C H A P T E R 1 3
Improving Accuracy
Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide
181
If Dragon NaturallySpeaking
®
adds unwanted short words to your
dictation (such as “a,” “in,” and “of”), the microphone may be picking
up your breathing. Move the microphone closer to the corner of your
mouth rather than in front of your mouth. If the microphone is already at
the corner of your mouth, move it about an inch farther away from your
face. Also, check that the microphone cord is not rustling against your
clothes.
Use a good microphone
All microphones distort the sound of your voice as it’s transmitted to the
computer, but some microphones work much better than others, and
some combinations of microphones and sound cards work better than
others. Some people get significantly better accuracy by switching to a
different microphone. For a list of microphones certified to work with
Dragon NaturallySpeaking
®
, see the Web site listed on page 271.
Headset microphones tend to be more accurate than handheld
microphones, which tend to move around more relative to your mouth.
This makes your voice sound less consistent to Dragon
NaturallySpeaking
®
.
You might also try switching to a USB microphone. A USB microphone
includes its own sound hardware, bypassing your computer’s sound card.
Use a good sound card
Your system’s sound card is as important as your microphone in
conveying a clear sound signal to Dragon NaturallySpeaking
®
.
Upgrading to a high-quality microphone will show no accuracy
improvement if your sound card generates static or an insufficient signal
level.
You can test your sound system using the Dragon NaturallySpeaking
®
Audio Setup Wizard. See “Testing your sound system” on page 221 for
instructions.
Context
Dragon NaturallySpeaking
®
guesses what words you said from their
context as well as from the sound of your voice. If the words you say are
similar to what you’ve said before, the program tends to guess what you
say more accurately. Use the vocabulary tools in the Accuracy Center
