Introducing J-Dictate

Introduction

Welcome to the J-Dictate“Learning Module”! You are now ready to talk to your computer for the first time using a natural voice and receive simultaneous speech feedback from it.

Within this book, broadly speaking, we will teach you:

  • How to take control of the microphone used for communicating with your computer;
  • The principles of dictating text;
  • How the software can be educated to learn how you pronounce different words and phrases;
  • How to edit, select and format text;
  • Dictating into applications other than those used for traditional computing tasks, such as posting messages to Twitter and Facebook;
  • The best methods for creating voice commands to reproduce large blocks of text;
  • Using J-Dictate alongside a portable recorder;
  • How to back-up your speech files and why this is important.

When working with J-Dictate, you will be using a combination of the computer keyboard and your voice in order to accomplish all the tasks outlined above. A number of the J-Dictate commands require that you press the “ALT” key and the “Windows” key together and use them in conjunction with another key on the keyboard. For example, if we ask you to press “ALT+Windows+M”, you need to hold down both the “ALT” key and the “Windows” key with your left hand, and, while doing so, lightly tap the letter “M” with your right hand, with emphasis on the word, “Lightly!”

We will now first discuss some of the central concepts of J-Dictate with which in order to function effectively you need to be familiar. Then we will work through a dictation exercise so you can start talking to your computer to create some text!

Before Dictation

Firstly, please launch the Dragon NaturallySpeaking software from the shortcut located on the Windows Desktop:

  1. Press the Windows Key+M to move to the Windows Desktop.
  2. Press the letter “D” until Dragon NaturallySpeaking is announced.
  3. Press Enter.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking will then launch and load into memory your Voice Profile which you will have created during the setup process. This may take approximately 30 seconds.

When the Dragon software is fully loaded JAWS will speak the message “The computer is ready for you to talk to it”. This informs you that your Voice Profile has been loaded successfully and that you are ready to begin talking to your computer. If this does not occur, please repeatedly press “ALT+Windows+M” and when JAWS announces the words “Microphone Sleeping”, you can be assured that your Voice Profile has been successfully loaded.

Note, if several Dragon user Profiles exist J-Dictate will inform you of this, presenting a list of them. Use the Up/Down Arrow Keys to navigate to the desired profile followed by a press of the “Enter” Key to select the focused profile. The Profile will then load and when completed as before JAWS will speak the message “The computer is ready for you to talk to it”.

Note; all J-Dictate messages are spoken using the JAWS message voice, to enable one to clearly differentiate between J-Dictate messages and text being spoken.

Microphone Control

At this point it is important to correctly position the microphone as shortly you will need to speak into it. The microphone should be positioned at one side of your mouth - approximately two fingers width away from it. Placing the microphone in any other position than that described will result in poor speech recognition!

If using a non-headset based microphone, please ensure you obtain advice from your J-Dictate supplier regarding its correct positioning before proceeding.

The microphone can be in any one of two conditions – “awake” or “asleep”, sometimes referred to as “active” and “passive” mode respectively. At this point the microphone is “asleep”, meaning that it is not listening to what is being said.

J-Dictate contains a keyboard command which enables you to check whether the microphone is “awake” or “asleep”. Indeed, we have already learned this keystroke. This command is activated by pressing “ALT+Windows+M” for “microphone”.

When the microphone is “asleep” and the keyboard command is used, JAWS will announce “Microphone Sleeping”,and conversely when the microphone is “awake” and analysing all words spoken and the keyboard command is used, JAWS will say “Microphone on”.

Effective control of the microphone is very important when working with J-Dictate. It is crucial to always be aware of the condition of the microphone through effective use of this keyboard command.

To activate and deactivate the microphone, press “ALT+Windows+F11” on the keyboard. This is a toggle keystroke. When the key is pressed, JAWS will confirm the new condition of the microphone by playing appropriate sounds. If the microphone is active you will hear a musical chord sound, and if it has been deactivated, a “close door” sound will be heard instead.

You may prefer to use the voice commands]

“Listen to Me”

And

“Wake Up”

So as to activate the microphone, and

“Go to Sleep”

Or

“Stop Listening”

To deactivate it.

However, our preference is for the aforementioned keystroke to be used which is more reliable in moderately noisy conditions.

Once the microphone is “awake” you can begin to dictate into the computer. Please wait until the musical chord sound has concluded before you begin to speak.

Effective use of the J-Dictate software is highly dependent on understanding and mastering the effective control of the microphone. The microphone should only be “awake” when you are actually dictating into the computer. Leaving the microphone in this mode when you are not actively working with it can cause severe problems in terms of overall performance and speech recognition.

