Being a full-featured application based on Microsoft Speech API 5.1, Speeco is a freeware speech recognition software that can successfully compete with all commercial applications of the type.
What makes Speeco better than other low-cost SAPI-based applications is its unique modular design that allows new features to be added with just few lines of code. Besides that, Speeco introduces several improvements over how command and control features should be implemented to give efficient results and to make a truly outstanding user experience.
So what does it offer anyway?The first thing to say is that Speeco development is focused on C&C, thus excluding support for advanced dictation features (although some basic support exists).
Nevertheless, Speeco is able to send almost any keystroke combination to an active application of your choice i.e. suppose I run Notepad and say the following "hold shift and press s then press p and press e twice and press c and then press o", it would effect in a word "Speeco" being written in the Notepad.
But that is not all. You gain the possibility of fully driving your mouse using voice. Saying "move left" effects in a continuous movement of the mouse pointer to the left until the "stop" command is recognized. You are able to jump a defined amount of pixels in one of four directions as well. To access any portion of your desktop screen even faster you might consider using a translucent grid in connection with phrases like "go to 1" or "go to 7".
You can also click, hold or release any mouse button at any time and in this way drag icons, windows and other objects if needed. Going further you are able to switch from and to any opened application, minimize, maximize, restore to previous state, close windows, invoke most of the commands found under the Edit menu and to control your desktop (i.e. to find files, computers, empty trash, control the volume of your speakers etc.). Taking a snapshot of your screen is not a problem at all either.
Moreover, surfing the web with Speeco is very simple as it integrates with your web browser so you will navigate through websites as quickly as you can say "previous page". Speeco opens common folders, CD/DVD drives as well as any partition within a second. It even lets you zoom in an area of screen under the mouse pointer so you will see much clearer (what you were looking for). Plus, it can run any program to which a shortcut has been placed in a Speeco special folder - by saying simply the shortcut's name.
There are lots of cool features in Speeco and a lot more to come in the future. New ideas are always welcome!
Speeco popup windowMany recognitions, successful or not, frequently return several words or phrases that closely match the spoken sequence. The one most closely matching the sequence with a high confidence level is returned as a successful recognition.
You will be notified on successful and unsuccessful recognitions through a Speeco popup window.
RequirementsTo be able to run Speeco your computer must meet the following requirements:
- Windows XP Professional or Home editions
- Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0
- SAPI 5.1 runtime
- A PentiumII\PentiumII-equivalent or later processor at 233 MHz with 128 megabytes (MB) of RAM is a minimum. Get a faster CPU, get more RAM!
- A microphone or some other sound input device to receive the sound is required for speech recognition. In general, the microphone should be a high quality device with noise filters built in. The speech recognition rate is directly related to the quality of the input. The recognition rate will be significantly lower or perhaps even unacceptable with a poor microphone.