Nuance ScanSoft MacSpeech Dictate Getting Started

MacSpeech, Inc.

50A Northwestern Drive

Salem, New Hampshire

03079

www.macspeech.com

MacSpeech Dictate™

License Agreement

5. U.S. Gove rnment Restricted Rights

The SOFT WARE PRODUCT is provided with Restricted Rights. Use, duplication or disclosure by or to the United States Government is subject to re strict ions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technic al Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013 and /or subparagraphs (c)(1) and (2) of the Commercial Computer Softwa re - Restricted Rights at 48 CFR

52.22 7-19, as applicable. Manufa cturer is M acSpeech, Inc. in Salem, New Hampshir e, USA.

IMPORTANT - RE AD CAREFULLY : Before installing this software caref ully read the following terms and conditions. This Software End- User License Agreement (“Li cense Agreement ”) is a binding agreem ent between you (either an individual or a single entity), the end-u ser, an d MacSp eech, Inc. (“MacSpeech”) regard ing use of the software accompanyi ng this A greement, which includes computer soft ware (“SOFT WARE”) and accompanying docume ntation and may include “online” or electronic documentation and a license key (together “SO FTWAR E PRODUCT”). By in stalling, co pying or otherwise using th e SOF TWARE PROD UCT, by clicking on “yes”, you agree to be bound by the terms of this License Agreem ent. If you do not agree with the terms of this Lic ense Agre ement, click on “no”, and the insta llation p rocess will not continue.

1. Grant of License

If you are an individual, this License Agreement grants you ( “Recipient”) a non-exc lusive and non-transfer able right to use one copy of the SOF TWARE PRODU CT in the manner described in thi s License Agreement. If you are an entity, t his Lic ense Agreement grants you (“ Recipi ent”) the right to designate one i ndividu al within Recipi ent’s organization to have the sole right on a non- exclusive and non-transferable basis to use one copy of the S OFTWA RE PRODUCT in the manner described in this License Agr eement.

2. Use Limitation s

(a) Single Mac hine

Recipi ent may use th e licensed copy of th e SOFTWARE on a sin gle computer. The SOF TWARE is in “use” on a computer when it is loaded into temp orary memory (i.e. RAM) or installed into permanent memor y (e.g. hard disk, CD- ROM or oth er storage device) of that c omputer. Use on a “single computer” permits you to transfer the SOFTWARE from one computer to another computer provided the SOF TWARE is in use on only one compu ter at a time.

(b) Copies Permitted

Recipi ent may make one copy of the SOFTWARE solely for backup or archival purpo ses provide d that Recipient repr oduces all c opyright, co nfidentiality and other proprietary notices that are on the original copy of the SOFT WARE. Rec ipient may not copy the printed mater ials acco mpanying the SOF TWARE .

Recipi ent may not r ent, lease, sell or otherwise transfer the SOFTWARE, whether on th e media, if any, or otherwis e, nor any c opies of t he SOFT WARE, o r any of the accompa nying doc umentation. Recipi ent may not disclo se, make available, or otherwise redi stribute all or any par t of the SOFT WARE PRODUCT or any copies thereof to third parties. In addition, Recipi ent may not use the SOFT WARE or any par t thereof, in a ny form, in sof tware or other product that is or will be distri buted to a third part y.

(d) Limitat ions on Rever se Engine ering/ M odifications

Unless applic able law prohibits enforcement of this provision, Recipient shall not decomp ile, disass emble, reverse engine er, or create derivative works of t he SOFTWARE PRODU CT or of any pa rt of t he S OFTWA RE PRODUCT. Recipient m ay not alter or modify the SOFT WARE PRODUC T or any part thereof.

3. Copyr ight Limitations

(a) Ownership

The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is licensed, n ot sold to Recipient, for use o nly under the te rms of this L icense Agreement, and MacSpeech reserves all rights not exp ressly granted to Recipient. Recipi ent owns the m edia, if any, on which the SOF TWARE PRODUCT is recorde d. MacSpeech or its suppli ers owns the SOF TWARE and all copyright and other intellectual ri ghts in the SOFT WARE PROD UCT (inclu ding but not limited to images, “applets”, photographs, animati ons, video, audio, music and text in corporated into the SOF TWARE PRODU CT), the accompanyi ng printed materials, and any copies of the SOFTWARE. Under the terms of this License Agreement Recipi ent receive s only a limited right to use the SOFTWARE PRODUCT under all terms set forth by Mac Speech, Inc., whic h are subjec t to change. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is protected by United States copyright laws and internati onal c opyright treaties, as well as by othe r intell ectual proper ty laws and treaties. Therefore, Recipient must treat the SO FTWAR E PRODU CT like any other copyrighted material and not transfer or di stribute the SOFTWARE PRO DUCT to others.