Echoing of Dictation

Before starting to use J-Dictate it is important to explain how the system will, at this stage, echo back your dictation.

When dictating, J-Dictate will remain silent until you pause in your speech delivery. At this point the system will echo back the text dictated from when you began dictation to when you pause.

Dictating with J-Dictate

Although J-Dictate directly supports Email, Internet browsing applications and many other computing environments, let’s use a word processor, (preferably Microsoft Word), to achieve our first dictation exercise, and acquaint ourselves with the way J-Dictate works. If Microsoft Word is not installed, you can use an alternative word processor, such as Microsoft Wordpad (included within the Windows operating system), HJ Pad (which forms part of the JAWS for Windows software), or indeed Dragon Pad (provided with the Dragon NaturallySpeaking product).

Please launch your chosen word processing program and ensure you are located within a blank document.

Now press “ALT+Windows+F11”. All being well, you should hear the musical chord sound to indicate that the microphone is awake and listening to what you are about to say. Please wait until the sound has concluded.

If you need to launch Dragon Pad because no other word processor is available, please speak this command:

“Start Dragon Pad”.

After a short pause, Dragon Pad will load and JAWS will announce this is done, followed by the word, “Edit”, to denote you are focused within a document.

Now try to dictate some text. It is important that, whilst you get used to using the software, you dictate in short strings of words. For example, if a sentence can be logically divided up using punctuation, this is a good way to begin to dictate.

Try the following example. Note, all punctuation should be dictated. When you see the phrase “stop dictating”, please stop talking and listen back to J-Dictate speaking what has been recognised. If errors occur, please don’t at this stage worry about them; we will discuss the correction process in the next Chapter. Where the term “full-stop” appears, J-Dictate users using the “US English” vocabulary should substitute this statement with the word “period”.

“This morning comma” (stop dictating)

“I went for a walk in the park full-stop” (stop dictating)

“The sun was shining comma” (stop dictating)

“The birds were singing” (stop dictating)

“And I enjoyed my walk very much full-stop. New-paragraph” (stop dictating and J-Dictate will confirm that a new paragraph has been created.)

“When I reached home comma” (stop dictating)

“I wrote to my friend Mary full-stop.” (stop dictating)

“I wanted to tell her” (stop dictating)

“About all the exciting places” (stop dictating)

“I had recently visited full-stop.” (stop dictating)

Now put the microphone to sleep by pressing “ALT+Windows+F11”. You should hear a “close door” sound to indicate that the microphone is no longer listening to you.

Providing everything is working and the microphone is correctly positioned your recognition of the above text should have been reasonably accurate. Please now go ahead and examine the text using the keystrokes you would normally associate with reading text, such as the “Up” or “Down Arrow” keys.

When you first start using the software it is important to use fairly straightforward vocabulary, increasing its complexity once you become used to working with the tools provided to educate the software which will be described within the next Chapter.

Tips on Effective Voice Usage

The following tips should assist you in developing effective use of your voice when working with the software.

  1. Be sure to speak clearly and naturally when dictating, enunciating in a natural way.
  2. Do not shout; speak at a normal volume at all times. Shouting will simply confuse the software and could result in the developing of a poor Voice Profile.
  3. If at any time you are unsure what to say or need to gather your thoughts, always put the microphone into “sleep” mode. Only allow the microphone to be “live” when you are actually speaking to the computer.
  4. Have a glass of water to hand. Especially when using the computer with your voice for some time, drinking a small amount of water periodically will help to moisten your throat so as to ensure clear speech delivery.

Disabling Echo-Back of Dictation

If necessary, particularly if you are using a Braille display, the echo facility can be disabled. Repeatedly press the keystroke “ALT+Windows+E” for Echo.

This keystroke rotates between three available options:

  • “Echo Dictation Phrase by Phrase”. This is the mode we have been using. When you finish speaking, the text you have dictated will be echoed back to you.
  • “Echo Dictation Sentences Only”. When you terminate a sentence with “full-stop”, “period”, “question mark” or “exclamation mark”, the complete sentence is announced.
  • “Echoing of Dictation is Disabled”. No text is spoken at all when you dictate.

When you select any of these modes, the setting is retained, even if the computer is restarted.

Remembering the J-Dictate Keystrokes

Certainly it is more productive if you can remember the various keystrokes used within J-Dictate. However, if you cannot, the program does provide these in a Help system.

To activate J-Dictate Help, press “ALT+Windows+H”. A screen is displayed within the JAWS Virtual Viewer which can be examined by pressing the “Up/Down Arrow” keys. You will find the keystrokes listed. In addition, pressing “Enter” on any of the Links displayed will cause the required function to be carried out.

