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16 MacSpeech DictateChapter 4 — Training
7.Whennished,MacSpeechDictatewilldisplaya
screen informing you the words have been added
toyourvocabulary,asshowningure4-8.Click
the “Close” button or the red close window button
to dismiss this window.
Figure 4-8
Improving Accuracy
There are a variety of things you can do to improve
accuracy.
Proper Microphone Position Is Important!
Improper microphone position is the first thing you should
check when accuracy declines. Make sure the microphone is
pointed towards your mouth, but is not directly in front of it.
Many microphones are noise-canceling, which discard sounds
picked up away from your mouth. In many instances, people
who were having problems with accuracy discovered the
microphone had been turned around and the noise-canceling
side was faced towards the mouth. No wonder accuracy was
suffering!
To reiterate: the headset’s microphone should be one-half
to three-fourths of an inch from the corner of your mouth. It
should be out of the breath stream from your mouth or from
your nostrils. An easy way to tell if the microphone is in your
breath stream is to place a finger over the it and see if you can
feel anything when you exhale normally. Once you have the
microphone positioned properly, make sure it is placed there
every time you dictate.
Don’t Over-enunciate!
If you read the training text with perfect enunciation, like a
radio announcer, MacSpeech Dictate will think you speak
that way all the time. Now, it is possible you really do talk like
a radio announcer. Heck, you might be a radio announcer. If
that’s the case, keep talking like an announcer. In any case,
stick to talking like yourself, and train MacSpeech Dictate with
your normal, clear speaking voice.
You don’t want to over enunciate, but you do want to speak
clearly. You should not sound stilted or weird; ideally, you
should still sound like you — just speaking a bit more distinctly
then you normally might when talking with a friend. Those
experienced with speech recognition software tend to develop
a style that is a bit more precise than their usual speaking
voices. They find when they are tired, or if they slack off a bit,
their accuracy declines.
Think Before You Speak
Remember, you are developing a new skill when dictating. If
you think before you speak, what you say will come out more
clearly.
Read More Stories
Choose Voice Training from the Tools menu to read another
story. You will see the Choose Story window, as in Figure
4-9.
Figure 4-9
The stories you have already read are indicated with a
MacSpeech Dictate icon to the right of its name. Select an
untrained story by clicking its name, click the right arrow
button, then read on.
When you are done reading, click the Finish Training
button. Adaptation of your speech profile will take a while to
complete.