natively on the Apple Watch, if you're serious about recording plenty of voice notes and memos, check out the Just Press Record app. It runs on the same engine and keeps all your recordings synced and organized across your Apple devices.

Best free dictation software for Windows

Windows 11 speech recognition (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. 

To activate the computer control features, you'll have to go to Settings > Accessibility > Speech instead. While there, tick on Windows Speech Recognition. This unlocks a range of new voice commands that can fully replace a mouse and keyboard. Your voice becomes the main way of interacting with your system.

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. 

Windows 11 Speech Recognition languages supported : 11 languages and dialects .

Best customizable dictation software

Dragon by nuance (android, ios, macos, windows).

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.

Dragon by Nuance supported languages: 6 languages and dialects in Dragon Anywhere and 8 languages and dialects in Dragon Desktop.  

Best free mobile dictation software

Gboard (android, ios).

Gboard, also known as Google Keyboard, is a free keyboard native to Android phones. It's also available for iOS: go to the App Store, download the Gboard app , and then activate the keyboard in the settings. In addition to typing, it lets you search the web, translate text, or run a quick Google Maps search.

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.

Gboard supported languages: 916 languages and dialects .

Best dictation software for typing in Google Docs

Google docs voice typing (web on chrome).

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.

Google Docs voice typing supported languages: 118 languages and dialects ; voice commands only available in English.

Google Docs integrates with Zapier , which means you can automatically do things like save form entries to Google Docs, create new documents whenever something happens in your other apps, or create project management tasks for each new document.

Best dictation software for collaboration

Otter (web, android, ios).

Most of the time, you're dictating for yourself: your notes, emails, or documents. But there may be situations in which sharing and collaboration is more important. For those moments, Otter is the better option.

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.

Not all meeting assistants offer dictation, so Otter sits here on this fence between software categories, a jack-of-two-trades, quite good at both. If you want something more specialized for meetings, be sure to check out the best AI meeting assistants . But if you want a pure dictation app with plenty of voice commands and great control over the final result, the other options above will serve you better.

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. 

Related reading:

The best transcription services

Catch typos by making your computer read to you

Why everyone should try the accessibility features on their computer

What is Otter.ai?

The best voice recording apps for iPhone

This article was originally published in April 2016 and has also had contributions from Emily Esposito, Jill Duffy, and Chris Hawkins. The most recent update was in November 2023.

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Miguel Rebelo is a freelance writer based in London, UK. He loves technology, video games, and huge forests. Track him down at mirebelo.com.

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How to set up speech-to-text in Windows 10

Are you ready to start dictating your documents and text using just your voice? Instead of offering separated dictation or speech-to-text capabilities, Windows 10 conveniently groups its voice commands under Speech Recognition , which interprets the spoken word across the operating system for various tasks. We’ll teach you how to get everything ready, as well as how to enable speech-to-text in Windows 10, so you can start chatting away to your favorite OS and improve Windows’ “ear” for your voice.

Finding a mic

Setting up speech recognition, training your computer and more, related guides.

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Note: Speech recognition is only currently available in English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese.

Before you start, you must be sure that you have the correct hardware for speech-to-text options. It’s easy to overlook this step as we assume that all devices come with built-in mics these days.

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However, the issue here is quality. Built-in mics can work well for simple tasks, like Skype conversations or voice commands, but they can also cause distortion, especially with speech-to-text options. In the past, Microsoft has warned that its speech-recognition features are best suited for headset microphones that interpret sounds with greater clarity and are less susceptible to ambient noise. If you really want to use speech recognition on Windows 10, you should get a quality headset that works well with your computer.

If you’re going to invest in hardware, you should do it as soon as possible. Once you train the speech features, it can be difficult to switch devices. Should you decide to buy a mic, follow these steps to make sure Windows knows that you want it to be your primary microphone, even over previous mics:

Step 1: In the Windows search box, type “speech.” Doing so will bring up an option to go to Speech Recognition in the Control Panel. Select this. When the window opens, select Set Up Microphone to begin.

Step 2: Now, choose whether you are using a headset mic or a desktop mic and select Next . Windows will give you some tips on mic placement, then ask you to read a sentence. Read the sentence into your mic, and select Next (there’s no grade or test to pass).

Step 3: If everything worked well, your mic should now be set up. Select Finish to complete the task.

With your mic ready, it’s time to start configuring your various speech-recognition capabilities. In Windows 10, this is a more seamless process than it has been in the past. These steps and tutorials will affect an array of Windows programs, but you may also want to make sure dictation is enabled in any writing apps that you prefer to use. Begin with the steps below.

Step 1: In the Windows 10 search box, type “speech,” and select Windows Speech Recognition in the results.

Step 2: Select Start Speech Recognition to begin. If Windows 10 still doesn’t recognize your mic, it will have you go through the mic setup steps again at this point, then begin the speech recognition setup.

Step 3: One of the choices in the setup process is whether to enable D ocument Review or not. This option tells Windows to look at your emails and documents in your search index and look at the words you frequently use. It can help with the recognition software, but it isn’t a necessary step, so choose what you feel comfortable with.

Step 4: Now decide whether you want speech-to-text to be activated with a keyboard or vocal command and click Next . Use the reference sheet to familiarize yourself with commands you can make and continue through the other preferences. While Windows offers to print out the commands for you, you can easily access them on Microsoft’s website by going here .

Step 5: Windows will also ask if you want to start speech recognition every time you start the computer. If you are using speech recognition for accessibility reasons, this may be an excellent mode to enable.

You should now be ready to go. You can enable or disable speech to text by pressing the Ctrl + Windows keys at any time.

