我是语音指令和听写功能的忠实用户。语音指令是我控制智能家居的主要方式,而大部分短消息(如iMessage和WhatsApp)都是通过听写完成的。
苹果内置的听写功能确实逐年改进,但试用第三方应用Aqua Voice后,我意识到若苹果真正发力,这项技术还能提升多少。事实上,本文就是完全使用Aqua Voice听写完成的…
或许因为居家办公,或单纯不介意在公共场合对着手机口述,我长期将听写作为手机的主要输入方式。几乎所有短消息都通过听写完成。
早期的听写和Siri识别效果欠佳!虽然逐年改进,但距离当前技术可能达到的水平仍有差距。
使用其他支持语音识别的应用(如ChatGPT)时已能察觉这种差距,但真正凸显苹果现有技术与当前可能性之间鸿沟的,是试用第三方应用Aqua Voice的体验。
这款Mac端工具安装后,可将标准Fn按键映射为激活Aqua Voice而非系统内置听写功能。
17处错误vs1处错误
为对比两者差异,我在两台Mac上同时激活Aqua Voice和系统听写,朗读史蒂夫·乔布斯著名演讲的开场白。(测试使用Mac内置麦克风,日常则使用专为听写优化的SpeechWare麦克风。)
忽略因朗读方式导致的标点差异及美式/英式拼写问题后,系统听写版本出现17处错误(下划线标注):
I’m honoured to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world truth be told I never graduated from college and this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation today. I want to tell you three stories from my life that’s it no big deal just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots I dropped out of Reed college after the first six months but then stayed around as a drop in for another 18 months or so before I really quit so why do I drop out it started before I was born. My biological mother was a young unweight graduate student and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife except that when I popped out they decided the last minute that they really wanted a girl so my parents who are on a waiting list got a call in the middle of the night asking we’ve got an unexpected baby boy do you want him? They said of course.
而Aqua Voice版本仅1处错误(将”popped out”误转为”was born”),且自动分段精准:
I’m honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world.
Truth be told, I never graduated from college, and this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation.
Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots. I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I was born, they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking, “We’ve got an unexpected baby boy. Do you want him?” They said, “Of course.”
天壤之别
深度使用Aqua Voice两周后,其表现远超包括MacWhisper在内的所有竞品。作为长期听写用户,我曾使用需要大量训练的Dragon Dictate,而Aqua Voice的体验已让我彻底回归语音输入。
iOS 26中改进的Siri已能较好处理口语修正,但Aqua Voice的自然语言编辑能力更胜一筹。例如直接说”把这句话开头的for example改成for instance”即可完成修改,无需特定指令模式。
预设指令彰显AI价值
该应用支持设置全局听写规则,我的个性化设置包括:自动分段;1-9用单词表示,更大数字用数字;金额用数字;百分比用数字;年份用数字;破折号用短横线带空格;避免句首用”and”或”but”;默认使用缩略形式等。
无障碍领域的重大突破
对无法使用键盘的用户而言,这种准确性更具革命性。无障碍顾问Colin Hughes表示:”Aqua比Voice Control的听写功能先进得多,其实时修正近乎神奇。虽然缺乏导航控制功能,但通过与Voice Control配合使用仍能显著提升效率。”
两大局限
Aqua Voice存在两个主要问题:隐私方面依赖云端处理(开发者承诺不存储文本);以及每月8美元的订阅费用。此外偶发的服务器连接问题也需考虑。
苹果应该行动
既然小型开发者能做到,拥有更多资源的苹果更应该:或收购Aqua Voice,或自主研发达到同等性能。这将彻底改变Voice Control的体验,为无法使用传统输入设备的用户带来生活变革。
Aqua Voice提供1000单词的免费试用,订阅价格为8美元/月或96美元/年。