At 11:31 PM 08/17/2000 J. Paul Jones wrote:
>
>I teach computer classes at a local tech college.  One of my students is
>hearing impaired.  While she can hear my voice, it is not clear to her.  By
>reading my lips, she can understand fairly well.  Her problem is in taking
>notes... can't very well look at me while she is writing.  She purchased
>Dragon Naturaly Speaking and also got a Sony digital recorder (for some
>extra $$$)
>
>The question is:  How can I record my class and have my student take the
>recording home and convert it to text?  I don't think the digital recorder
>will record 3+ hours, but what about tape?  Can a tape player be plugged
>into a sound card, then run voice recognition software with the tape running?


Paul:

I also teach computer classes. I find the best students record my lectures
on cassette and later transcribe them to notes (reinforcing the lecture).
No student has used voice recognition software for the task, and I have not
been asked to train any software for that purpose. Jargon-populated,
non-dictational (and spontaneous) lectures would appreciably affect the
software's accuracy.

Undoubtedly, the better the voice recording (higher sampling and
signal-to-noise rates), the more accurate the voice recognition. Therefore,
you would want to use quality recording equipment; I would recommend a
Hi-Fi VCR, or a Mini-Disc recorder, with a good lapel microphone.
Otherwise, do a real-time conversion by recording your lectures directly
into a computer via a good quality Analog-to-Digital Conversion sound card
using the microphone line input.

A quality MP3 digital recorder with a good microphone and 64MB of RAM
should be sufficient, if you can transfer the digital files directly to the
computer without introducing further degradation with another DAC-and-ADC
through the sound card. Also, verify that the voice recognition software
can be used on exiting sound files.

Regards,

John Chin

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