Methodology and disclosure
How to read this result
This calculator is a planning model built by Voicetypr. Its defaults are editable examples, not measured population averages or a Voicetypr performance benchmark. Results are estimates, not a promise of productivity, accessibility, or health outcomes.
Calculation
- Typing minutes per day = words per day ÷ effective typing words per minute.
- Dictation minutes per day = words per day ÷ effective dictation words per minute.
- Modeled minutes saved = the positive difference between those two times; annual hours = that difference × entered working days ÷ 60.
- Optional gross time value = modeled annual hours × the hourly value you enter. It is not revenue, profit, or a return-on-investment forecast.
Assumptions and limits
- The 45 WPM typing, 120 WPM dictation, and 250-day defaults are illustrative starting points. Replace them with effective finished-text rates from your own representative task.
- The model excludes planning, recognition correction, editing, formatting, command use, setup, privacy constraints, and switching between voice and keyboard.
- A 2016 Stanford–University of Washington–Baidu study found faster speech input for short English and Mandarin messages on a smartphone in laboratory conditions. That result does not establish a desktop, product, or individual speed.
- If the entered dictation rate is no faster than the typing rate, the calculator reports zero time saved rather than a negative saving.
Role-based interpretation
Individual writer
Use a timed sample of the kind of work you actually do. For correction-heavy prose, enter an effective dictation rate that includes cleanup time.
Team or operations lead
Treat the dollar output as a gross scenario ceiling. Validate any business case with a small pilot that records finished-text time and correction effort.
Accessibility evaluator
Speed alone is not a fit decision. Also test correction, formatting, command-and-control needs, input fatigue preferences, and privacy requirements.
Sources
Stanford HCI speech-versus-keyboard study (paper)
Primary study used short-message entry on an iPhone under laboratory conditions; cited for context, not as this calculator's default.