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14 MacSpeech DictateChapter 4 — Training
This chapter covers two methods of training MacSpeech
Dictate to recognize your voice, Voice Training and Vocabulary
Training. Along the way, we will share some insight into how
MacSpeech Dictate works, as well as tips for better recogni-
tion. We will also explain how to manage multiple profiles.
Voice Training and Vocabulary Training are not performed dur-
ing normal use of MacSpeech Dictate for dictation. However,
a third method, Phrase Training, allows you to train the pro-
gram through the Recognition window during everyday use.
Since it’s part of the standard dictation process, the Phrase
Training feature will be covered in Chapter 5 (“Dictation”).
Why Do I Need To Train MacSpeech
Dictate?
MacSpeech Dictate is speaker dependent, which means it
needs to be trained to get the best accuracy. You do this by
reading one or more training stories so it can adapt to your
unique vocal characteristics.
Luckily, training MacSpeech Dictate is as simple as reading
aloud and only takes a few minutes. The Voice Training part
of the program will guide you through the process.
Speaking Properly To MacSpeech
Dictate
It is important to relax and speak in a normal conversational
tone. There’s no need to shout or project your voice. In fact,
doing so can be counterproductive and lead to poor accuracy.
It can also lead to vocal fatigue and voice strain. So relax!
It is also important to speak at a normal pace. MacSpeech
Dictate is a continuous speech recognition product, so it
relies on the context of words within phrases to obtain its
accuracy. If you insert… unnatural… pauses… between…
words, accuracy will actually decrease. (This is also why you
shouldn’t look at the screen while you are dictating. Waiting
for MacSpeech Dictate to catch up with you will result in these
unnatural pauses.)
Try to speak clearly. When you talk to people, they can fill in
the words you leave out, and they can compensate for words
you mispronounce or slur. Computers can’t do that.
One last thing: just as MacSpeech Dictate cannot insert words
you don’t say, it also cannot eliminate words or phrases you
say, but do not want in your documents. For example, if you
tend to pepper your speech with lots of “ums,” “uhs,” “likes,”
and “you knows” MacSpeech Dictate will dutifully type what
it thinks you said.
Voice Training
Once you have set up your microphone and created a pro-
file, MacSpeech Dictate automatically starts Voice Training
(Figure 4-1) so you can begin personalizing your profile. You
can re-enter training at any time by choosing Voice Training
from the Tools menu.
Figure 4-1
Click the microphone icon and read the text box on the panel.
The text you read turns green as it is recognized. Note that
you need to say punctuation, such as COMMA and PERIOD
(US only) or FULL STOP (all dialects). These commands are
spelled out and capitalized to help you here.
TIP:
After reading the first training story, MacSpeech
Dictate will become familiar with your reading voice,
which may be different from your dictation voice. For
an idea of how accurate MacSpeech Dictate is at this
point, try reading it something out of a magazine or
newspaper.
This will be mentioned a couple of times, but it bears re-
peating: You need to talk fairly slowly when first starting
Voice Training, but remember to read the text smoothly and
naturally.
Chapter 4: Trainin