You’re all set at this point to use speech-to-text with a variety of files within Windows Docs. But first, you might want to take the time to fine-tune Windows’ voice-recognition capabilities. With a little training, Microsoft’s latest software can learn your voice and process it to text with greater accuracy.

Step 1: Go to the Ease of Access menu. Click on Speech Recognition .

Step 2: Select Train Your Computer to Better Understand You .

Step 3: Windows will have you read out extended sequences of text, which will help it learn the particular quirks of your voice and intonation, allowing it to understand your voice better.

Near the bottom of the speech-recognition menu is the Speech Reference Card, which is a helpful tool. It provides a cheat sheet on controlling software programs verbally, for those new to voice commands. You can access the cheats in either a small side screen or a print-out.

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Are you tired of all the right-clicking just to access simple commands like cut, copy, and paste? Sure, it's not super labor-intensive, but it can get really annoying after a while when you're constantly summoning one of these actions using a mechanical rodent.

If you’re not utilizing shortcut commands, you’re missing out on an easy way to save time and effort. Read on to learn simple commands that combine Control (Ctrl) and other keys to cut, copy, paste, and even undo actions across Windows apps. Selecting text and moving your cursor (without a mouse)

Typing Slowly? Try Speaking.

Join 4,000+ voice-typists saving both their time and their fingers, start voice typing, the first pain-free dictation application for windows., lightweight, zero training, try for free.

Save time. Get more done. VoiceTyper makes it easy.

Voice typing for everyone from veterans to veterinarians.

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Veterinary technician, “it worked great without any training.”, “[it] lets me respond to emails again, now that i can barely use a keyboard. (typed using voicetyper)”, “it's honestly way easier and faster than typing. saves me a bunch of time.”, save hours every week. try it for free..

SpeechTexter is a free multilingual speech-to-text application aimed at assisting you with transcription of notes, documents, books, reports or blog posts by using your voice. This app also features a customizable voice commands list, allowing users to add punctuation marks, frequently used phrases, and some app actions (undo, redo, make a new paragraph).

SpeechTexter is used daily by students, teachers, writers, bloggers around the world.

It will assist you in minimizing your writing efforts significantly.

Voice-to-text software is exceptionally valuable for people who have difficulty using their hands due to trauma, people with dyslexia or disabilities that limit the use of conventional input devices. Speech to text technology can also be used to improve accessibility for those with hearing impairments, as it can convert speech into text.

It can also be used as a tool for learning a proper pronunciation of words in the foreign language, in addition to helping a person develop fluency with their speaking skills.

Accuracy levels higher than 90% should be expected. It varies depending on the language and the speaker.

No download, installation or registration is required. Just click the microphone button and start dictating.

Speech to text technology is quickly becoming an essential tool for those looking to save time and increase their productivity.

Powerful real-time continuous speech recognition

Creation of text notes, emails, blog posts, reports and more.

Custom voice commands

More than 70 languages supported

SpeechTexter is using Google Speech recognition to convert the speech into text in real-time. This technology is supported by Chrome browser (for desktop) and some browsers on Android OS. Other browsers have not implemented speech recognition yet.

Note: iPhones and iPads are not supported

List of supported languages:

Afrikaans, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Basque, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kannada, Kazakh, Khmer, Kinyarwanda, Korean, Lao, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Malayalam, Marathi, Mongolian, Nepali, Norwegian Bokmål, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Southern Sotho, Spanish, Sundanese, Swahili, Swati, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Tsonga, Tswana, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Venda, Vietnamese, Xhosa, Zulu.

Instructions for web app on desktop (Windows, Mac, Linux OS)

Requirements: the latest version of the Google Chrome [↗] browser (other browsers are not supported).

1. Connect a high-quality microphone to your computer.

2. Make sure your microphone is set as the default recording device on your browser.

To go directly to microphone's settings paste the line below into Chrome's URL bar.

chrome://settings/content/microphone

To capture speech from video/audio content on the web or from a file stored on your device, select 'Stereo Mix' as the default audio input.

3. Select the language you would like to speak (Click the button on the top right corner).

4. Click the "microphone" button. Chrome browser will request your permission to access your microphone. Choose "allow".

5. You can start dictating!

Instructions for the web app on a mobile and for the android app

Requirements: - Google app [↗] installed on your Android device. - Any of the supported browsers if you choose to use the web app.

Supported android browsers (not a full list): Chrome browser (recommended), Edge, Opera, Brave, Vivaldi.

1. Tap the button with the language name (on a web app) or language code (on android app) on the top right corner to select your language.

2. Tap the microphone button. The SpeechTexter app will ask for permission to record audio. Choose 'allow' to enable microphone access.

3. You can start dictating!

Common problems on a desktop (Windows, Mac, Linux OS)

Error: 'speechtexter cannot access your microphone'..

Please give permission to access your microphone.

Click on the "padlock" icon next to the URL bar, find the "microphone" option, and choose "allow".

Error: 'No speech was detected. Please try again'.

If you get this error while you are speaking, make sure your microphone is set as the default recording device on your browser [see step 2].

If you're using a headset, make sure the mute switch on the cord is off.

Error: 'Network error'

The internet connection is poor. Please try again later.

The result won't transfer to the "editor".

The result confidence is not high enough or there is a background noise. An accumulation of long text in the buffer can also make the engine stop responding, please make some pauses in the speech.

The results are wrong.

Please speak loudly and clearly. Speaking clearly and consistently will help the software accurately recognize your words.

Reduce background noise. Background noise from fans, air conditioners, refrigerators, etc. can drop the accuracy significantly. Try to reduce background noise as much as possible.

Speak directly into the microphone. Speaking directly into the microphone enhances the accuracy of the software. Avoid speaking too far away from the microphone.

