Sony ICD-BP150VTP - Manual (Page 153)

C H A P T E R 1 2 Speaking and Dictating
Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide 145
Speak with inflection
When talking to the computer, people tend to imitate the robotic voices
of computers in old science fiction movies. But using a flat monotone
voice will reduce your accuracy as well as put you to sleep. Speak with
your natural tone and volume of voice, as if speaking to a friend.
Breathe fully
Breathing fully and sitting up straight will help you speak clearly. If you
slouch while dictating, your lungs will be compressed and your voice
constrained, making it harder for the computer to understand your
words.
For tips on maintaining good vocal health, see page 176.
Close your eyes
Dictating while looking at the screen tends to be distracting—it makes
your speech more hesitant and less natural. Try dictating with your eyes
closed. Many people get significantly better results this way. Or, if you
prefer to keep your eyes open, try looking out of a window or at photos
of friends.
Be alert
When it’s 4:00 a.m. and you're still dictating the proposal that’s due
tomorrow, your recognition results will suffer as much as you’re
suffering. Tired people tend to mumble and speak without energy. You’ll
get your best results when you're most alert.
Relax
Stress and tension may change voice quality and degrade recognition
accuracy. When you're new to speech-recognition software, you might be
a bit anxious as you speak, anticipating that the program will make
mistakes. The program does, of course, and frustration may kick in as
you see the mistakes proliferate. Frustration makes you more tense,
changing your voice, which generates more mistakes, more frustration,
and still more mistakes.
Errors are inherent in computer transcription (as in human transcription).
The software takes its best guess at what you say and it sometimes
guesses incorrectly. Correcting mistakes is part of the normal process of
TIP