(b) No Copie s

Except as expressly permitted under “Use Limitations” above, Re cipient may not copy the SOFT WARE PRODUCT or acc ompanyi ng written materi als.

4. Term

This License Agreement is effective until terminated. Recipient may terminate this Licens e Agreement at any time by destroying the SOFTWAR E PRODUCT and all copies thereof includ ing any doc umentat ion. This L icense Agreement will terminate imme diately witho ut not ice from MacSp eech if Recipient fails to c omply with any provision of this Agreement. In such event, Recipi ent must destroy th e SOF TWARE PRODUCT an d all of it s component part s, and delete, remove, or oth erwis e destroy all co pies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT that are in Recipient ’s possession or control i ncludin g installed SOFTWARE. A ll provisions of this Lic ense A greement relating to disclaimers of warrant ies, limit ation of liability, remedies or damages, and all of MacSp eech’s prop rietar y right s shall sur vive termination.

6. Expo rt Restrictions

The SOFTWAR E PRODUCT, including technic al data, is subject to U.S . export control laws, including the U.S. Export Adminis tration Act and its associated regulation s, and may be s ubject to expor t or import regulations in other countries . Recipient agrees to com ply stric tly with all such regulations a nd acknowledges that Recipient has the r esponsi bility to obt ain lic enses to export, re-export or import the SOFT WARE PRO DUCT.

7. Limited Warra nty

With the exclusion of any other warranty, MacSpeech solely warrants for a period of s ixty (60) days from the date o f delivery to Recipient (the “War ranty Period ”) that any media on which the SOFT WARE is fur nished, will be free from defec ts in materi als and work manship under normal use. Recipient’s sole and exclusive remedy and t he entire liability of Mac Speech and its sup pliers hereunder will be, at Mac Speech’s option, re pair or replaceme nt of the media, if reported (or, upon request, ret urned) to MacSpeech or its designee within the Warrant y Perio d. This war ranty does not apply if such defective media i s the re sult fro m accident, abu se, or mi sapplic ation. Any replac ement will be warranted for the remainder of the orig inal Warrant y Period or thirt y (30) days, whichever is longe r.

THE SOFTWARE AND ANY RELATED DOCUMENTATION IS PROV IDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF AN Y KIND. EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY SET FORTH AB OVE, NO OTHER WARRANTIES, EITH ER EXPRESS OR IMPLI ED CONDITIONS, REPRES ENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, ARE MADE WITH RESPECT TO THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT INCLUDI NG BUT N OT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARR ANTY OF MERCHA NTABILIT Y, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOS E, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND MACSPEECH AND ITS SUPPLIERS EXPRESSLY DISCL AIM ALL OTHER WARRANTIES NOT STATED HEREIN, EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT THAT SUCH DISCLAI MERS ARE HELD TO BE LEGALLY INVALID. RECIPIENT ASSUM ES THE RISK AS TO THE QUALIT Y AND PERFORMA NCE OF THE SOFTWARE. SOME STATES D O NOT PERMIT THE E XCLUSIO N OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS A ND YOU MAY HAVE OT HER RIGHTS W HICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE. IT SHOULD BE UNDERSTOOD BY RECIPIENT THAT SPEEC H RECOG NITION IS INHERENTLY A STATISTICAL PROCESS AND THAT RECOGNI TION ERRORS ARE INH ERENT IN THE PROCESS OF SPEECH RECOGNITION.

