Beyond Word Processing

Most of today's speech recognition packages also allow voice control of many Windows applications (find out from the vendor which programs the recognition software works with). The packages usually do this by converting spoken words into the appropriate text or commands and sending them to the application.

Applications such as Word or Excel look for standard commands, and whether those commands come from a keyboard or your mouth doesn't matter. In addition, most speech recognition packages work with your browser, allowing you to "voice surf" the Web.

Voice surfing is just the start of what you'll be able to do. Dragon Systems now offers portable digital voice recorders that download recordings to your PC when you get back to the office; your PC's speech recognition software transcribes your notes directly from the recorder.

Analysts say portable devices--such as Web-enabled mobile phones, which don't have standard keyboards--are next on the horizon. Rather than having full-fledged speech recognition, these devices will be tuned to a limited range of specific applications, such as getting stock updates.

For desktop PCs, the next major leap is three to five years away, when technologies such as natural language processing and artificial intelligence come to the consumer. Natural language processing analyzes the context of a word by looking at a whole sentence instead of a few words, resulting in greater accuracy.

Even more sophisticated (and perhaps frightening), artificial intelligence will allow computers to understand what you mean instead of just what you say. Speech packages will hold a discussion with you and will analyze the emotional aspects of your voice.