So I like bit of productivity and occasionally I manage to be more efficient than I am at other times. I know that sometimes I can't let old habits die, however, for a long time now I have been attempting to write text from what I have been talking. I've been through several durations of software hardware microphone systems and several years back completely gave up but all of that has changed now!
In fact this document is primarily being written by voice to text through a microphone that is sitting a long way from me and almost 100% accuracy with very little changes required. Now has it been an easy part? No N for a long period I completely stopped even attempting to do it. I was prompted about six months ago in early 2024 when a colleague spoke about almost not using a keyboard at all and most of the things that they communicated with wrote texted message etc… So with that in mind, I started a journey into what it would take for me to do exactly the same or as close to writing by talking.
Here we are this post I am writing by talking, a little slower than normal because I'm thinking, however, if I had talked faster it would completely followed me. It's just that I need to compose the thoughts that I need to get out on paper, digital paper in this blog post. Ask school that a little bit of practice is giving me much better productivity as I improve, I can almost talk as if it were a presentation now instead of the stock wait say stop think wait stay etc etc
The Tools
- Computer
- Operating System
- Software
- Microphones
Computer
The computer in this instance is an Apple Mac mini M2 pro something something something however it's connected to multiple screens overkill for the sort of basic operations that talk-to-text needs, however, it does a magnificent job. Obviously, a better computer does better and part of the problems that I've had in the past have been around the fact that there wasn't enough computing power to allow the software to operate at the level that it required.
Operating System
Yes, operating systems make a difference however in this case the Apple Mac mini is running OS 15 currently and The option to talk is built into the operating system which effectively means no additional software is required any more.
Software
Well, it's a moot point but it actually doesn't need any software. Yes, it's built into the operating system macOS 15 however that is software so I guess in one way it's software but included in the operating system which also means that no additional software is required to be able to achieve this functionality which in itself is remarkably cost-efficient.
Microphones
Currently, this is being spoken on a headset with a microphone, if I remember correctly it's a RODE NT 100+ with a boom microphone addition, so its speaker plus microphone built into the system plugs directly into the computer and works perfectly. The other options that I have and also work just as well are the road RODE pod Mike USB.
Other considerations
Whilst I'm using the computer to do most of the talking it is also just as effective to do the same on phones in many of the applications and programs that run on the phone both iPhone and Android have similar systems however from my recent testing The iPhone integration is More accurate and faster than the android options. Both are incredibly accurate and save a lot of time so I have no real complaints, it's just that I tend to use the iPhone mainly because of its connection to so many other pieces of the Apple ecosystem which then allows me to be able to move the text that I'm talking into my work generally.
As for the programs that it works with on the Mac with almost 100% compatibility with anything that has a text Port will take talk to text. It's a very quick button push on the keyboard to activate. I tend to only use it when I have large amounts of tax to write or the messages are quick and easy such as WhatsApp or other messaging apps that I operate on the computer.
So in conjunction with Grammarly my AI-powered spellchecker and grammar nazi, I would suggest that 98% of my writing is exactly as it comes onto the page with very little addition mostly all I have to do is go back and make some subtle changes and of course spelling changes. That's a good point. I'm not a fantastic speller however I can say exactly what I mean and because of the learning that goes behind me often using this my inability to type spelling correctly is completely removed. Now that's something that I hadn't considered and I just realised how incredibly productive that is making the whole process a whole lot easier.
Anyway, give it a go and see what it is that you can do by doing talk-to-text. I'd love to hear in the comments whether you're doing it now or whether you're going to try it and what you use and your experiences.
