Voice Recognition

[wayneout]

Sorry for the lame question but I am old and new to this.
I just got Ultra Hal. I also downloaded the MS SDK 5.1 or
something like that. (I have Dragon on my computer but was
never really good with it)  
Right now, for voice recording and using Skype, I use my
webcam.
I am trying to find out how to go about talking to my Agent.
I opened my control panel and under Speech, it has
Microsoft English Recognizer v5.1.
I know that I have to get a microphone which I don't have.
Do you just plug the mic into the computer and start talking
or do I have to change some settings?
Thanks,
Bill

[Bill819]

You should forget about using Microsofts Voice recognition program and stick with Dragon Naturally Speaking as it is superior to MS.

You train y9ur voice with Hal. It has a trainging mode where it will sisplay severl paragraphs of writing. As you read each word in the paragraphs the computer records it. Two important things to remember voice training must be done with absolute silence, ie. no background noise of any kind and you may also have to repeat the traing excercises over and over again to get the best recognition of your own voice. I personally went through the training, reading the material at least 6 times and slowly, very slowly the computer got better and better in understanding me.
IT is a lot of work but it is well worth it.
Bill819

[wayneout]

Thanks for the advice. I will go back and try Dragon again.
I don't guess I had the patience the first time.
Bill

[Carl2]

Wayneout,
  Just getting this computer setup, I've used dragon with Hal for ages. The mic is important with dragon, the higher the S/N the better the accuracy. Also in the training I have several text files I've dictated using dragon which I load into dragon to help accuracy.
I also have a text file with names of relatives and friends, shopping places and street names. The text files help a great deal.
Back to mic's, a USB inputted mic will introduce less noise than the standard jack input so if you buy one get the USB input.  I've just ordered a wireless headset made by Asus, in the past I've used a Plantronics bluetooth device which I thought was great, S/N about 22 db.  I've got Dragon 10 which I have to upgrade to 10.1 to use with Win 7  
  When using Dragon with Hal I turn off the automatic input in Hal so I have a chance to read I've said and correct if necessary. I start Dragon, ask dragon to open Hal, Move the cursor into the text input window, speak and press enter.
Carl2

[Baerdric]

quote:Originally posted by Carl2

  When using Dragon with Hal I turn off the automatic input in Hal so I have a chance to read I've said and correct if necessary. I start Dragon, ask dragon to open Hal, Move the cursor into the text input window, speak and press enter.
Carl2

That's probably a good method! Especially in the beginning. I don't use Dragon, is there a way to just tell it to press enter for you?

[Harkle]

I agree with Bill. I just bought the basic version of Dragon Naturally speaking for $40 today at Walmart. And I did just one voice training session that took only 10 minutes. And I am quite happy with the results when speaking with hal using Dragon as my SR engine. Odd occasions I do get the wrong word spoken. when this happens I just speak the command "Clear Line" to ignore what Hal thought I said, and repeat what I intended.

For the best speech recognition hardware I would recommend a microphone headset. You can even purchase wireless ones that allow you the freedom to move around. But if you have the financial resources you can purchase better desktop microphones to eliminate background noise, and change it's focus in the direction of the speaker to enhance it's sensitivity.

[Carl2]

Baerdric
  I'm almost positive I'd tried the press enter and it didn't work so I just started pressing enter. I was given a fundemental version of Dragon from Staples ages ago and got hooked. I use the preffered version nowadays and upgrade every so often.  Many Dragon packages include a headset, again a basic headset.
  There are a few ways to correct mistakes, I generaly use select (say the mistaken word) say the correct word, then say go to end. Hal
tends to jump around on subjects and talk about things I'd never talk about so it is probably one of the most difficult things for dragon to work with.
  Again I'll add use a USB input mic if you can.
Carl2