Speak in complete sentences. Speaking in complete sentences will help the software better recognize the context of your words.

Can I upload an audio file and get the transcription?

No, this feature is not available.

How do I transcribe an audio (video) file on my PC or from the web?

Playback your file in any player and hit the 'mic' button on the SpeechTexter website to start capturing the speech. For better results select "Stereo Mix" as the default recording device on your browser, if you are accessing SpeechTexter and the file from the same device.

I don't see the "Stereo mix" option (Windows OS)

"Stereo Mix" might be hidden or it's not supported by your system. If you are a Windows user go to 'Control panel' → Hardware and Sound → Sound → 'Recording' tab. Right-click on a blank area in the pane and make sure both "View Disabled Devices" and "View Disconnected Devices" options are checked. If "Stereo Mix" appears, you can enable it by right clicking on it and choosing 'enable'. If "Stereo Mix" hasn't appeared, it means it's not supported by your system. You can try using a third-party program such as "Virtual Audio Cable" or "VB-Audio Virtual Cable" to create a virtual audio device that includes "Stereo Mix" functionality.

How to use the voice commands list?

The voice commands list allows you to insert the punctuation, some text, or run some preset functions using only your voice. On the first column you enter your voice command. On the second column you enter a punctuation mark or a function. Voice commands are case-sensitive. Available functions: #newparagraph (add a new paragraph), #undo (undo the last change), #redo (redo the last change)

To use the function above make a pause in your speech until all previous dictated speech appears in your note, then say "insert a new paragraph" and wait for the command execution.

Found a mistake in the voice commands list or want to suggest an update? Follow the steps below:

• Navigate to the voice commands list [↑] on this website.
• Click on the edit button to update or add new punctuation marks you think other users might find useful in your language.
• Click on the "Export" button located above the voice commands list to save your list in JSON format to your device.

Next, send us your file as an attachment via email. You can find the email address at the bottom of the page. Feel free to include a brief description of the mistake or the updates you're suggesting in the email body.

Your contribution to the improvement of the services is appreciated.

Can I prevent my custom voice commands from disappearing after closing the browser?

SpeechTexter by default saves your data inside your browser's cache. If your browsers clears the cache your data will be deleted. However, you can export your custom voice commands to your device and import them when you need them by clicking the corresponding buttons above the list. SpeechTexter is using JSON format to store your voice commands. You can create a .txt file in this format on your device and then import it into SpeechTexter. An example of JSON format is shown below:

{ "period": ".", "full stop": ".", "question mark": "?", "new paragraph": "#newparagraph" }

I lost my dictated work after closing the browser.

SpeechTexter doesn't store any text that you dictate. Please use the "autosave" option or click the "download" button (recommended). The "autosave" option will try to store your work inside your browser's cache, where it will remain until you switch the "text autosave" option off, clear the cache manually, or if your browser clears the cache on exit.

Common problems on the Android app

I get the message: 'speech recognition is not available'..

'Google app' from Play store is required for SpeechTexter to work. download [↗]

Where does SpeechTexter store the saved files?

Version 1.5 and above stores the files in the internal memory.

Version 1.4.9 and below stores the files inside the "SpeechTexter" folder at the root directory of your device.

After updating the app from version 1.x.x to version 2.x.x my files have disappeared

As a result of recent updates, the Android operating system has implemented restrictions that prevent users from accessing folders within the Android root directory, including SpeechTexter's folder. However, your old files can still be imported manually by selecting the "import" button within the Speechtexter application.

Common problems on the mobile web app

Tap on the "padlock" icon next to the URL bar, find the "microphone" option and choose "allow".

• TERMS OF USE
• PRIVACY POLICY
• Play Store [↗]

copyright © 2014 - 2024 www.speechtexter.com . All Rights Reserved.

Google Chrome Required

Please open dictation.io inside Google Chrome to use speech recognition.

Cannot Access Microphone

Please follow this guide for instructions on how to unblock your microphone.

Dictation is now publishing your note online. Please wait..

Speed is the rate at which the selected voice will speak your transcribed text while the pitch governs how high or low the voice speaks.

Speak Reset

8 Voice-to-Text Software That'll Help You Work Faster

Updated: June 11, 2021

Published: September 04, 2018

In marketing, efficiency is crucial for success. The faster you produce results, the longer you can focus on refining your overarching strategy and capturing more of your audience’s attention than your competitors can.

But the physical act of typing out personal notes, your own ideas, and other documents is much slower than your brain’s actual processing speed . The fact that you type slower than you can think means you’re probably wasting a good chunk of time on something that could be automated.

Fortunately, though, there’s technology that lets you type without your hands.

It’s called voice-to-text software, and it lets you use your voice to create documents faster than typing , expedite your workflow, and improve your efficiency. But before we delve into the best voice-to-text or dictation software for content creation and productivity, let’s go over what it exactly is.

What is voice-to-text software?

Voice-to-text software is speech recognition technology that turns spoken words into written words. It can also identify and understand human speech to carry out a person’s commands on a computer.

Now that you know what exactly voice-to-text or dictation software is, here are some of the best available today.

The 8 Best Dictation Software to Help You Work Faster

1. google docs voice typing.

As the most popular dictation software in its space, Dragon Professional Individual allows you to do the majority of your job without even touching a keyboard.

By leveraging its Deep Learning technology that adapts to your specific voice, jargon, and work environment, you can create and edit documents with 99% accuracy, quickly and accurately transcribe recordings into text, and use voice commands to control your computer's actions on programs and web browsers, like sending an email or creating a report.

Dragon also integrates with Microsoft Office, iWork, and other popular business applications, so you can do hands-free work without leaving your favorite programs.