8. Disc laimer

TO THE MA XIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO E VENT SHALL MACSPEECH OR ITS SUPPLIERS OR THE OWNERS OF T HE RI GHTS IN THE SOF TWARE PRODUC T BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL , PUNITI VE, OR OTHER DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, IN CO NNECTIO N WITH OR ARIS ING OUT OF THE USE OR INA BILIT Y TO USE T HE SOFTWARE PRODUCT (I NCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAG ES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS REVENUE, PROFITS, USE, DATA OR OTHER ECONOMIC ADVANTAGE), HOWEVER IT ARISES, WHETHER FOR BREACH OR IN TORT, EVEN IF MACSPEECH HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POS SIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT SHALL MACSPEEC H’ OR ITS SUPPLI ERS’ LIABILIT Y TO RECIPIENT HEREUN DER, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDI NG NEGLIG ENCE) OR OTHERWISE, EXCEED TH E PRICE ACTUALLY PAID BY RECIPI ENT FOR THE SOF TWARE PRO DUCT. THE FOREGOING LIMITATIONS SHALL APPLY EVEN IF THE ABOVE-STATED WARR ANTY FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. BECAUSE SOME STATES AND JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW TH E EXCLUSION OR LI MITATION OF LI ABILIT Y, THE ABOV E LIMITATION M AY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

9. Speci al Provisions

This License Agreem ent shall be governed by and interpreted under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United St ates of America, without regard to conf licts of law provisions. By acceptin g this License Agr eement, Recipient agrees to be subje ct to jurisdicti on in Mas sachusetts, and to commence any action arising under or relating to this License Agreement in the appro priate State or Fe deral Court in Mas sachusetts.

BY CONTINUING WITH THE INSTALLATION OF T HE SOFT WARE RECIPIENT

ACKNOW LEDGES THAT RECIPIENT HAS REA D AND UNDERSTOOD T HIS LICEN SE

AGREEM ENT AND THAT RECIPIENT AG REES TO BE BOUND BY ITS TER MS. RECIPIENT

FURTHER AGREES TH AT THIS LICENSE AGREEM ENT IS THE COMPLET E AND

EXCLUSIVE STATEMENT OF THE AGREEM ENT BET WEEN RECI PIENT AND MACSPEEC H,

AND SUPERSEDES A NY PROPO SAL OR PRIOR AGREEMENT, ORAL OR WRIT TEN,

AND AN Y OTHER COMMUNICATIONS REL ATING TO THE SU BJECT MATTER OF THIS

SOFT WARE END -USER LICENSE AGREEMENT.

Dictate is a trademark of Mac Speech, Inc.

2 MacSpeech DictateLicense Agreement

Credits

MacSpeech Engineering:

…and the rest of MacSpeech:

Jeff Ganyard

Matt Gemmell

Paul Herzog

Eric Hon-Anderson

Jesper Lindholm

Fernando Lucas S. L. Santos

Robert Stuller

Andrew Taylor

Colin Taylor

Chad Weider

Special Thanks To:

Nuance Communications, Inc. for their phenomenal speech engine!

Sheila Ganyard

Stephane Gauthier

T. Patrick Henebry

Carla Hernandez

Donald MacCormick

Fernanda Mera-Weakley

Craig Nesbitt

Nathan Nesbitt

Chuck Rogers

Janis Rogers

Anne Schwing

Michael Schwing

Brenda Shiepe

Carly Taylor

Naomi Pearce and Ed Prasek for all their help introducing MacSpeech Dictate to the world!

And of course, thanks to everyone who has ever been involved with MacSpeech and iListen. MacSpeech Dictate certainly wouldn’t be here without all your hard work and support!

Credit Given Where Credit Is Due:

The above are registered trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. and are used here under license.

AquaticPrime Framework

BDAlias

CTGradient

Some rights reserved: <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/>

Log4Cocoa

Shortcut Recorder

(See the contributors listed in detail <http://wafflesoftware.net/shortcut/ contributors/>.)

This Getting Started Guide was written by Chuck Rogers.

This manual was partially written using MacSpeech Dictate.

3 MacSpeech DictateCredits

Table of Contents

MacSpeech Dictate™ License Agreement 2

Credits 3

Chapter 1: Introduction 5

Chapter 2: Installation 8

Chapter 3: Getting Started 9

Chapter 4: Training 12

Chapter 5: Dictation 17

Chapter 6: Controlling Your Mac 24

Chapter 7: Reference 29

Index 36

4 MacSpeech DictateTable of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduion

What Is MacSpeech Dictate?

Welcome! You are about to use your voice in a new way — to replace your keyboard! With MacSpeech Dictate, what you say will appear on the screen, in virtually any Macintosh application. The technology that allows this amazing feat is called TalkAnywhere™, and it translates speech to text and characters almost anywhere you would normally type.

