If you apply a speech realisation program such as Nuance ’s Dragon Dictate ( ) or the newDragon Expressto order to your Mac , you may be using the nonpayment headset provided with the software , or you may have pick up some other sort of mike to use for dictation . While the headset that Nuance includes with Dragon Dictate is satisfactory , if you want to get better accuracy and use a well-fixed microphone for speech recognition , it ’s worth appear at the many different character of mics available .
Here ’s an overview of the dissimilar type of microphones you may use with speech recognition software package , how they work , and what might be the good mic for the way you work .
Three types of microphones
There are three types of microphone that you could use with speech recognition software . The most vulgar case of microphone is a USB headset . subtlety includes one of these with boxed-in versions of Dragon Dictate . While the headset they provide is satisfactory , there are many headsets that are much good .
The second type of microphone is wireless . There are two technologies for tuner : Bluetooth andDECT . Each offer dissimilar advantage and disadvantages .
Finally , you’re able to use a desktop microphone , which allows you to make without wire or without wearing the mic . ( Technically , you may habituate your Mac ’s intragroup microphone , or the one in your monitor if you use an Apple show , but this wo n’t give you the best termination with spoken language recognition software package . )
UmeVoice theBoom C
Good headset may cost more than the actual speech recognition computer software you habituate , but if you plan to spend a lot of sentence dictating , the amount of time you save using spoken communication recognition software ensures that this investment will compensate for itself very quickly .
Wired headsets: Basic tool for talking to a computer
headset are the most rough-cut case of microphone that people use to spill to a computing machine . You may be using a headset now to peach to friends or house via iChat or Skype , so using one for bidding wo n’t seem very different . However , the eccentric of headset you employ to chitchat over the cyberspace is not at all what you involve for speech realisation software .
First , consider the pro and cons of using a headset . On the plus side , headsets offer very good accuracy — voice communication recognition software will get more word right because the mike connected to a headset is in general in a honest position . On the other hired man , headsets can be plaguy to wear ; they mess up up your hair , and if you tire out glasses , headsets press them against your principal , and the wires that tether you to your computer can prevent you from moving around .
UmeVoice theBoom CSpeech recognition software is very sensitive to the timber of the voice the microphone pipe into your estimator . This reasoned lineament depends on the ambient stochasticity in the surround in which you order . For this reason , headset designed for speech recognition let in noise cancel features that extinguish noises around you — be they the voices of your coworkers , the sounds of cars come from an exposed windowpane , or phone ringing in nearby offices .
Plantronics Savi 440
For this cause , you could not habituate just any headset for language recognition . While Dragon Dictate may bid good accuracy with a garish headset , you ’ll be expend a muckle of metre correct mistakes , and it would likely be more effective to typewrite rather than dictate .
If you contrive to do any serious bidding , you should look for headsets that are specifically design for speech recognition . The $ 100 PlantronicsBlackwire 435is an interesting electrify USB headset , with two separate earpiece that are connected together by wires , but that you’re able to only bust using over – the – ear adapters . you could either utilise both of them if you desire stereo sound , or just the one with the microphone godsend if you ’re doing introductory bid or VoIP cry . This mike is very lightheaded , and , in spitefulness of of the fact that you have to wear it over your ear , is fairly comfortable . It also contains an in - line ascendance machine , allowing you to change the book or dampen the mike whenever you require . However , while the truth is very good , there is a svelte hiss in the headphone , and a slight echo as my voice seems to add up through the earpiece .
One society that makes headset especially for speech recognition and use in noisy surroundings istheBoom Cfrom UmeVoice . This $ 150 headset provides excellent truth , in part because it has a very foresighted boom , the part of the headset that adhere out in front of your back talk with the actual microphone at its peak . While many headsets have a godsend that positions the microphone near the corner of your mouth , headsets from theBoom have extra long booms , so the mike is almost directly in front of your mouth . This headset offer excellent accuracy , but I determine it to be one of the most uncomfortable headsets I have ever bust : it is hard credit card , and the form does n’t fit well on my head . If you plan to use this case of headset , you should prove it on first to see if you think you’re able to wear it for a long metre .
SpeechWare USB 3-in-1 TableMike
There are plenty of other headset designed for speech recognition , and if you wish to use a wired headset , it ’s deserving see around to see which models are useable .
Wireless headsets: Untether yourself
While wired headsets offer fantabulous accuracy , they keep you tie to your reckoner . That long , sinuous cable , that gets dishevel whenever you reach for something at the far niche of your desk or knocks over your umber cup , can be an vexation . In gain , some people wish to move around while they order ; I care to stand up , pace in my office , and have nothing forcing me to continue sitting at my desk . After all , one of the reasons to use dictation software package is so you do n’t have to keep your hands on your keyboard .
Plantronics Savi 440As I mentioned antecedently , there are two types of wireless technology : Bluetooth and DECT . The former is usually used for those midget phone that citizenry utilise with cell telephone . Because of the way Bluetooth work and the style Bluetooth earpiece are designed , they do n’t offer good accuracy with speech recognition software . The frequency range of Bluetooth is passably special , and Bluetooth earpieces are very short and their boom do n’t reach anywhere near the street corner of your mouth . When I tested the Plantronics Voyager , a Bluetooth earpiece that Nuance used to leave with Dragon Dictate ( Nuance now offer the PlantronicsCalisto ) , the wakeless caliber was wretched and there was hinderance coming into my ear .
