Voice recognition / speech recognition software is used for dictation or transcription. The most popular software used to be called Dragon Dictate voice recognition software, but is now known as Dragon NaturallySpeaking. The most current Version is the Professional or Medical / Legal Suite 5.0.

Lernout and Hauspie's Dragon NaturallySpeaking also called naturally speaking, NatSpeak or just Dragon, was produced by Dragon Systems until they were purchased by Lernout & Hauspie recently. NaturallySpeaking comes in many versions, including the Medical Suite, NaturallySpeaking Legal Suite, NaturallySpeaking Professional, and NaturallySpeaking Preferred.

21st Century Eloquence also carries digital recorders, microphones, and sound cards from other voice related companies, including: Voice Automated, Creative, Olympus, SONY, Philips, Emkay, Andrea, Shure, Telex, Plantronics, InSync, Norcom and VXI. These products include the Philips SpeechMikes, Speech Mike USB and SpeechMike Pro, the Parrott microphones from VXI, Electret and TCHS microphones from Shure (sometimes spelled, incorrectly, as sure), Desktop Array and ANC mics from Andrea, VoicePort and SRC from Norcom Electronics, Mirage and Supra headsets from Plantronics, and RF Wireless microphones from Emkay. Microphones come in various styles, including headset, tabletop, and hands-free. With the newer Radio Frequency (RF) microphones, you don't even need to be close to your PC to communicate with it.

These dictation systems increase productivity, becasue after the dictation is transcribed the doctor / physician, hospital worker, emergency room personel, EMT, health care worker, lawyer, or other, can just read the printed word without waiting for the delay in transcription. The software can be used in medical offices, hospitals, nursing homes, attorney's offices, court, as well as in manufacturing, journalism and other report writing situations. In addition to the speech software, we sell various vocabularies, including a medical vocabulary, a legal vocabulary, and other vocabularies specifically for business, computing, and professionals. Medical vocabularies are available for General Medicine, Orthopedic Surgery, ENT, Ophthalmology, Urology, Dermatology, Allergy, GI, Cardiology, Behavioural Medicine, Psychiatry, Psychology, Endocrinology, Family Practice, General Surgey, Hematology, Neurology, Oncology, OBGYN, Pathology, Pediatrics, Physical Medicine, Podiatry, Radiology, and Urgent Care. IBM even has a program for Apple MacIntosh computers. The software can be used by physicians who dictate, or by transcriptionists for transcription.

Using continuous, natural speech, writing reports, and in fact most productivity increases. Dragon and IBM both allow for dictation speeds of over 160 WPM (words per minute). In addition, the software offers command and control of most Windows software, including Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows ME, and soon Windows XP. Most other Microsoft products are compatible, including MS Word, Excel, Access and FrontPage, as is Corel WordPerfect. The software is available in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish. With the advent of the Pentium II and Pentium III faster chipsets, as well as less expensive RAM, accuracy and speed have been enhanced.