IBM ViaVoice 10 Pro USB

In spite of improvements over the last decade, speech recognition hasn't taken off because it simply hasn't been good enough for most users. The technology has its advocates and it's certainly helped many people who struggle with typing, but a keyboard has always been quicker for most PC professionals. Has IBM managed a breakthrough with ViaVoice 10?

On paper, everything looks good. ViaVoice's latest release sports a new engine and a raft of features designed to improve performance in the workplace. This package comes with a USB connector to help keep the signal quality high, while a top-notch - but sadly single-earpiece - headphone and microphone set are provided.

After enduring a 15-minute t'te--t'te trial dictation to get me acquainted, my voice and ViaVoice began to develop something of an understanding. The installation, setup and teaching process were all simple and, with a day's practice, the majority of words spoken appeared correctly on screen in a few moments.

This certainly doesn't mean it's perfect. During the early stages of your relationship, there'll be plenty of misunderstandings - you'll be surprised how often you say 'duck kennel', or some other absurdity, in everyday speech. But as you grow acclimatised to this environment and begin talking in the same way you read the opening enrolment documents, the system begins to work more smoothly. When you don't force and over-enunciate words, the software becomes much more understanding.

However, responsiveness remains one of voice recognition's biggest problems. The number-crunching selection processes demand up-to-date equipment. Even on the test machine - a Pentium III/650 with 256MB of memory - which has a higher specification than the minimum Pentium II/300 requirements, words didn't appear for a disconcertingly long time, leading to repetition of phrases and additional corrections.

Corrections - like many other commands - can be made using 'natural speech', but this proved frustrating and it's easy to find yourself reaching for the mouse or cursor keys. More practice - again for both user and machine - makes navigating this section easier. I had difficulty getting the software to understand 'Select', which is a key command when editing, until I re-recorded the word several times.

But with the Standard Dictionary of 160,000 words and 240,000 more in reserve, the chances are that ViaVoice will know what you're talking about, even if it can't understand you. When the engine misunderstands your words, you can train the dictionary by recording a clip of your voice so it should understand the next time you use the word. You can also add up to 64,000 new words - a popular option with doctors and engineers.

This training should mean that, over time, fewer words and phrases need to be corrected, but it's a time-consuming and sometimes frustrating process, albeit rewarding, with accuracy results climbing from around 70 per cent to over 80 per cent. Sounds pretty good, but bear in mind that a 1,000-word document (a little longer than this one) would require 200 corrections. And while IBM has achieved a good level of homophonic understanding - it manages 'She wondered whether the weather would improve' - it isn't perfect: 'She weighed 140 pounds' became £140, for example.

IBM says it has worked hard to eliminate breathing noises from text, so you generally get few aerated words like 'feather' appearing in your prose, but let out a sigh and ViaVoice goes into overdrive trying to interpret what you're saying. This habit is one of several reasons why the software places apparently randomly selected words into sentences.