Speech-to-text for Ubuntu

Support and Help
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Any recommendations for speech-to-text software for Ubuntu? A search in the Snap center doesn’t show very much.

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Moved to Support and Help.

Please note the Project Discussion categories are for discussions not technical support.

Thanks

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It would help to know a bit more about your use case:

  • Do you want speech-to-text mainly for dictation (typing by voice) or for transcribing audio files?
  • Do you need something that works locally/offline, or is using an internet-based service okay?
  • Are you looking for a ready-to-use graphical application, or are you comfortable using tools/scripts (for example Python-based solutions)?

With a bit more detail, it’ll be much easier to recommend the right tool for you.

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I’m doing some research for a friend who’s visually impaired. I’m open to nearly anything, although audio files would not be useful.

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Thanks. Are there any you can personally recommend?

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Thanks for the context.

Just to better understand the needs: what will your friend mainly use speech-to-text for? For example, is it for live dictation while typing, or something more specific?

Speaking from my own experience as a blind user, I mostly rely on text-to-speech tools that integrate well with screen readers (like Voxin). I rarely need speech-to-text, except occasionally for transcribing some lectures for my studies. In fact, some friends and I have been working on a tool for that purpose — currently it only works on Windows.

So I just want to be clear about the intended use case, so I can look for the most suitable and accessible options.

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Both dictation, and navigating the desktop and applications. “Open Firefox” would launch the browser.

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I haven’t really seen a solid solution on Linux for navigating the desktop and launching applications using voice commands. I don’t think this is an easy problem to solve, and even on Windows there aren’t many tools that do this well.

That said, I’ll keep looking, and if I come across something practical and accessible, I’ll be sure to share it with you.

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