Last month, I challenged myself: one full work week using voice typing for everything. Emails. Slack messages. Documentation. Code comments. Meeting notes. Even this blog post's first draft.
The average person types at about 40 words per minute. The average person speaks at about 130 WPM. That's a 3x difference. In theory, voice typing should be a massive productivity boost.
In practice? It's more complicated than that. But the results surprised me.
The Setup
I used TAWK for the experiment — partly because I built it and know it well, partly because the simplicity made it easy to commit. One hotkey to start, one hotkey to stop. No modes to switch, no settings to fiddle with. I wanted to test voice typing itself, not spend the week configuring software.
The rules:
- Voice-first for all text input (email, Slack, docs, notes)
- Keyboard allowed for: code syntax, navigating, editing/correcting after dictation, and passwords
- No cheating: If I caught myself typing a Slack reply out of habit, I'd delete it and voice it instead
I tracked my word output each day and took notes on what worked and what didn't.
Day 1: The Awkward Phase
Word count: ~4,200 words (my normal typing day is ~3,000-3,500)
The first day was weird. Not because the technology didn't work — TAWK's accuracy was solid from the start — but because talking to my computer felt unnatural.
I share an office. Dictating an email while someone's sitting six feet away feels like having a phone call on speaker. I found myself lowering my voice, which actually hurt accuracy. Whisper likes clear, natural speech.
The biggest surprise: I was faster at composing first drafts. Way faster. An email that normally takes me 3-4 minutes of typing took about 90 seconds of speaking. But then I spent another 60-90 seconds editing — fixing punctuation I forgot to dictate, restructuring a sentence, catching the occasional transcription error.
Voice typing speed isn't just WPM. It's speak time + edit time. And the edit time is real. Net result: maybe 20-30% faster for emails.
Day 2: Finding the Rhythm
Word count: ~5,100 words
Something clicked on Day 2. I stopped trying to dictate perfect sentences and started dictating thoughts. Full paragraphs of stream-of-consciousness, then editing after.
This changed everything.
Instead of halting, word-by-word dictation, I started doing continuous bursts. One email — thirty seconds of speaking, quick scan for errors, hit send.
My Slack game went through the roof. Messages that used to take 30 seconds to type took 5 seconds to speak. I was responding to threads so fast that a coworker asked if I was using AI to write my messages. (Technically yes, but not the way they meant.)
Think in paragraphs, not sentences. Speak continuously. Edit after, not during.
Day 3: The Productivity Spike
Word count: ~6,800 words
Day 3 was when voice typing started feeling like a superpower.
I had a documentation sprint — writing up technical specifications for a project. Normally this is a slog. I type slowly when I'm thinking, and technical writing involves a lot of staring-at-cursor-while-formulating-thoughts.
With voice typing, I could pace around my (now empty — coworker was WFH) office and talk through the architecture. Walking and talking felt natural. The words flowed. I dictated about 3,000 words of technical docs in under an hour.
I also discovered voice typing's killer use case: email triage. I had 23 emails to respond to. Normally that's a 45-minute task. I plowed through them in 20 minutes.
Voice typing shines for first drafts and short messages. It's a brainstorming tool as much as a typing replacement.
Day 4: The Limits
Word count: ~4,500 words
Day 4 was a reality check. I had back-to-back meetings, and between them, I was in a shared space. Voice typing in a quiet open office when others are on calls is... not great.
I also hit the wall with code-adjacent work. Dictating a commit message? Great. Dictating actual code? Not happening. Programming syntax is keyboard territory.
What did work: dictating code comments and documentation strings. Way faster than typing them.
I also learned that some writing just doesn't suit voice. Editing an existing paragraph? Keyboard. Filling out forms? Keyboard. Writing something that requires careful word choice (like a performance review)? I found myself wanting to type, because the physical slowness of typing gave me time to think about each word.
Voice typing isn't a keyboard replacement. It's a keyboard complement. Use voice for creation, keyboard for precision.
Day 5: The New Normal
Word count: ~5,900 words
By Friday, I'd developed a hybrid workflow that felt genuinely faster than pure typing:
- Email and Slack: Voice by default. Keyboard for corrections.
- Long-form writing (docs, blog posts, specs): Voice for first draft, keyboard for editing.
- Code: Keyboard for syntax, voice for comments and documentation.
- Quick notes and todos: Voice, always. Just faster.
- Sensitive or carefully worded text: Keyboard, because slow = thoughtful.
What Surprised Me
1. Speaking Is Thinking
I didn't expect voice typing to change how I think. When you type, you think in fragments — word by word, sentence by sentence. When you speak, you think in flows — ideas connect naturally, tangents emerge, and you often articulate things you didn't know you were thinking.
For creative work and brainstorming, this is incredible.
2. The Energy Difference
Typing for 8 hours is physically tiring — wrists, fingers, shoulders. Speaking for 8 hours is vocally tiring but physically relaxing. By Friday, my hands felt fresher than they had in months.
If you deal with RSI or repetitive strain, voice typing isn't just a productivity tool — it's an accessibility tool that happens to make you faster.
3. Accuracy Is Basically Solved
Modern Whisper-based dictation is good. Like, shockingly good. I'd estimate 97-98% accuracy for clear speech. The technology has crossed a threshold where voice typing is genuinely practical for daily work.
4. The Social Barrier Is Real
The biggest obstacle to voice typing isn't technology — it's self-consciousness. Working from home or in a private office? No barrier. Open office? Real barrier.
My Voice Typing Tips (After 5 Days)
Speak in Paragraphs, Not Sentences
Whisper AI uses context to improve accuracy. Longer phrases give it more context. Don't pause after every sentence — speak in continuous bursts of 3-5 sentences, then pause.
Don't Edit While Dictating
This is the biggest mistake beginners make. You hear a transcription error and immediately want to fix it. Don't. Finish your thought, then edit with the keyboard. Switching between voice-creation and keyboard-correction mid-sentence kills your flow.
Use Voice for First Drafts, Keyboard for Editing
Voice typing produces raw material. Keyboard editing shapes it. Embrace the two-step process: speak your draft, then edit it traditionally. Your overall productivity will be higher than either approach alone.
Start With Email
Email is the perfect training ground. Short messages, clear intent, low stakes if accuracy isn't perfect. Spend a day doing all email by voice before trying long-form content.
The Verdict: Is Voice Typing Worth It?
After a week: yes. Unambiguously yes.
Not as a keyboard replacement — that framing is wrong. Voice typing is a new input mode that's better than typing for some tasks and worse for others. The productivity gain comes from using the right mode for the right task.
- For email and messaging: voice is 2-3x faster.
- For first drafts and brainstorming: voice produces more and better raw material.
- For editing and precision work: keyboard wins.
- For coding syntax: keyboard, obviously.
30-50% increase in output. For a $29 tool that takes 30 seconds to set up.
If you've been curious about voice typing, stop being curious and try it. Give it three days. Read more about why we built TAWK or check out the full comparison of Mac voice-to-text apps.