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CHAPTER 14
Healthy Computing
Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide 177
Ease and comfort
■ If you typically make hand gestures as you speak to other people in
person, go ahead and make those gestures at the computer. Your
voice will have more energy and speaking will be more relaxed and
comfortable.
■ Vary your posture. Don’t just sit and dictate—stand up at your
computer, or move around (as your microphone cord allows).
Wireless microphones can give you even more pacing room. One of
the benefits of speech recognition is that you’re not stuck in a
frozen, rigid posture at the keyboard.
Taking care of yourself
■ Ease into it. Start using Dragon NaturallySpeaking
®
for 30 minutes a
day, gradually increasing to several hours a day over the course of
two to three weeks. This gives your body the opportunity to adapt
gradually to speaking to the computer.
■ When dictating, take frequent breaks—at least 10 minutes each
hour is best. This is excellent advice for typing as well.
■ Vary your work. Don’t dictate for eight hours straight. If you can,
vary your work—perhaps two hours of dictation in the morning, then
two in the afternoon, with paperwork, phone calls, and typing in the
middle.
■ Avoid dictating with Dragon NaturallySpeaking
®
when you’re tired.
This strains your voice and makes it difficult to get good
recognition.
Your vocal cords
As you speak, your vocal cords vibrate and rub against each other. A layer
of mucus lubricates them and keeps them from getting irritated.
■ Drink lots of water, ideally at room temperature. While dictating,
you may find it convenient to drink through a straw, to avoid
interfering with the position of your headset microphone.
■ Certain vocal exercises, similar to the ones that singers use, can help
warm up your voice. They are, however, difficult to demonstrate on
paper. Contact a vocal coach or singing teacher for instruction.
Happily, speaking in a way that is good for your voice will also bring you
the highest speech-recognition accuracy. This feeds back on itself.