Available On: Mac and Windows

Price: $300

3. Braina Pro

Braina Pro is more than speech recognition software -- it’s a personal virtual assistant powered by artificial intelligence. Other than its ability to dictate over 100 languages, Braina Pro can automate various computer tasks, set alarms and reminders, give you updates on current events, serve as dictionary and thesaurus, play songs and videos, read eBooks out loud, search files on folders on your computer, and more.

Braina Pro also supports most laptops’ built in microphones and has a mobile app, so you can work headset free and away from your computer.

Available On : Windows

Price: $239

4. Speechnotes

Built on Google’s speech-recognition engines, Speechnotes is a simple, clean, online dictation tool that helps users transcribe their speech into text with over 90% accuracy. And since you don’t have to download, install, or register for Speechnotes, it’s one of the most accessible dictation tools out there.

Speechnotes is incredibly user-friendly too -- it automatically capitalizes the beginning of your sentences, autosave your documents, and allows you to dictate and type at the same time. When you’re finished dictating on Speechnotes, you can email or print your documents, export them to Google Drive, or download them onto your computer.

Available On: Google Chrome

Price: Free

5. e-Speaking

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Windows 10 – Dictation (Speech to Text)

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Cost: Free | Platforms: In-built tool in your Windows Laptop and Desktop. 

Try using the in-built dictation tool in your Windows computer to convert your spoken words into text on your Windows 10 Laptop / Desktop. Dictation uses speech recognition, which is built into Windows 10, so there's nothing you need to download or install to use it. It does require internet access though.

Most useful for: There are many reasons why you might use a dictation tool - you may have slow typing skills or you may prefer to speak instead of type or you may prefer to generate ideas through talking out loud. 

How do I turn on the Dictation Tool in Windows? 

To start dictating, select a text field and press the 'Windows logo key' +' H' to open the dictation toolbar.

Just start speaking and it creates text from your voice.

If you pause for a few seconds you may have to select the dictation icon in the dictation toolbar.

If this is your first-time using Dictation in Windows than it may ask you to go to Settings. 

In ‘Speech’ switch on the ‘Online speech recognition’. 

Your computer needs to be connected to the internet. 

Now press the 'Windows logo key' + 'H' and begin to dictate in whatever document / note you have open in your browser or in another application. 

Our Top Tip: 

A headset can make a significant difference to the experience of dictation so if possible, try to use one. If you don't have a headset make sure you are in a room that has no echo.

It takes practice to speak out loud to your computer so take time to build up your confidence.

Similar Tools: 

Voice Typing in Google Docs. This free feature is a great way to try speech to text software.

Dictate tool in Office 365. Another free tool in Microsoft that allows you to type with your voice.

If you become proficient with Dictation then you may want to consider ‘Dragon Naturally Speaking’ which is a more advanced form of dictation software.

In-built dictation on your iPad and iPhone.

In-built dictation on a Mac computer.

Demonstration of Windows Dictation in Action 

Video source: Xandru Tait YouTube channel 

Go to the Microsoft Website for more information>  

Advice about Dictation Tools and Software:  

If you are a student in Higher Education, speak to your Assistive Technology Officer or Disability Officer /Learning Support Officer.  

If you are a Student in the FET/ETB then it may be possible to speak to an Educational Needs Coordinator, Learning Support Coordinator, Student Access Officer, Student Support Coordinator or a Disability Support Officer for more information about assistive technology.  

If you are an Employee and are interested in this technology then speak to your Disability Liaison Officer (public service) or your Line Manager to start the conversation. 

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Best text-to-speech software of 2024

Boosting accessibility and productivity

• Best overall
• Best realism
• Best for developers
• Best for podcasting
• How we test

The best text-to-speech software makes it simple and easy to convert text to voice for accessibility or for productivity applications.

1. Best overall 2. Best realism 3. Best for developers 4. Best for podcasting 5. Best for developers 6. FAQs 7. How we test

Finding the best text-to-speech software is key for anyone looking to transform written text into spoken words, whether for accessibility purposes, productivity enhancement, or creative applications like voice-overs in videos. 

Text-to-speech (TTS) technology relies on sophisticated algorithms to model natural language to bring written words to life, making it easier to catch typos or nuances in written content when it's read aloud. So, unlike the best speech-to-text apps and best dictation software , which focus on converting spoken words into text, TTS software specializes in the reverse process: turning text documents into audio. This technology is not only efficient but also comes with a variety of tools and features. For those creating content for platforms like YouTube , the ability to download audio files is a particularly valuable feature of the best text-to-speech software.

While some standard office programs like Microsoft Word and Google Docs offer basic TTS tools, they often lack the comprehensive functionalities found in dedicated TTS software. These basic tools may provide decent accuracy and basic options like different accents and languages, but they fall short in delivering the full spectrum of capabilities available in specialized TTS software.

To help you find the best text-to-speech software for your specific needs, TechRadar Pro has rigorously tested various software options, evaluating them based on user experience, performance, output quality, and pricing. This includes examining the best free text-to-speech software as well, since many free options are perfect for most users. We've brought together our picks below to help you choose the most suitable tool for your specific needs, whether for personal use, professional projects, or accessibility requirements.

The best text-to-speech 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.

Below you'll find full write-ups for each of the entries on our best text-to-speech software list. We've tested each one extensively, so you can be sure that our recommendations can be trusted.

The best text-to-speech software overall

1. NaturalReader

Our expert review:

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid.

If you’re looking for a cloud-based speech synthesis application, you should definitely check out NaturalReader. Aimed more at personal use, the solution allows you to convert written text such as Word and PDF documents, ebooks and web pages into human-like speech.  

