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Voice recognition technology has the power to reduce your workload and eliminate the costly and lengthy process of typing reports, documents and patient records. Despite this, dictation isn't being adopted in business to the degree that it could be, with apprehension stemming from a number of understandable factors.

However, educating yourself about Dragon voice recognition software and dictation in general is the first step to seeing whether Dragon is for you and making the most of it, which is why we've answered some of the most common questions below.

Is using Dragon complicated or difficult?

Whether dictation is easy or not depends entirely on the individual and their training with the software. At the heart of the matter, using Dragon should be as simple as talking into a microphone, albeit with less inflection in your voice. Voice recognition technology is better than ever before, able to detect nuances in speech and grammatically structure phonetically similar words based on the context of the sentence.

What kind of training do I need?

There are two integral parts to dictation: Your voice and the software. Creating a personal voice profile for Dragon to recognise your voice is a quick and simple process, while training your voice requires more time and adjustment to the nature of dictation. Keeping pace, avoiding inflection, rounding off words as complete – these are all things that are easily achieved in a simple training scenario.

The more you use Dragon software, and immediately see the time and cost benefits it offers, the more natural you'll become at revoicing. It may take you a few weeks to become a Dragon master, but you'll notice the difference between traditional transcription almost immediately.

Will my voice get tired?

Think about how sore your hands get while typing, or the strain experienced when keeping your wrists in a position that isn't ergonomically designed. Writing by hand is equally frustrating, as a quick search on Google will show.

Writer's cramp, or focal dystonia of the hand, warrants page after page of helpful hints and tips to ensure your writing doesn't suffer. While many of these tips are focused at individuals taking lengthy exams, the repetitive action of holding a pen or experiencing cramp only gets worse over time – something any medical professional doesn't want to worry about.

Voice recognition, on the other hand, should never reach a point where your body begins to suffer. So why is this?

The National Center for Voice and Speech states that the average rate for English speakers in the United States is about 150 wpm, with similar answers given by professional speakers and podcast hosts.

Lisa B Marshall, a professional speaker who trains communication skills including public speaking, social media and interviewing, agrees with this.

"I am a professional speaker and podcast host and I speak at approximately 145-160 words per minute (wpm), while many sources state that average American English speaker engaged in a friendly conversation speaks at a rate of approximately 110-150 wpm," she answered on Quora.

When transcribing using Dragon voice recognition, it's estimated you'll experience dictation that is three times as fast as regular typing, with many individuals typing between 40 and 50 wpm and easily matching the speed of regular speech.

This is important for a number of reasons:

• Speaking at a normal pace reduces the feeling of doing something robotic or mechanical.
• Everyone is already accustomed to having normal conversations, so you won't feel a need to change habits, such as to stretch your wrists or rest your hands.
• Your thought process is allowed to work as it normally would, not having to slow down like often is the case when typing.
• By using Dragon voice recognition software, your voice will never get more tired than it normally would simply holding a conversation. As many of us do this in our workplace and daily lives already, dictation is a natural fit to solve an unnatural problem.

Will Dragon understand me?

Dragon is available for a number of industries, with Dragon Medical containing over 60 specialties and subspecialties. Once your voice profile has been created, maximising the potential of Dragon voice recognition is as easy as a little practice.

Dictation software is used around the world, with Dragon itself being put to use to help assist deaf and hearing impaired in having conversations as if their hearing were unaffected. The individuals who perform this service are required to dictate at speeds upwards of 150 wpm for lengths of up to an hour continually. While the thought of typing a natural conversation at this rate is unthinkable, it is easily achieved by using the nuances and power of Dragon voice recognition software. 

All of these factors combine to create a single, coherent solution: the best speech recognition software available in Australia, and the world.