I got curious about my own dictation speed after using voice input for a few months. Turns out I'm faster than I thought, but not as fast as I assumed. Whisperer's statistics dashboard showed me the real numbers.
What Gets Tracked#
Whisperer logs four metrics from every transcription:
Total Recordings#
How many times you've hit the dictation shortcut. I check this occasionally to see whether I'm actually using voice or falling back to typing out of habit.
Total Words#
Running word count. After a month, mine hit 45,000. That surprised me. I hadn't realized how much text I generate through voice.
Total Duration#
Recording time. Divide your total words by this to get your actual dictation speed, not just theoretical speaking speed.
Average Words Per Minute#
This is the interesting one. Normal conversation runs 130-150 WPM, but dictation is lower because you pause to think, correct mistakes, and restart sentences. My average hovers around 95 WPM.
For reference: 80-120 WPM dictation is still 2-3x faster than typical typing (40-60 WPM). The pauses don't kill the advantage.
The Charts#
Daily Activity#
Bar chart of your dictation over time. You can toggle between words, recording time, or session count. I like seeing which days I leaned on voice more heavily.
App Usage#
Which apps receive your dictated text. Mine is mostly email and Slack, with some documentation mixed in. Seeing the breakdown helped me realize I should probably dictate more in my IDE.
Language Distribution#
If you use multiple languages, this shows the split. Handy if you work across languages and want to see the pattern.
Peak Hours Heatmap#
When do you dictate most? I discovered I'm a morning dictator. My afternoons show almost nothing, probably because I'm in meetings or doing focused code work.
Time Ranges#
You can view stats by week, month, or year. The weekly view shows daily detail. The yearly view groups by week, which is better for spotting long-term trends.
Actually Using This Data#
Watch Your WPM Trend#
Mine went up about 15% over two months. Less pausing, fewer restarts.
Find the Gaps#
The app usage chart showed me I was typing most of my emails but dictating my Slack messages. Made no sense. Emails are longer. Switched that around.
Work With Your Schedule#
The heatmap showed my voice is clearer in the morning (obvious in retrospect). I now front-load my dictation-heavy work.
Measure Dictionary Impact#
After adding my personal dictionary terms, my effective speed went up. Fewer corrections means faster throughput.
Getting Started#
Stats track automatically from day one. Open the Workspace to see the dashboard.
- Download Whisperer
- Use it for a few days
- Check the Statistics tab
- See what the data tells you