Because the software is underpinned by cloud technology, you’re able to access it from wherever you go via a smartphone, tablet or computer. And just like Capti Voice, you can upload documents from cloud storage lockers such as Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive.  

Currently, you can access 56 natural-sounding voices in nine different languages, including American English, British English, French, Spanish, German, Swedish, Italian, Portuguese and Dutch. The software supports PDF, TXT, DOC(X), ODT, PNG, JPG, plus non-DRM EPUB files and much more, along with MP3 audio streams. 

There are three different products: online, software, and commercial. Both the online and software products have a free tier.

Read our full NaturalReader review .

• ^ Back to the top

The best text-to-speech software for realistic voices

Specializing in voice synthesis technology, Murf uses AI to generate realistic voiceovers for a range of uses, from e-learning to corporate presentations. 

Murf comes with a comprehensive suite of AI tools that are easy to use and straightforward to locate and access. There's even a Voice Changer feature that allows you to record something before it is transformed into an AI-generated voice- perfect if you don't think you have the right tone or accent for a piece of audio content but would rather not enlist the help of a voice actor. Other features include Voice Editing, Time Syncing, and a Grammar Assistant.

The solution comes with three pricing plans to choose from: Basic, Pro and Enterprise. The latter of these options may be pricey but some with added collaboration and account management features that larger companies may need access to. The Basic plan starts at around $19 / £17 / AU$28 per month but if you set up a yearly plan that will drop to around $13 / £12 / AU$20 per month. You can also try the service out for free for up to 10 minutes, without downloads.

The best text-to-speech software for developers

3. Amazon Polly

Alexa isn’t the only artificial intelligence tool created by tech giant Amazon as it also offers an intelligent text-to-speech system called Amazon Polly. Employing advanced deep learning techniques, the software turns text into lifelike speech. Developers can use the software to create speech-enabled products and apps. 

It sports an API that lets you easily integrate speech synthesis capabilities into ebooks, articles and other media. What’s great is that Polly is so easy to use. To get text converted into speech, you just have to send it through the API, and it’ll send an audio stream straight back to your application. 

You can also store audio streams as MP3, Vorbis and PCM file formats, and there’s support for a range of international languages and dialects. These include British English, American English, Australian English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Danish and Russian. 

Polly is available as an API on its own, as well as a feature of the AWS Management Console and command-line interface. In terms of pricing, you’re charged based on the number of text characters you convert into speech. This is charged at approximately $16 per1 million characters , but there is a free tier for the first year.

The best text-to-speech software for podcasting

In terms of its library of voice options, it's hard to beat Play.ht as one of the best text-to-speech software tools. With almost 600 AI-generated voices available in over 60 languages, it's likely you'll be able to find a voice to suit your needs. 

Although the platform isn't the easiest to use, there is a detailed video tutorial to help users if they encounter any difficulties. All the usual features are available, including Voice Generation and Audio Analytics. 

In terms of pricing, Play.ht comes with four plans: Personal, Professional, Growth, and Business. These range widely in price, but it depends if you need things like commercial rights and affects the number of words you can generate each month. 

The best text-to-speech software for Mac and iOS

5. Voice Dream Reader

There are also plenty of great text-to-speech applications available for mobile devices, and Voice Dream Reader is an excellent example. It can convert documents, web articles and ebooks into natural-sounding speech. 

The app comes with 186 built-in voices across 30 languages, including English, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese and Korean. 

You can get the software to read a list of articles while you drive, work or exercise, and there are auto-scrolling, full-screen and distraction-free modes to help you focus. Voice Dream Reader can be used with cloud solutions like Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud Drive, Pocket, Instapaper and Evernote. 

The best text-to-speech software: FAQs

What is the best text-to-speech software for youtube.

If you're looking for the best text-to-speech software for YouTube videos or other social media platforms, you need a tool that lets you extract the audio file once your text document has been processed. Thankfully, that's most of them. So, the real trick is to select a TTS app that features a bountiful choice of natural-sounding voices that match the personality of your channel. 

What’s the difference between web TTS services and TTS software?

Web TTS services are hosted on a company or developer website. You’ll only be able to access the service if the service remains available at the whim of a provider or isn’t facing an outage.

TTS software refers to downloadable desktop applications that typically won’t rely on connection to a server, meaning that so long as you preserve the installer, you should be able to use the software long after it stops being provided. 

Do I need a text-to-speech subscription?

Subscriptions are by far the most common pricing model for top text-to-speech software. By offering subscription models for, companies and developers benefit from a more sustainable revenue stream than they do from simply offering a one-time purchase model. Subscription models are also attractive to text-to-speech software providers as they tend to be more effective at defeating piracy.

Free software options are very rarely absolutely free. In some cases, individual voices may be priced and sold individually once the application has been installed or an account has been created on the web service.

How can I incorporate text-to-speech as part of my business tech stack?

Some of the text-to-speech software that we’ve chosen come with business plans, offering features such as additional usage allowances and the ability to have a shared workspace for documents. Other than that, services such as Amazon Polly are available as an API for more direct integration with business workflows.

Small businesses may find consumer-level subscription plans for text-to-speech software to be adequate, but it’s worth mentioning that only business plans usually come with the universal right to use any files or audio created for commercial use.

How to choose the best text-to-speech software

When deciding which text-to-speech software is best for you, it depends on a number of factors and preferences. For example, whether you’re happy to join the ecosystem of big companies like Amazon in exchange for quality assurance, if you prefer realistic voices, and how much budget you’re playing with. It’s worth noting that the paid services we recommend, while reliable, are often subscription services, with software hosted via websites, rather than one-time purchase desktop apps. 

