1.5

1IntroductionMacSpeech Dictate 1.5
Introduction
MacSpeechDictateisaspeechrecognitionapplication.Thismeansthatyou,the
user,speakintoamicrophoneandMacSpeechDictateinterpretsyourspeechas
actualwords.Itcanthenrespondtothosewords.Itcanrespondinoneof two
ways:
• Itcaninterpretyourwordsasacommand,inwhichcaseitwillobeythecom-
mand.Forexample,youcantellSafaritoselectalinkinthetextof apage
you’reviewing,bysaying MovetoNextLink ;thenyoucantellSafaritogo
tothelinkedpage,asif youhadclickedthatlinkwiththemouse,bysaying
JumptoThisLink .
• Itcaninterpretyourwordsasdictation,inwhichcaseitwilltypewhatyou
said,attheinsertionpointorselectioninthefrontmostapplication.Forexam-
ple,youcanplacetheinsertionpointatthestartof anewemptywordpro-
cessingdocumentandsay Goodmorning,period ,andMacSpeechDictate
willtype:Good morning.
HowdoesMacSpeechDictatework?Itisn’tmagicormysterious.Behindthe
scenes,MacSpeechDictateinterpretsthewordsyouspeakusingapowerfuland
highlyaccuratespeechrecognitionenginewithanextensive,exiblevocabulary.
Toobeyyourcommandsortypeyourdictation,MacSpeechDictateusesacombi-
nationof technologiesbuiltintoMacOSX,suchasAccessibilityandAppleScript.
YoucangetupandrunningwithMacSpeechDictateveryquickly,butyouwill
havesomepreparationtodobeforehand,andyouwillhavesomelearningtodoas
yougoalong.Here’swhy:
PreParation.BeforeMacSpeechDictatecaninterpretyourspeech,youmust
provideasampleof yourspeech,sothatMacSpeechDictateknowswhatyour
voicesoundslikeandhowyoupronounceyourwords.