Voice Control/Dictation: What is it, and how can it help you be more productive?
Whether or not you or someone in your life has a disability or impairment, accessibility tools can help you become a power user with any tech device. Here’s a look at one of my favorite ones, Voice Control/Dictation.
Voice Control/Dictation
Voice Control or “Speech to Text” is a powerful tool for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. It is built into all Apple computers, iPhones, and iPads. Voice Control is great for anyone who might be slow at typing because of issues with fine motor skills, has arthritis, or prefers to talk instead of type. There are a couple of different ways to activate text-to-speech. One way is to go into System Settings (on Mac), Settings (on iPhone, iPad) -> Accessibility -> Voice Control and toggle it on. Voice Control allows someone to have complete control over their device using just their voice. Tasks like opening and closing apps, typing emails, passwords, and even controlling your device’s cursor/mouse can be done just by talking. This can be a complete game changer for people who struggle with the use of their hands. As someone who has a disability and has tried for years to use programs like Dragon, having the ability to complete tasks with my voice, built into my device, is a complete game changer for me in terms of productivity and making my everyday life easier.
Dictation is another variation of Voice Control, but it has to be enabled every time it’s used by tapping your function key twice on your keyboard or newer Apple computers have a Microphone button built into the keyboard. On an iPhone or iPad, there is a microphone button on the bottom right of the keyboard to enable this feature. To enable dictation on an Apple computer or iPhone, or iPad, go to System Settings (on Mac), Settings (on iPhone, iPad) -> then scroll down to keyboard and then scroll down to Dictation and turn it on. Unlike Voice Control, Dictation is just for “Speech to Text.” It’s great for typing things with your voice, but you can’t run your entire computer, phone, or tablet using Dictation. If you’re a PC or Android user, Windows computers and Android tablets/phones also have speech-to-text built into it as well. It doesn’t work as well in my opinion, but it is an option if you or a loved one has a PC instead of a Mac.
