How to speak to a computer

This feature is available in the Simplified Chinese, English (U.S.), and Japanese language versions of Microsoft Office.

When speaking to others, you're usually understood whether you whisper or shout, or talk fast or slow. However, a computer understands speech best when spoken to in a more predictable way.

• Speak in a consistent, level tone. Speaking too loudly or too softly makes it difficult for the computer to recognize what you've said.
• Use a consistent rate, without speeding up and slowing down.
• Speak without pausing between words; a phrase is easier for the computer to interpret than just one word.

  For example, the computer has a hard time understanding phrases such as, "This (pause) is (pause) another (pause) example (pause) sentence."

Because we don't usually need to think about how to speak, it can seem a little awkward at first to speak to a computer. However, with a little practice, speaking to a computer will become more natural.

Speech recognition tips

• Start by working in a quiet environment so that the computer hears you instead of the sounds around you, and use a high quality close-talk (headset) microphone.

  If your work environment has a lot of noise or if the noise level varies during the day, try creating different speech recognition profiles for different times of day. If you work in several different environments, create different profiles for each environment.

• Keep the microphone in the same position; try not to move it around once it's adjusted.
• Train your computer to recognize your voice by reading aloud prepared training text in the training wizard. Additional training may increase may speech recognition accuracy.
• As you dictate, don't be concerned if you do not immediately see your words on the screen. Continue speaking and pause at the end of your thought. The computer will display the recognized text on the screen after it finishes processing your voice.
• Pronounce words clearly, but don't separate each syllable in a word. For example, sounding out each syllable in "e-nun-ci-ate" will make it harder for the computer to recognize what you've said.
• Remember to turn the microphone off when you are not using speech recognition. Speech recognition will continue to process sounds until the microphone is turned off.