Talk at Your Computer

If you have difficulties expressing yourself in writing, or are just a slow typist, you will probably find it easier to dictate rather than to type. If you have a hand or arm injury, you will definitely need to use some type of assistive technology.

The next few pages in this module show you how to use the dictation and voice control features that are built into computers and laptops running Microsoft Windows or the Apple MacOS, plus Chromebooks. If you don't have a Chromebook, you can use Google Docs Voice Typing in the Chrome web browser.

Also in this module I'll show you how to use Dragon Speech Recognition by Nuance. This software is very expensive, but we do provide it on computers here at the DRC.

Random Tip: Voice In Google Chrome Extension

I'm using the voice in voice typing Chrome extension to dictate this text right now. It's very easy to use. I just added the extension to my Chrome browser, and then I click the little microphone icon in my Google Chrome Toolbar to get it started, and start talking. Click the microphone icon again to turn it off.

There's just one little confusing thing about it: It will ask you to upgrade by warning you "advanced mode may be needed to dictate." However, I have not had any problem using the free version anywhere in Canvas or on other websites, including my Google Gmail inbox.

Get the Voice In Voice Typing extension on the Google Web Store.