Also, remember that the latest versions of Microsoft Word and Google Docs feature basic text-to-speech as standard, as well as most popular browsers. So, if you have access to that software and all you’re looking for is a quick fix, that may suit your needs well enough. 

How we test the best text-to-speech software

We test for various use cases, including suitability for use with accessibility issues, such as visual impairment, and for multi-tasking. Both of these require easy access and near instantaneous processing. Where possible, we look for integration across the entirety of an operating system , and for fair usage allowances across free and paid subscription models.

At a minimum, we expect an intuitive interface and intuitive software. We like bells and whistles such as realistic voices, but we also appreciate that there is a place for products that simply get the job done. Here, the question that we ask can be as simple as “does this piece of software do what it's expected to do when asked?”

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

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John (He/Him) is the Components Editor here at TechRadar and he is also a programmer, gamer, activist, and Brooklyn College alum currently living in Brooklyn, NY. 

Named by the CTA as a CES 2020 Media Trailblazer for his science and technology reporting, John specializes in all areas of computer science, including industry news, hardware reviews, PC gaming, as well as general science writing and the social impact of the tech industry.

You can find him online on Threads @johnloeffler.

Currently playing: Baldur's Gate 3 (just like everyone else).

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Use the Speak text-to-speech feature to read text aloud

Speak is a built-in feature of Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and OneNote. You can use Speak to have text read aloud in the language of your version of Office.

Text-to-speech (TTS) is the ability of your computer to play back written text as spoken words. Depending upon your configuration and installed TTS engines, you can hear most text that appears on your screen in Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and OneNote. For example, if you're using the English version of Office, the English TTS engine is automatically installed. To use text-to-speech in different languages, see Using the Speak feature with Multilingual TTS .

To learn how to configure Excel for text-to-speech, see Converting text to speech in Excel .

Add Speak to the Quick Access Toolbar

You can add the Speak command to your Quick Access Toolbar by doing the following in Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and OneNote:

Next to the Quick Access Toolbar, click Customize Quick Access Toolbar .

Click More Commands .

In the Choose commands from list, select All Commands .

Scroll down to the Speak command, select it, and then click Add .

Use Speak to read text aloud

After you have added the Speak command to your Quick Access Toolbar, you can hear single words or blocks of text read aloud by selecting the text you want to hear and then clicking the Speak icon on the Quick Access Toolbar.

Listen to your Word documents with Read Aloud

Listen to your Outlook email messages with Read Aloud

Converting text to speech in Excel

Dictate text using Speech Recognition

Learning Tools in Word

Hear text read aloud with Narrator

Using the Save as Daisy add-in for Word

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Swarthmore College – ITS Blog

Assistive Technology Tools: Speech-to-text

This is part of a series of Assistive Technology (AT) Tools posts about tools anyone can use on their devices without downloading anything additional.

Have you ever been stopped at a light but feel you need to respond to the text from your kid? Or maybe you have one hand amess with oil and herbs but you need to pull up the recipe to remember that last ingredient before placing the dish in the oven? Or perhaps you have a broken wrist and still need to respond to the 82 emails you received today?

Speech-to-text options on your mobile, tablet, and desktop/laptop devices can help you in these—and many other—situations.

Speech-to-text options allow you to type without touching the device.

Many of the more robust speech-to-text tools were originally built and inspired by folks who use speech as an input for all functions on their devices. We will not discuss that software here, but if that is something you need, please reach out to support.swarthmore.edu to inquire.

Dictation on desktops

• From the Apple menu, 
•  Select System Settings ,
• then click Keyboard in the sidebar.
• Go to Dictation on the right, 
• then toggle it On . A microphone will now appear as a text entry option.

See: Dictate messages and documents on Mac – Apple Support

Windows logo key + h

See: Use voice typing to talk instead of type on your PC – Microsoft Suppor t

Dictation on mobile devices

Android: talk to text.

• On your Android phone or tablet, install Gboard .
• Open any app that you can type with, such as Gmail or Keep.
• Tap an area where you can enter text. A microphone will now appear as a text entry option.

See: Type with your voice – Android – Gboard Help

iOS: Dictation Keyboard

• Open Settings .
• Select General ,
• Then select Keyboard .
• Scroll down.
• Toggle Enable Dictation . A microphone will now appear as a text entry option.

See: Dictate text on iPhone – Apple Support

Do you have feedback?

• are other tools you use for dictation;
• are errors in the directions;
• or there aren’t directions for your device or operating system (OS),

let us know! Please email [email protected] .

Acknowledgements

This series has been inspired by previous blog posts by Corrine Schoeb, including:

• Live transcription now available in zoom
• Built-in reading tools: Firefox, Safari
• Online tools to help with eye fatigue
• Tips for reducing eye strain
• NVDA simplified
• VoiceOver simplified

and by Swarthmore’s ITS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee’s recent presentation on disability inclusion and accessibility. Thanks to Mark Davis, Sean O’Donnell , Ashley Turner, and Doug Willen for the thought and collaboration you put into your presentations and that has inspired this post!

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Chuchotis 4+

Speech-to-text best companion, screenshots, description.