In addition to dictating, MacSpeech Dictate can be used as a “third hand” to control your Mac without using the mouse or keyboard. Speaking to your computer is faster and can help you accomplish tasks more easily than constantly moving your hands from keyboard to mouse.

MacSpeech Dictate, MacSpeech’s flagship dictation product, is speaker dependent speech recognition software, based on a proprietary implementation of the Dragon NaturallySpeaking engine from Nuance Communications, Inc. What does speaker dependent mean? Simply that in order to obtain its extraordinary accuracy, MacSpeech Dictate must be trained to recognize your unique speech patterns. Training sessions are stored in a profile along with other things such as the type of microphone you are using and the amount of background noise. MacSpeech Dictate can handle multiple profiles, so others in your family or workgroup can use it, too (as long as they use it on the same computer).

Who Should Use MacSpeech Dictate?

MacSpeech Dictate works well for many different people. If you are a typical Mac user, MacSpeech Dictate will speed up your work when creating documents such as memos, reports, and e-mails. Creative Professionals will love MacSpeech Dictate’s ability to control the Mac interface, effectively allowing them to use their voice as a “third hand.” MacSpeech Dictate can help overcome mobility problems that make using a keyboard difficult or impossible. Finally, those who have little or no typing skills will benefit from MacSpeech Dictate’s ability to free them from the “hunt and peck” method of typing.

No matter what type of user you are, you need to spend a little time teaching MacSpeech Dictate the unique qualities of your voice so the program can understand you better. As you use MacSpeech Dictate it learns how your voice sounds and how you pronounce things. The more you use the program, the better it will become at recognizing your speech.

Will MacSpeech Dictate Replace My Mouse And Keyboard?

Probably not totally. Speech is a useful addition to the way you work with your computer, but it isn’t a panacea. Some tasks will still be more efficiently performed using your mouse or keyboard. While using MacSpeech Dictate, you will discover what combination of speech, mouse, and keyboard use is appropriate for your tasks.

Who Is MacSpeech?

MacSpeech is a Mac-only company, with software developers who have been creating speech recognition software for many years. In fact, our founder and senior engineers were key members of the team that produced some of the first speech recognition products for Macintosh, including Voice Navigator and PowerSecretary from Articulate Systems.

The software we produce is exclusively for use by Macintosh users who are interested in one or more benefits provided by speech recognition. Being Mac-only means we don’t have our hands and creativity tied by a corporate requirement to maintain a common code-base across computer platforms. Since we are uniquely Macintosh-based, we can take advantage of all Macintosh has to offer.

The MacSpeech goal is speech everywhere o n the M aci n to sh, for every user.

MacSpeech Dictate System Requirements

In order to use MacSpeech Dictate, you must have the following minimum system requirements:

• MacOSXversion10.4.11(“Tiger”)or10.5.x

(“Leopard”)

• 1GB(ormore)RAM.

• AMacthatshippedwithanIntelprocessor.

• 2GBoffreeharddrivespace.

• AMacSpeech-certiedUSBnoise-cancelingmi-

crophone is strongly recommended.

Speech recognition takes a lot of horsepower. In order to decipher what you’re saying, your Mac needs to perform thousands of calculations every second. Slow machines just can’t keep up with the demand. So if you ever needed a reason for buying that new top-of-the line computer with gobs of RAM, now you have one.

5 MacSpeech DictateChapter 1 — Introduction

Microphones

Although today’s Macintosh computers appear to have a port for sound input, this only works with devices that provide a LINE IN signal, which is different from the signal produced by a microphone. For this reason, you need to use a high-quality, noise-canceling USB microphone with MacSpeech Dictate.

Microphones

For best results, use a MacSpeech-certified microphone. You should not use an iSight or the Internal Microphone that comes with some Macintosh computers because they do not have the necessary directional and noise-canceling properties that are required to obtain the best speech recognition accuracy.

The MacSpeech Dictate Status Window

The Status Window is MacSpeech Dictate’s main interface. This window floats on top of all the other windows on your screen, so it is always available to you. The Status window may be small, but it packs a surprising amount of information, as shown in Figure 1-1

Figure 1-1

From left to right: Microphone Icon

This icon tells you whether your microphone is on or off. Clicking it will turn your microphone on or off.

