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Dragon 12 Installation and User Guide
Chapter 12: Improving
recognition accuracy
There are many things you can do to improve recognition accuracy.
n Positioning the microphone correctly
n Speaking clearly and continuously
n Run the Accuracy Assistant
n Run the Acoustic Optimizer
n Use recognition modes
n Train misrecognized commands
n Train individual words and phrases
n Run General Training again
n Run the Let Dragon search for words tool
n Personalize your Vocabulary
Top 10 ways to improve accuracy
Here's our top 10 list of ways to optimize Dragon's ability to recognize your
speech.
1. Use careful dictation practices Dictating with Dragon is different than
talking to someone. When we talk, we often hesitate, mumble, slur words, or
leave words out altogether, but we're still able to understand each other. And
people can easily filter out noise, which lets us understand each other, even
in noisy environments, like restaurants, but speech software needs help sep-
arating dictation from other sounds. With dictation, the idea is to speak in a
consistent speed and volume - try not to hesitate, exaggerate your pro-
nunciation, or talk loudly or slowly. So make sure background noise doesn't
drown you out and that you have the microphone close enough for Dragon to
hear you properly, usually about an inch from your mouth and to one side.
Also, remember to dictate using complete phrases, so that Dragon gets the
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