Sony ICD-BP150VTP Dragon Naturally Speaking 6 Users Guide - Page 152

CHAPTER 12 Speaking and Dictating Because our brains reconstruct missing sounds so easily (especially small, common words like "a," "the," and "of"), in everyday speech we tend not to pronounce every sound and word. A computer transcribing speech tries to reconstruct missing sounds, too, taking its best guess at what you actually said. It often, however, guesses incorrectly. For accurate transcription, it's important to make sure every word you say to the computer is pronounced distinctly and has no missing words. A sentence that is perfectly understandable to a person might not be clear enough to a computer. This change in speaking style might mean that you have to modify your natural pace. It's fine to dictate to Dragon NaturallySpeaking® as rapidly as you like, as long as you are speaking clearly and pronouncing each word distinctly. Pause if you like Your friends might think it odd if during an animated conversation you halt mid-sentence to gather your thoughts. When speaking to the computer, though, you can pause as long as you like-to think, take a break, or arrange your notes. Dragon NaturallySpeaking® won't get bored waiting for you. Give it context Your accuracy will increase if you speak in complete sentences because the software has more context to use in deciphering your sounds. Speaking one word at a time usually decreases accuracy. So concentrate, think of the right words, and speak them as a continuous stream. Leave out the fillers Dragon NaturallySpeaking® may mistake "uh" and "um" for "a," "of," and similar-sounding words. The software may filter out some of these nonspeech sounds, but it is still advisable to try and dictate without them. To learn to stop saying "um," practice being silent instead of saying something to fill the space. 144 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide