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Desktop
speech products specific evaluation criteria
OUR EXPERIENCES
with desktop speech recognition products have led us to look for
several specific items as instances of bugs, usability errors
or limitations on expandability in these products. This list changes
from time to time as clients and testers discover new items of
importance.
Installation:
no gratuitous images
handles out of sequence user responses
doesn't leave temporary installation files lying around
self-contained - does not require additional installation of
external components from other vendors
does not conflict with other products from major vendors which
have the same purpose
keeps its program files in its own directory rather than Windows\System
Enrollment process:
no gratuitous images
handles out of sequence responses
user can re-dictate misspoken phrases
multiple choices for training text
Training process:
speed of learning new words and phrases
handles special words like "3Com" and "Y2K"
can delete a mistrained word from vocabulary
can train alpha characters used for spelling
Dictation:
properly capitalizes beginning of sentences for insertions
status of recognizer shown - listening, processing commands,
processing text, overrun
messages not truncated on status bar
availability of history list of commands and phrases
multilevel undo
availability of "computer attention word" to force next phrase
to be treated as a command
availability of an "escape" word to prevent command interpretation
of next phrase
right click on highlighted phrase brings up correction and
training verbs
existence of playback facility
playback facility handles insertions/deletions correctly
playback facility doesn't drop phrases
accuracy of single word dictation, i.e. a one word phrase surrounded
by pause
no bizarre capitalization errors
assignable key to toggle microphone on and off
"Select <text>" command works in multiple windows
Text to speech performance:
good phrasing, pitch and tempo
trainable pronunciation for new words
easy to stop and continue while audio proofreading
works in long documents
works outside of native word processor
Macro capability:
will accept parameters to the macro
facility to copy and paste from other macros
facility to make an alias for any official command including
"wake up" and "go to sleep " and "computer attention word"
macros can handle combinations of keystrokes, program initiation,
reference to other macros
keystroke capture facility
export/import macros by user or global context
internal macro format is text editable
macro can be made aware of current window focus in order to
behave differently
Transcription process:
short time to change between transcription device input and
regular user microphone input
doesn't drop phrases without warning
ability to abort from keyboard a transcription translation
that is going badly wrong
transcription errors trainable
Quality of manuals and on line help:
no "tips" or "hints" in manuals
no manual references to "see on-line help for more details"
help available in all contexts with context sensitive command
list
More on bug testing...
More on usability...
More on expandability...
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