If you already have a microphone that is not MacSpeechcertified, don’t panic; it may work. The program’s Microphone Setup assistant should adjust the levels of most microphones to work with your system. If you use a microphone that is not MacSpeech-certified and are getting accuracy below 95%, it is a good indication the microphone you are using is not compatible with MacSpeech Dictate.

Naturally, if you bought your microphone from MacSpeech along with MacSpeech Dictate, you can be sure it will work with our software. See the MacSpeech Web site at

http://www.macspeech.com/microphones

information on supported microphones.

for up-to-date

Introducing MacSpeech Dictate’s User Interface

By design, MacSpeech Dictate has a user interface that tries to stay out of the way. Unlike other speech recognition programs that require you dictate into their own application, and then transfer the results to another program, MacSpeech Dictate allows you to Ta l k Anywhere™, into virtually any application. But for MacSpeech Dictate to work well with other programs, it must be a good neighbor and not take over your screen. Most of the time while using MacSpeech Dictate, you will only see the small Status Window. While you’re learning what the program can do, you can also open the Available Commands window.

Signal Meter

The signal meter displays the strength of the audio input when you are speaking. In general, this should be green with a little bit of black space at the top when you are speaking.

Speech Mode Indicator

The speech mode indicator in the top right of the status window tells you MacSpeech Dictate’s current mode. It will say either “Dictation,” “Command,” or “Asleep.”

MacSpeech Dictate Icon

When pressed, this will bring MacSpeech Dictate to the front, just like clicking its application icon in the Dock.

Current Profile

Below the MacSpeech Dictate icon is the name of the profile.

6 MacSpeech DictateChapter 1 — Introduction

The Available Commands Window

With its self-explanatory name, the Available Commands window provides a list of commands that are available to be spoken at that time. Because what you can do with MacSpeech Dictate varies depending on what is happening on the screen, you will see different commands in this window as the context changes. Typing a word or phrase in the search field will limit the display to only the commands containing that word or phrase.

Command Mode

Command mode is used when you only want to control your Mac by voice. In Command mode, anything not recognized as a command will be ignored. The advantage of using Command mode is that the commands will be more easily recognized and will be less likely to be confused as something you want dictated instead.

In Command mode, you can click buttons, control windows, launch applications, and use speech instead of pressing keys on the keyboard or using the mouse. Many commands in MacSpeech Dictate are written in AppleScript, the scripting language built into Mac OS X. Commands can be global, meaning they work everywhere, or application specific, which means they only work in a particular application.

Spelling Mode

Spelling mode will be added in a future version, which will be a free upgrade for all MacSpeech Dictate 1.0 users.

Sleep Mode

Sleep mode is a special mode where the microphone stays on, but ignores everything except a command to resume listening. You say Go to Sleep to put MacSpeech Dictate into sleep mode, and Wake Up to return it to the last mode used before putting it to sleep.

Figure 1-2

User Modes

The specific things you can do using speech vary widely, but they boil down to two main things: entering text and controlling your Macintosh. In order to accomplish these tasks, MacSpeech Dictate provides you with the following operating modes:

Dictation Mode

You will probably use Dictation m od e — wh ic h al lo ws di ct at i on into virtually any application — the most. In Dictation mode, MacSpeech Dictate types what you say into a text area in the active window. That text area can be in a word processing document, a text field in a dialog box, or even text that renames icons in the Finder.

All commands available in Command mode are also available in Dictation mode. In order to execute a command in Dictation mode pause briefly before and after saying the command. For Example:

This is a sentence that has been dictated. [pause]

Select All [pause] Copy Selection

Switching Between User Modes

There are several ways of switching between the user modes:

Speech

Say Command mode, Dictation mode, or Go to Sleep.

You can also switch modes by bringing MacSpeech Dictate to the front and selecting the desired mode from MacSpeech Dictate’s Speech menu.

Hot Keys

You can turn the microphone on or off and cycle between the three user modes with customizable keyboard shortcuts. To change your Hot Key preferences, select Preferences from the Dictate menu and click the Shortcut Keys icon in the toolbar (figure 1-3). Any key can be used for a hot key, but you must use at least one modifier (Command, Control, Option, etc.)

The above sequence will type the sentence, then select everything in the document and copy it to the clipboard.

7 MacSpeech DictateChapter 1 — Introduction

Chapter 2: Inallation

Insert the Program CD. A window like the one in figure 2-1 should appear. If it does not, double-click the CD image on your desktop. Drag the MacSpeech Dictate icon in the middle of the window over Applications folder on the right. This will copy MacSpeech Dictate and its documentation to the Applications folder.

