[Athen] [Fwd: Dragon Naturally Speaking training problem]

[Ed. Rosenthal]

If you can have him try Dragon 9 you can set it to skip the initial training
on the first screen of the New User Wizard.  This would allow him to
calibrate the microphone and then start using the speech to text engine.
You might find that it isn't "accurate enough", however it would get him to
the point where he can at least test the speech to text recognition.  Also,
don't overlook the fact that you can create a miniature language model by
using the Add Words from Documents in the Accuracy Center to try to improve
the recognition accuracy if he is speaking about technical topics.  -ed.

Edward S. Rosenthal, President and CEO, Next Generation Technologies Inc.
20006 Cedar Valley Rd. #101, Lynnwood, WA 98036
Phone: 425-744-1100 extension 15; Fax: 425-778-5547
E-Mail: edward at ngtvoice.com
Skype: ed.rosenthal7
WWW: http://www.ngtvoice.com and http://www.ngtmedical.com 

This document was generated using Dragon NaturallySpeaking ver. 9 speech
recognition technology with the revolutionary x-Tag wireless microphone from
revolabs.  Please disregard any remaining misrecognitions.

-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Baker, Nick
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 9:49 AM
To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network
Subject: Re: [Athen] [Fwd: Dragon Naturally Speaking training problem]

Dawn--
	Dragon recognizes phrases rather than individual words, so you
are right--pausing between words is not a good solution. I have
successfully trained Dragon users with some pretty heavy accents, so
unless there is something in particular about his speech that confuses
Dragon I think he will be able--with some work on his part--to get
Dragon to be useful for him. I tell students, "You and Dragon will need
to come to an agreement about how you will speak and how Dragon will
interpret your speech."
	That said, here are some suggestions:
	1. The less background noise, the easier it is for Dragon to
separate speech from junk, and a consistent dictating environment also
makes Dragon's job easier
	2. Microphone placement, as described in the manual, is
critical, and again, consistency produces the best results.
	3. Version 9 Professional is significantly better than V8
Professional.
	4, I have had consistently good results with the microphone
included with the software, but you might try a higher quality
microphone.
	5. The more computer memory you have, the better Dragon will
work.
	6. Upgrading the computer sound card may help. 
	7. Higher processor speed (> 1.5 ghz) helps.
	8. Laptops typically do not workas well a desktops.

	Nick


Nick Baker
Assistive Technology Coordinator
nick.baker at umontana.edu
406-243-2234 (Voice/TTY)
406-243-2663 (Voice only)

Disability Services for Students
The University of Montana
EL 154
32 Campus Drive
Missoula, MT 59812
-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Dawn Hunziker
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 10:07 AM
To: ATHEN
Subject: [Athen] [Fwd: Dragon Naturally Speaking training problem]

Hi all,

Any suggestions on this one?  I'm thinking that DNS version 9 would be a

better choice but thought someone may have run into something similar 
and has suggestions.

Thanks!!

Dawn

-------- Original Message --------

Hi all, anyone have some experience with Dragon Naturally Speaking 
ver. 8?  I just installed it for one of our scientists, who is an 
Israeli with a heavy accent.  He can't get the software to understand 
him at all, the initial training wizard just keeps waiting for him to 
say something it can understand.  The training wizard understands me 
just fine, so I think the software is ok.

His English is good, I suspect the problem is that his words have a 
sibilant hiss due to the accent.  Is there a more hard core training 
method in the software (rather than the initial wizard) that might 
help?  Any other ideas?  The only other thing I can think of is to 
try to have him pause between words, but the manual makes it sound 
like pauses can also cause problems.

Thanks,

Sheri


-- 

Dawn Hunziker
Assistive Technology Coordinator
Disability Resource Center

626-9409
Web Page: http://drc.arizona.edu
hunziker at email.arizona.edu

Mailing Address:
Disability Resouce Center
1224 E. Lowell St.
Tucson, AZ 85721

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