The differentiation of office dictation devices from other early phonographs, which commonly had attachments for making one's own recordings, was gradual.
The recorder employed miniature reel-to-reel technology adapted from standard tape recorders and used by small, portable dictation machines since the 1940s.
Activities such as rhythmic dictation, composition, and the performance of rhythmic canons and polyrhythms can accommodate a wide range of meters and vocabulary.
Speech recognition specialized for disabilities and hands-free computing focus more on low-level control of the keyboard and mouse than on usual areas like dictation.
