Getting Started

While Dragon NaturallySpeaking is designed to be as simple as possible to use, you still need to learn how to perform accurate and fast voice dictation. Speaking to your computer through a microphone isn’t the same as general conversation, and shouldn’t be treated as such.

Here are a few easy to perform tips that will quickly help you become proficient in voice dictation, and will allow you to get the maximum benefit out of Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

Speak clearly and precisely
NaturallySpeaking features an industry leading speech recognition engine, allowing it to accurately recognise a wide range of speech tones, rates and patterns. However if you mumble, shout, whisper or slur your words into the microphone, NaturallySpeaking may not recognise those sounds as identifiable words, so you need to take care that your dictation is clear.

But on the other hand, don’t over compensate by speaking with an overly-enunciated tone or slow down your speech so much that it eliminates any cadence, as NaturallySpeaking performs best when processing regular speech patterns.

Yes, NaturallySpeaking does require you to speak clearly into the microphone, but not at the expense of your natural speaking voice.

Say your punctuation
Possibly the most unfamiliar aspect of performing voice dictation is speaking your punctuation out loud. For example, the sentence “the first quarter results were higher than expected, despite the increase in operating costs.” would be read as “the first quarter results were higher than expected comma despite the increase in operating costs full stop”

This will feel unusual at first, but with practice and experience, it will quickly feel instinctive, and is a crucial skill to learn if you want to successfully voice dictate into your computer.

Use the train your voice setup functions
Although Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 allows you to start dictating without first training the software to your voice, we recommend that you don’t skip this test.

It only takes approximately 15 minutes to complete the voice training sessions, and it results in a marked improvement in initial recognition accuracy, enabling you to get to grips with NaturallySpeaking that much faster, and gain increased productivity boost right from the word go.

Don’t be afraid to make your corrections
One of the key features in Dragon NaturallySpeaking is its ability to learn and adapt to your voice. As you continue to use it, NaturallySpeaking improves its accuracy, but it can only do so if it’s shown where the errors have been made.

This is why it’s important to correct any recognition mistakes that NaturallySpeaking makes. It can add these corrections into your user profile files, and it will become less likely to make them in the future. It’s through this correction process that the achieved accuracy rate improves, resulting in a more efficient voice dictation process.

Microphone position
Do not underestimate the importance of proper microphone placement. While today’s noise cancelling microphones are designed to focus in on speech, their effectiveness can be greatly reduced by improper placement. It is imperative that you position the microphone to the side of your mouth, otherwise the microphone will pick up wind noise from your speech and increase the risk of sibilance (hissing sounds) and plosive (popping) noises, even when using a microphone windscreen.

Instead, position the microphone near the corner of your mouth, only about a thumb’s width from your mouth. This position ensures that the microphone picks up the maximum amount of speech volume, with minimal risk of interfering noise.