Speech recognition technology has come a long way from its early inaccuracies, now delivering reliable results thanks to heavy investments from leaders like Nuance, Microsoft, Apple, and Google.
Google stands out for its deep commitment to voice tech, integrating it across Android and its ecosystem since early efforts like the 2008 Google Voice Local Search for business lookups.
This week, Google rolled out voice typing directly in Docs—no extra software needed. As someone who's tested it extensively (including dictating this article), it's a game-changer for Google Workspace. But does it live up to the hype?
With a Google account, you're set. Open a Doc, and a prompt invites you to try voice typing. Hit Try it.
Allow microphone access via the popup.
Select your language or dialect—from English variants to Afrikaans or Arabic.
Click the mic icon and speak.
Accuracy has been the biggest barrier to mainstream adoption. Older tools demanded hours of editing. Google's version? Impressively solid.
It nailed my words consistently, despite my regional English accent (more on that below). Even better, it filtered out distractions like my barking Yorkshire Terrier and street noise from my busy Liverpool road.
The main hiccup: punctuation. Saying "comma" or "period" inserts the words literally, not the marks—requiring manual fixes. No custom dictionary override exists yet, which is frustrating but fixable as Google iterates based on user data.
Overall, accuracy exceeded expectations from my real-world tests.
Google supports dialects across English (New Zealand, Australia, India, South Africa, US, UK, and more), plus dozens of languages. Accents vary wildly—think UK postcode-specific twangs.
Our MakeUseOf team spans them: thick Middlesbrough, northern Southport, Scottish, and my Liverpool Scouse (softened by US/Swiss influences). Siri famously flubbed Scots; Google didn't.
No accent training needed. Friends with regional UK accents reported similar success—promising, if anecdotal.
Speed has plagued voice tools, especially cloud-based ones. I worried about lag on my MacBook Pro.
No issue— it matched my caffeine-fueled pace, rivaling typing. Credit fast FTTC broadband and Google's server power.
Built-ins vary; Apple's shine, budget laptops skimp. Mine worked fine for dictation, despite occasional 'low volume' warnings.
Testing a premium Blue Yeti USB mic ($100+ podcast grade) showed no accuracy/speed gains but enabled headphone monitoring for better noise awareness.
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Not flawless—punctuation needs smarts like auto-insertion from speech cadence. Wider rollout to Gmail or as a standalone app would be ideal.
Still, it outperforms OS X's built-in dictation in speed and precision from my direct comparisons. If this doesn't boost Google Docs adoption, what will?
Have you tried voice typing in Google Docs? Share your experience in the comments.