If from within the Help system you activate the Link to enable or disable the microphone, you will find that the Virtual viewer is dismissed and focus returns to the application in which you were previously working prior to activate it. This has been done as a safety mechanism to ensure that it is impossible to dictate into the Help system screen.

You can press the “Escape” key at any time to dismiss the Help system and return to the application in which you were previously working.

Closing Down the Computer and Dragon NaturallySpeaking

Before you close down the computer, you will need to exit Dragon NaturallySpeaking. This is very important since if this is not done, the Speech Files you have recently trained could be corrupted. It is always worth taking a back-up of your Speech Files periodically in the event this should happen, whereupon they can be restored. Please refer to the section of this document relating to backing up your Speech Files.

In order to close down Dragon NaturallySpeaking, please do the following:

  1. Press Control+Shift+F12 to enter the Dragon NaturallySpeaking menu system.
  2. Press “Up Arrow” once.
  3. The menu item now in focus is entitled “Exit”. Press “Enter” on this item. Dragon NaturallySpeaking will be closed down and the Speech Files will be successfully saved.

Correcting Misrecognition and Improving Accuracy

Introduction

During the process of dictation, the voice input software on your computer will inevitably make mistakes. Sometimes these mistakes occur purely because the word you have dictated is not included in the system’s vocabulary, however other times errors can occur due to the fact that the software simply did not recognise what was heard. At the moment, you are learning through this tutorial how to use the Dragon software. In turn, it needs to learn from you information about how you pronounce different words and phrases. We all have different ways of speaking, and regional accents certainly play a part in how effective the software performs from the outset.

In this Chapter, you will learn how to use the tools which over time have a profound impact upon the recognition accuracy you receive. First, you will learn how to correct errors which have been made by using the “Correction Box” tool. Next, you will learn that the “Spell Box” can be used into which words can be spelled, figures spoken or acronyms dictated. Finally, certainly one of the greatest tools you have at your disposal is the ability to add words to the system’s vocabulary.

The “Correction Box”

One of the most effective ways of improving recognition accuracy is through use of the Correction System. Indeed it is the Correction System which is the primary tool used by the software to effectively predict what was meant when the actual word spoken was not clearly understood by the software.

To correct recognition errors follow these steps:

  1. Dictate a sentence including a word which you feel confident the system will not understand.
  2. Listen back to the dictation, and when you hear an incorrect word use the command
    “correct”
    followed by the misrecognised word.
    For example you dictate the phrase
    “Good morning Terry”
    and J-Dictate speaks back
    “Good morning Kerry”.
    Now use the command
    “Correct Kerry”.
  3. This command invokes the “Correction Box” and J-Dictate will say
    “Box Ready”.
    The “Correction Box” consists of a Dialog Box with up to a maximum of 9 possible choices which the software thinks the misrecognised word could be.
  4. To browse through the list of choices, press the “Tab” Key once and focus will be placed in the List Box. Now, use the “Up/Down Arrow” Keys to review the choices in the list.
  5. As you move through the available choices, you will hear each alternative spoken and spelled. This is important so as to understand whether words have been capitalised.
  6. When a desired choice has been located, press “Enter”. The selected choice will be placed in the document and you will be returned to where you were prior to activating the correction system.
  7. In situations where the word or phrase does not exist in the list of choices, the desired choice can be typed or spelled out using your voice. Press Shift+Tab from the list of choices so that focus is set to the first control in the Dialog box which is an Edit Field. You can spell or type the words or phrase into the Edit Field which is now in focus.
  8. You can now if you wish press the JAWS Key+Up Arrow: once to read the current line and twice quickly to spell it.
  9. Once spelled out or typed correctly press Enter and the word or phrase will be placed into the document.

Note: if you would prefer to spell choices using your voice, best results can often be obtained by using the Phonetic Alphabet.

Letter: / Phonetic Equivalent.
A: / Alpha.
B: / Bravo.
C: / Charlie.
D: / Delta.
E: / Echo.
F: / Foxtrot.
G: / Golf.
H: / Hotel.
I: / India.
J: / Juliet.
K: / Kilo.
L: / Lima.
M: / Mike.
N: / November.
O: / Oscar.
P: / Papa.
Q: / Quebec.
R: / Romeo.
S: / Sierra.
T: / Tango.
U: / Uniform.
V: / Victor.
W: / Whisky.
X: / X-ray.
Y: / Yankee.
Z: / Zulu.

Note that if you are spelling out words and phrases with your voice, J-Dictate will echo each letter.