Figure 2-1

Launch MacSpeech Dictate by opening your Applications folder, then double-click the MacSpeech Dictate icon.

Click the Register Now button to begin using the program. (Registration requires an Internet connection.) A dialog box will appear to confirm your registration has been accepted.

Your Reiration Code

Registration Codes have 16 characters broken into 4 groups of 4 characters each by dashes. Here is an example:

1A23-4B5C-678D-901E

This code should be on a sticker, on the sleeve for the MacSpeech Dictate Program CD. After entering your Registration Code you will receive a license file back from our servers.

Keep a copy of your license file in a safe place. If you lose it, please contact us through our support site at http://www.macspeech.com/support_center.

Removing MacSpeech Dictate

To remove MacSpeech Dictate, follow these steps:

Read Me

Be sure to review the Welcome and Tips & Tricks documents from MacSpeech Dictate’s Help menu. They may contain important, late-breaking information, and may include information not in this manual.

Click the Register button to fill out the required information in the Registration window (Figure 2-2). MacSpeech respects your privacy, and will never share your information with anyone else.

1) Open your hard drive followed by the Applications folder.

2) Delete the MacSpeech Dictate application, and close the Applications folder.

[If the user you logged in as during the install has Standard privileges the MacSpeech Dictate folder will most likely be in your Home folder’s Application folder — your Home folder is the one with the house icon.]

3) Open your Home folder again

4). Open the Library folder,

5). Open the folder called Application Support.

6) Look for a folder called MacSpeech; if it exists delete it.

7) Close the Application Support and open the Preferences folder (which is also inside the Library folder inside your Home folder).

8) Find the file called com.macspeech.dictate.plist and if it exists, delete it.

9) If you also want to erase any profiles you created while using MacSpeech Dictate, open your Documents folder and delete the folder named “MacSpeech Profiles.”

8 MacSpeech DictateChapter 2 — Installation

10) Close the folders you opened and empty the Trash.

Figure 2-2

Chapter 3:

Gettin Started

The first step is to get MacSpeech Dictate used to your voice. You begin by creating your first profile, and setting up your microphone. MacSpeech Dictate requires you Enable

access for assistive devices in the Mac OS X Universal Access System Preference. If this option is not turned on you

will see the following window:

Figure 3-1

If you see this window, click the icon next to Show Universal Access Settings. This will bring up the window shown in Figure 3-2.

Continue button. MacSpeech Dictate will not allow you to proceed until Enable access for assistive devices is on.

If Enable access for assistive devices is on, the first window you see will be the Read Me window. If you have not registered yet, you will see a window asking you to register or select your license key. Finally, you will see the Create Profile window (Figure 3-3).

Figure 3-3

Click the Create a New Profile button. Enter your name in the New Profile Information panel (Figure 3-4). Make sure you select the type of microphone you are using from the Microphone pop-down menu, then select the dialect that best suits your voice. MacSpeech Dictate comes with voice models for US, UK, Australian, Indian English, Southeast Asian English, and Teen English.

Figure 3-2

Make sure the check box next to Enable access for assistive devices is checked. (Don’t turn on VoiceOver at the top of

the window by mistake unless you want your Mac to talk back to you for everything it does). Once you have verified Enable access for assistive devices is on, you can close the Universal Access System Preference and click the

9 MacSpeech DictateChapter 3 — Getting Started

Figure 3-4

If you use the microphone that came with MacSpeech Dictate or iListen, select Standard Acoustics. If you are using an Array microphone, click on the Advanced button and then select “Array” from the pop-down menu next to the word “Acoustics.”

IMPORTANT

You must use a USB adapter for your microphone. All microphones sold with MacSpeech Dictate should include a USB adapter.

TIP:

The “microphone” menu may list something like “AK5370,” “C-Media USB Headset” or “VXI 7.0.2.” That’s OK. That is the firmware designation for the USB adapter. (Your Mac has no way to otherwise identify an analog microphone.)

For more tips on setting up your microphone, see the Troubleshooting section at the end of this chapter.

When you have verified your choices are correct, click the Create button. After a short wait while your profile is created, the first Microphone Setup panel appears.

