Using Speech Recognition

Before you begin using speech recognition, be sure to place your mouse pointer in a location that can accept text, such as a bulleted list or other text area on a slide. To improve accuracy, talk in a consistent, even tone. Speaking too slowly or quickly can decrease the level of recognition. Also, don't stop and start. Pauses and gaps make it harder to recognize your speech.

Using Dictation Mode

To dictate text using the speech recognition engine, follow these steps:

1. Click the Microphone button on the Language bar to turn on the microphone.

2. Click the Dictation button on the Language bar (or say "dictation") to activate speech recognition.

3. Dictate your text into the microphone.

Of course, getting dictation to work exactly as you want it to is more complicated than 1-2-3, but the basic premise is really quite simple. When you're finished dictating, be sure to turn off the microphone; the speech recognition engine will continue to record your words until you do so.

NOTE

You can use Dictation mode with the Ask a Question box. Simply place the insertion point in the box and dictate your question.

Problems getting your microphone to recognize your speech ? See the " Troubleshooting " section near the end of the chapter.

Dictating Punctuation

During dictation, you'll probably need to add some form of punctuation or a special character to your text. You can do this easily using one of the many dictation commands the speech recognition engine recognizes. For example, if you want to place a period at the end of a bullet point, just say "period." If you want to include a Web address, the engines will know what you mean when you say "dot." Table 8.1 lists the most common dictation commands.

Table 8.1. Sample Dictation Commands

Say	Result
Ampersand	&
Asterisk	*
At	@
Colon	:
Comma	,
Dot	.
Exclamation point	!
Period	.
Question mark	?
Semicolon	;
Backslash	\
Slash	/
Vertical bar
Hyphen	-
Double dash	--
Equals	=
Plus	+
Pound sign	#
Percent	%
Dollar sign	$
Underscore	_
Tilde	~
Ellipsis	...
Greater than	>
Less than	<
Caret	^
New line	Enter
New paragraph	Enter twice
Left bracket	[
Right bracket	]
Left brace	{
Right brace	}
Left parenthesis	(
Right parenthesis	)
Open quote	"
Close quote	"
Open single quote	'
Close single quote	'

Dictating Numbers

If you're going to dictate numbers using Dictation mode, here are a few things to keep in mind. The speech recognition engine

• Spells out numbers from one to 20

• Inserts numbers greater than 20 as digits

• Inserts fractions as digits (one-fourth becomes