Enjoy the power of artificial intelligence to transcribe audio recordings and video soundtracks into text, in any of 99+ languages. Drag'n'drop, click, and you're done! Chuchotis has been designed and hand-coded by a journalist, then heavily tested by many of its colleagues before release. It runs exclusively on your computer to preserve the recording's privacy. Nothing is sent over the internet. Chuchotis is built on powerful Whisper speech-to-text models made by OpenAI, and code implementation as Whisper.cpp lead by the great Georgi Gerganov. The application also features tools to improve the quality of your transcriptions. Those are delivered as text segments which can be listened again and edited before being copied/pasted to a website backoffice, exported to word-processors or as subtitles to video software. In case of hallucinations from the AI model, troubled segments are automatically detected and can be transcribed again. Chuchotis runs on any Apple silicon-based Mac, harnessing the power of its graphics cores, starting with only 8GB memory. It manages most common audio and video file formats and deals automatically with their internal characteristics. One more thing: The french word Chuchotis evokes someone whispering at your ear. Chuchotis is a synonym of privacy! List of automatic recognized languages: Afrikaans, albanian, amharic, arabic, armenian, assamese, azerbaijani, bashkir, basque, belarusian, bengali, bosnian, breton, bulgarian, catalan, chinese, croatian, czech, danish, dutch, english, estonian, faroese, finnish, french, galician, georgian, german, greek, gujarati, haitian creole, hausa, hawaiian, hebrew, hindi, hungarian, icelandic, indonesian, italian, japanese, javanese, kannada, kazakh, khmer, korean, lao, latin, latvian, lingala, lithuanian, luxembourgish, macedonian, malagasy, malay, malayalam, maltese, maori, marathi, mongolian, myanmar, nepali, norwegian, nynorsk, occitan, pashto, persian, polish, portuguese, punjabi, romanian, russian, sanskrit, serbian, shona, sindhi, sinhala, slovak, slovenian, somali, spanish, sundanese, swahili, swedish, tagalog, tajik, tamil, tatar, telugu, thai, tibetan, turkish, turkmen, ukrainian, urdu, uzbek, vietnamese, welsh, yiddish, yoruba & german swiss

Version 1.02

Minor bug corrections

App Privacy

The developer, Azertiop , indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

Data Not Collected

The developer does not collect any data from this app.

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

Information

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• Developer Website
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Up to six family members can use this app with family sharing enabled., more by this developer.

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What is a Screen Reader?

Screen Reader: A screen reader is a software tool designed to help visually impaired or blind users by reading out the text displayed on a computer screen. This software uses text-to-speech technology to convert on-screen text into spoken words, allowing users to listen to content from websites, emails, documents, and more. It also assists in navigation, offering keyboard shortcuts and commands to help users move through links, buttons, and menus efficiently.

Screen readers are compatible with various operating systems and applications, ensuring that visually impaired users can access a wide range of digital content and services.

Additionally, many screen readers support Braille displays, converting text into Braille for those who use tactile reading. This technology is essential for enabling visually impaired individuals to study, work, and manage daily digital tasks independently, enhancing their ability to interact with the digital world.

How are Screen Readers Used?

Screen readers are tools that help people who are blind or have trouble seeing to use computers, phones, and other devices. Here’s how they’re used in everyday technology –

On Computers : Screen readers work with operating systems like Windows or macOS to read out loud what’s on the screen. They help users open programs, manage files, and navigate the desktop.

On the Internet : They make web browsing possible for visually impaired users by reading the text on websites, including descriptions of images and the names of links.

With Emails and Documents : People use screen readers to read and write emails, and to work with documents in programs like Word or Excel. The screen reader announces the text and helps with formatting and navigating through the content.

On Smartphones and Tablets : Phones and tablets have their own screen readers, like VoiceOver on iPhones and TalkBack on Android devices. These tools read the screen content aloud and help users navigate with touch gestures.

For Learning : Screen readers also help users access educational materials and e-books, making it easier to study and learn.

For Socializing : These tools are great for staying connected on social media and using communication apps by reading messages and notifications out loud.

At ATMs : Screen readers are even used in public places like ATMs and information kiosks, where they provide spoken instructions for transactions or finding information.

Mobile Screen Readers

Even though it’s possible, most screen reader users don’t connect a keyboard to their mobile devices. Instead, we navigate by moving our finger on the screen in one of two ways:

• Touch navigation : dragging our finger across the screen, and getting what’s under our finger read to us.
• Swipe navigation : Swiping left and right to move to the next or previous item. Kind of like using the tab-key on a computer keyboard.

It’s very common for people to switch between these modes of navigation.

Challenges Faced by Screen Reader Users

Screen reader users often face challenges that can make using digital content difficult. One major issue is that many websites aren’t built to work well with screen readers, which makes it hard for users to navigate and access information. This lack of compatibility means users can miss out on important content or struggle to use essential services online. Additionally, inconsistencies in how different screen readers interpret and read out content can lead to confusion and hinder efficient use.

These challenges highlight the need for more accessible website design and improved technology to ensure everyone can access digital information easily.

In conclusion, screen readers are essential tools that help visually impaired people interact with digital devices, making technology accessible to everyone. However, there are still challenges, like websites that don’t work well with screen readers, which can make navigating and accessing information difficult. It’s important for developers and content creators to consider these needs and build more accessible digital environments.

As technology advances, the hope is that screen readers will become even more effective, helping to bridge the gap in digital accessibility and allowing everyone to benefit from the information and opportunities that technology bring .

What is a Screen Reader? – FAQs

What does a screen reader do.

Screen readers are software programs that  allow blind or visually impaired users to read the text that is displayed on the computer screen with a speech synthesizer or braille display .

Why might someone use a screen reader?

Screen readers can be useful for  people who cannot access printed text or a standard (icon based) computer screen because of visual or learning disabilities .

What is Screen recorder example?

A well-known example of a screen reader is JAWS (Job Access With Speech), which is widely used on Windows computers to help visually impaired users navigate and interact with their devices.

Do people actually use screen readers?

Screen readers are an essential tool that helps a variety of people . People who use screen readers can include those who are: Blind

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Accurate Speech to Text Arabic Transcription

Real-time speech to text arabic transcription.

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Enhance and convert speech to text Arabic audio

Clean up unwanted background noise and get high-quality sounds easily with our  audio enhancer . Once you improve sound quality, you can effortlessly convert speech to text in Arabic.