The Connection panel (Figure 3-5), gives you information about connecting your microphone. All Macs with Intel-based processors will use USB for microphone input. Click the right arrow button on this screen to continue.

you should be able to drink from a normal-sized glass without spilling the liquid or touching the microphone.

Make sure the correct side of the microphone (usually marked with a dot or the word “Talk”) is pointing towards your mouth. When the microphone is adjusted correctly, click the right arrow.

Figure 3-6

The Volume Adjustment panel (Figure 3-7) asks you to read a short bit of text out loud while MacSpeech Dictate sets the audio levels for your microphone. Click the microphone button with the red stop sign on it, (MacSpeech Dictate’s symbol for “not on”) to display the text to read.

Figure 3-5

Clicking the right arrow brings you to the Microphone Position panel (Figure 3-6). Positioning the microphone is

very important. The microphone should not be directly in front of your mouth, because noise from your breath sounds can affect accuracy.

For most people, the microphone should be one or two fingertips from the corner of your mouth and off to the side a bit. If you are soft-spoken, you might need to have it as close as a thumb’s width away. When properly positioned,

10 MacSpeech DictateChapter 3 — Getting Started

Figure 3-7

Read the text in this panel (Figure 3-8) until it disappears and the panel automatically changes. You will see the volume meter bar fill as you read. If the panel does not change, simply start reading the text again from the beginning.

If the volume meter remains empty, or the text doesn’t disappear after you read it four times, you probably have a sound input problem. See the Troubleshooting Sound Input section at the end of this chapter for more information.

Clicking the Manual Gain Setting check box will allow you to bypass automatic volume adjustment and set the gain manually.

Listen for static, excess noise, a hum, or any other odd sound. If you hear any these of things, check your microphone’s connections. If they seem OK, the microphone may be faulty. To hear the voice sample again, click the Play button. MacSpeech Dictate is very good at determining the quality of the sound input, but if you hear anything unusual, consider re-sampling your voice. If you decide to record your sample again, click the left arrow to go to the previous panel.

When you are satisfied with your voice sample, press the Voice Training button to proceed to Voice Training. We will cover training in the next chapter.

TIP:

Microphone Setup can be used at any time. Run this procedure by selecting Set Up My Microphone from the Speech menu in MacSpeech Dictate to compensate for any changes in room noise or the way the microphone is positioned.

Figure 3-8

The Recording Quality panel (Figure 3-9) plays back some of what was recorded so you can check the sound quality.

Figure 3-9

Chances are, you will think your voice sounds funny. That’s normal; when we speak, we hear our voices with additional resonances from the bones in our head. Recordings lack these extra resonances, so they sound different than we expect. (If you don’t hear anything during the playback, check to make sure your volume is not muted.)

11 MacSpeech DictateChapter 3 — Getting Started

Troubleshooting Sound Input

If MacSpeech Dictate doesn’t respond to your voice or doesn’t seem to be working at all, check your sound input. The problem can either be with the hardware (your microphone or computer) or with software (the Macintosh sound input settings).

Checking Your Microphone

Make sure the USB adapter is plugged into an open USB port on your Macintosh. You may want to unplug it and plug it back in to make sure, then try the following:

1). Quit MacSpeech Dictate if it is running.

2). Open your System Preferences and click on the Sound icon.

3). Click on the Input tab and make sure your headset is highlighted in the input source list.

4). Click on the Show All icon in the upper left hand corner of the System Preferences window, then click the Speech icon.

5). Click the Speech Recognition Pane, then highlight the Listening sub-pane in the middle of the window.

6). Select your headset from the pop-down menu labeled “Microphone” towards the bottom of the screen. Sometimes your headset may be indi-

catedbythermwaredesignatorofyourUSB

pod. This might say something like “AK5370.”

7). Click on the “Calibrate” button. In the next window, say a few words and note if the signal meter moves when you speak. If it does, everything should be working correctly. Quit System Preferences and re-launch MacSpeech Dictate. Follow the on-screen instructions or the instructions in the User’s Guide to set up your microphone.

If you are not getting sound, you may have a defective microphone. Examine it to make sure there is no mute switch set to off (some headsets include mute switches). Unplug the microphone from your USB adapter and unplug the adapter from your computer.

Re-plug everything and then restart your computer. If possible, try the headset in a different Macintosh to rule out any problems with your computer.

12 MacSpeech DictateChapter 3 — Getting Started

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