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10 MacSpeech DictateChapter 3 — Getting Started
The first step is to get MacSpeech Dictate used to your voice.
You begin by setting up your microphone, and creating your
first Profile. MacSpeech Dictate requires you Enable access
for assistive devices in the Mac OS X Universal Access in
your System Preferences. If this option is not turned on you
will see the following panel:
Figure 3-1
If you see this panel, click the icon labelled Show Universal
Access Settings. This will bring up the window shown in
Figure 3-2.
Figure 3-2
Make sure the check box at the bottom for Enable access for
assistive devices is checked. (Don’t turn on VoiceOver at
the top of the window by mistake unless you want your Mac to
talk back to you for every thing it does). Once you have verified
Enable access for assistive devices is on, you may close
the Universal Access System Preferences window and click
the Continue button. MacSpeech Dictate will not allow you to
proceed until Enable access for assistive devices is on.
If the Universal Access setting is correct, you will see the
Connecting a Microphone to your Macintosh panel (Figure
3-3). If you have not registered yet, you will also see a panel
asking you to register or select your license key.
Figure 3-3
The Connecting a Microphone panel gives you information
about connecting your microphone. Follow the directions for
connecting your microphone.
IMPORTANT
You must use a USB connection for your microphone.
It is fine to use a USB adapter. However, MacSpeech
Dictate does not support non-USB input connections,
such as a Mac’s internal microphone, direct analog
microphone jacks, built-in Bluetooth, FireWire, etc.
Positioning the microphone is very important. The micro-
phone should not be directly in front of your mouth, because
direct noise from your breath sounds can affect accuracy.
For most people, the microphone should be one or two
fingertips from the corner of your mouth and off to the side
a bit.
You will be able to test and adjust the connection and po-
sitioning during the next steps of Getting Started. For now,
make sure the correct side of the microphone (sometimes
Chapter 3: Gettin Started