On the other hand , DECT engineering science offer percipient advantage for utilisation with speech recognition software program . Plantronics ’ $ 280Savi 440 , a DECT headset , offers wideband audio recording , an extended frequency range , and a disturbance invalidate mike to provide much right caliber audio frequency than Bluetooth equipment . In addition , DECT technology offer superior range than Bluetooth . You credibly wo n’t dictate 100 understructure from your Mac , but you could with this headset ; Bluetooth , however , is limited to around 30 feet , and even then , the reception is n’t ideal . This headset also offer three dissimilar ways to don it : a banner , over – the – headland headband , with a cushion on the earpiece ; a behind – the – neck headband ; and an over – the – ear earpiece . I found the latter to be uncomfortable , and the behind – the – cervix headband pressed against my glass , causing irritation . In the end , the standard over – the – head headband turn out to be the most well-to-do , and this microphone is so light that I barely notice it .
While truth is very beneficial with this microphone , it is slimly substandard to a received wire headset that has a godsend closer to the front of the mouth . The Savi 440 is well - project , however , with a long bonanza than what you are used to ensure on a wireless earphone ; the boom almost reach the corner of my sassing . Since the quality of the mike itself is so practiced , this is an first-class microphone for speech recognition in a quiet environment .
Desktop microphones: Comfort and freedom
If you do n’t need to wear a mic , then a screen background microphone might be for you . The major disadvantages to a desktop mic is that it demand to be more or less in front of your sassing , and if you rick your head or remain firm up , realisation will digest . But you are loose from wires and galling devices that mess up your hair , fight against your glasses , or vex your ear .
SpeechWare USB 3 - in-1 TableMikeI tried several desktop microphones , and two models brook out . Blue Microphones ’ $ 150Yetiis a very large , old - fashioned eccentric of microphone , which is designed for making recording on a computing machine . While not specifically designed for speech acknowledgment , the Yeti offer excellent sound character and works quite well with Dragon Dictate . If you choose the cardioid setting , the mic picks up sound in front rather than all around it , ensuring that background dissonance from behind the mike is not pick up . In my test , the Yeti offer very good accuracy , but sacrifice the size of the microphone , it can get in the way . If you plan to do other type of recordings in plus to dictation ( such as podcasts ) , this is an first-class microphone that will allow you to do both .
For a desktop microphone that is both exact and does n’t get in the room , SpeechWare ’s $ 279USB 3 - in-1 TableMikeis certainly one of the intimately useable . With wideband audio and noise cancellation , this microphone is designed specifically for words realisation , and you may typeset it on your desk with the tip of the microphone more than a foot from your mouth and get excellent accuracy . The stock adaptation of this mike comes with a 15 - column inch pliant boom ; I establish this to be just a bit too short , ask the mike ’s floor to be too close to my keyboard . The company also offers an optional telescopic boom that extends to 19 inches ; I found this duration to be ideal , appropriate me to move the fundament just far enough aside for it to be practical on my desk .
The disadvantage to desktop microphones is that there is a sweet place for cause proficient recognition . you’re able to move around your head a routine , and it will still work very well , but if you want to slip over to the side of your desk , or turn to the side to count at something , say , on a mesa next to your desk , then you either have to move the microphone or turn back to prescribe .
The best microphone for you
In this overview , I have discussed the three unlike types of microphones that run well with address recognition software package . Each exploiter will have different needs and imperative form , and you should regard these cautiously before invest in an expensive microphone . Ideally , you should make trusted that you could return your leverage if it does n’t become you .
For me , wear out a headset is an annoyance . Being tie to my computer by a telegram is incisively what I do n’t want if I ’m using speech recognition software to prescribe to my Mac . However , I work in a rest home office with trivial screen background stochasticity . If you work in a busybodied office with lots of people chattering and phones peal around you , you may need a headset because the position of the mike boom in front of your mouth will secure that the noise canceling blocks out all that ambient sound .
Wireless mike are wonderful , especially the Plantronics Savi 440 that I tested , but since they work on batteries , you have to make certain that they stay point . ( The Savi 440 has a charging base , and you may buy extra shelling to alternate when you need . ) Some of them can be very uncomfortable , specially if they just hook over your auricle . Wearing them for long flow of clock time can be annoying .
The epiphany that I had when test all these microphones was divulge that a good screen background microphone such as the TableMike offer numerous advantage . The accuracy of this mike , even at a aloofness of around 12 in from my mouth , is as good as any headset ; in a quiet environs , even 18 inches is fine . Also , with this microphone on my desk , I do n’t need to reach for a headset and put it on my head if I only want to dictate a paragraph or two , such as to reply to an e-mail . I can keep the mic handy , with its flexible boom in a vertical place , then , if I need to dictate something , bend the thunder , activate the microphone in Dragon Dictate , and start talking . This mike is even good enough that I can tilt back in my chair and dictate in a easy situation ; I ’m not locked into a rigid placement as with other desktop mike .
There are literally hundreds of microphones that you could apply spoken language recognition . They check into the three families have described here , and toll range from $ 50 to several hundred dollars . Given the difference of opinion in quality among these mike , you in spades get what you pay for . If you plan to use bidding package oft , you should seriously think of gift in a undecomposed mike .
[ Senior contributor Kirk McElhearn indite about more than just Macs on his blogKirkville . Twitter:@mcelhearnKirk is the writer ofTake Control of Scrivener 2 . ]