How to transcribe speech to text in Arabic:

Open up a tab in your preferred browser and click on “Get started.” Tap the “Import” button and upload your audio or video files.

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Frequently asked questions.

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Generative AI Software Sales Could Soar 6,260%: My Pick for the Best AI Stock to Buy Now (Hint: Not Nvidia)

April 27, 2024 — 04:00 am EDT

Written by Trevor Jennewine for The Motley Fool  ->

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) uses large language models and other machine learning models to create novel media content like text and speech, images and video, even computer code and gene sequences. Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang recently called it "the defining technology of our time."

Indeed, automating content creation could improve productivity across numerous industries, so businesses are racing to realize the benefits. Bloomberg Intelligence says generative AI software sales could soar 6,260% to $318 billion by 2032, up from $5 billion in 2023. That puts investors in front of a massive opportunity.

For many, Nvidia may be the first stock that comes to mind. But I think little-known software company Docebo (NASDAQ: DCBO) is the better buy right now. Here's why.

Nvidia: The early winner from the generative AI gold rush

Nvidia pioneered accelerated computing, a discipline that uses specialized hardware and software to speed up demanding applications like artificial intelligence (AI). Its graphics processing units (GPUs) have become the gold standard in AI infrastructure. "Nvidia's chips underpin all of the most advanced AI systems, giving the company a market share estimated at more than 80%," according to The Wall Street Journa l.

Most investors see Nvidia as a chipmaker, but software expertise has played a significant role in its success. Nvidia GPUs initially faced competition from other parallel processors, but none survived because they lacked supporting software ecosystems, according to Kevin Krewell at Tirias Research.

Nvidia had more foresight. In 2006, its launch of programming model CUDA turned its GPUs (initially meant for computer graphics) into general purpose processors, and the company has continued to build out its software ecosystem since then.

For instance, Nvidia AI Enterprise is a suite of software frameworks and pretrained models that help businesses build a broad range of AI applications. The product suite includes Nvidia NeMo, a service that supports the development of custom generative AI models for language, vision, and speech applications. Better yet, Nvidia offers on-demand access to NeMo through DGX Cloud, a cloud service that pairs its AI Enterprise software with GPU-accelerated infrastructure to create a complete AI-as-a-service solution. Innovations like that should keep the company in growth mode for years to come.

Nvidia has already benefited from the generative AI gold rush -- the stock nearly tripled during the past year -- and it remains well positioned to benefit in the future. However, shares currently trade at 67 times earnings , a somewhat pricey valuation, given that Wall Street expects Nvidia to grow earnings per share at 35% annually over the next five years. For that reason, I think Docebo offers more upside for investors.

Docebo: A little-known software company that could benefit from generative AI

Docebo specializes in corporate learning management. Its platform lets businesses create, curate, deliver, and measure the impact of learning material across internal (employees) and external (customers) audiences. Docebo has earned a leadership position in the corporate learning management market through laser-focused innovation and differentiated products.

For instance, Docebo was among the first education technology companies to weave generative AI into its platform. Docebo Shape automates content creation by turning source material like documents, presentations, and case studies into learning content. The company plans to add more features this year, including a natural language interface that further simplifies content creation, and virtual role-play technology that provides personalized feedback in real time.

Morgan Stanley analyst Josh Baer recently selected Docebo as his "top pick" across education technology stocks, building on a previous report where he ranked Docebo as one of 11 software companies best positioned to monetize generative AI. "Docebo is not only disrupting the internal learning management system (LMS) market, taking share from legacy vendors, but it is also leading the market in a greenfield external learning opportunity," he wrote.

Docebo reported strong financial results in the fourth quarter. Its customer count climbed 11%, the average contract value increased 12%, and the average existing customer spent 4% more. In turn, revenue increased 27% to $46 million, and net income doubled to $0.10 per diluted share. Management highlighted momentum with larger customers during the quarter, as Docebo signed a top-four bank and expanded a deal with a top-five technology company.

Going forward, the learning management systems market is forecast to grow at 20% annually through 2030, but Docebo has consistently outpaced the industry in the past, and analysts think that trend will continue. Wall Street expects Docebo to grow sales at 25% annually over the next five years, but I think that estimate leaves room for upside depending on how successfully the company monetizes Docebo Shape.

In any case, the current valuation of 8.4 times sales looks cheap. The market is overlooking this software stock, despite the company being well positioned to benefit from explosive growth in generative AI spending. Patient investors should seriously consider buying a position in Docebo today.

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Trevor Jennewine has positions in Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Docebo and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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Computer Science > Sound

Title: storytts: a highly expressive text-to-speech dataset with rich textual expressiveness annotations.

Abstract: While acoustic expressiveness has long been studied in expressive text-to-speech (ETTS), the inherent expressiveness in text lacks sufficient attention, especially for ETTS of artistic works. In this paper, we introduce StoryTTS, a highly ETTS dataset that contains rich expressiveness both in acoustic and textual perspective, from the recording of a Mandarin storytelling show. A systematic and comprehensive labeling framework is proposed for textual expressiveness. We analyze and define speech-related textual expressiveness in StoryTTS to include five distinct dimensions through linguistics, rhetoric, etc. Then we employ large language models and prompt them with a few manual annotation examples for batch annotation. The resulting corpus contains 61 hours of consecutive and highly prosodic speech equipped with accurate text transcriptions and rich textual expressiveness annotations. Therefore, StoryTTS can aid future ETTS research to fully mine the abundant intrinsic textual and acoustic features. Experiments are conducted to validate that TTS models can generate speech with improved expressiveness when integrating with the annotated textual labels in StoryTTS.

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