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Nuance Communications, a provider of speech and imaging solutions, has announced the “I Speak Dragon” contest. This competition allows Dragon NaturallySpeaking users to share their unique experiences using the world’s most popular speech recognition solution.

Customers are invited to submit their stories about how Dragon has enhanced and transformed their lives via the Nuance website between April 24 and June 30, 2008. Three winning user stories will be selected and each will receive a Garmin Nuvi 360 Personal Travel Assistant as well as Dragon NaturallySpeaking upgrades for three years. 

This Nuance solution turns speech into text at up to 160 words per minute, with up to 99 percent accuracy. As the world’s most accurate and best-selling speech recognition product for the PC, it enables people to create documents and e-mail up to three times faster than manual typing.

 

Dragon NaturallySpeaking also adds the power of speech recognition to nearly every Microsoft Windows-based application, including:Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Internet Explorer, as well as Corel WordPerfect, FireFox and more.

Entries for the contest can be submitted in one of three categories and a panel of judges will select the best story in each category. Participants can submit their entries between April 24 and June 30, 2008 by visiting www.nuance.com/dragonstories. Winners will be announced by Nuance in the summer of 2008.

Entries for "I Speak Dragon!" can be submitted in one of the following three categories:

-- I Speak Dragon to Improve My Creativity – This category is designed for those that speak Dragon in a unique or innovative way. Such an individual may be a novelist, poet, or blogger who has reignited his or her creative spark using Dragon. He or she may be a computer programmer who uses Dragon to dictate lines of code, or a student who uses Dragon to create reports and other school projects.

-- I Speak Dragon to Improve My Work – This category is designed for those who speak Dragon to save valuable time in the office or home. Maybe he or she uses Dragon to same time at work or to create presentations or reports, or to transcribe notes in a flash.

-- I Speak Dragon to Improve My Life – Such a user relies on Dragon to make big changes in their life. Dragon made it possible to use the computer completely hands-free. He or she has used Dragon because of a repetitive stress injury at work. Maybe this user overcame physical challenges with Dragon's help.

The best story in each of the above three categories will be selected and each of the winning entrants will receive a Garmin Nuvi 360 Personal Travel Assistant as well as Dragon NaturallySpeaking upgrades for three years.

"In the case of a speech recognition product, it's appropriate that word-of-mouth is the most effective way for people to learn how Dragon NaturallySpeaking can enhance their lives," said Peter Mahoney, vice president and general manager, Desktop Dictation Business Unit, Nuance, in a Thursday statement.

"We are pleased to sponsor the 'I Speak Dragon!' Contest because it will provide a rich resource for people who don't yet realize just how valuable modern speech recognition has become."

Speech technology has come a very long way in making it possible to do things that were previously impossible without some effort on the part of the user. Dragon NaturallySpeaking has created opportunities for those that either have physically disabilities or time constraints.

Nuance has made a significant impact on the market with its speech solutions. This contest will help to highlight those impacts, providing more visibility for the company and strengthening perception throughout the market.