Best Sound Cancelling Desktop Mic for Special Situation
Submitted by LivinLife on Tue, 06/09/2009 - 22:28.
I been using a Logitech desktop usb $20 mic with dragon 4 with an accuracy rate of about 95-97. I would like to increase the accuracy and eliminate the external noises like the sound of my central air or keyboard which occasionally causes a command to fire. I should note that I do not use dragon in the normal manner. I use it exclusively to issue commands (3000 or so) and the remaining vocabulary has been deleted.
If money were not a concern I would get the Sennheiser MD431 which I see is highly praised.
However would Sennheiser E825-S accomplish what I need for 1/4 the price given my special situation? Thanks for any input.
I'm sure the microphone
I'm sure the microphone sellers will have plenty of suggestions, but I am always willing to tell people that I stopped worrying about microphones after I bought my Sennheiser ME3 -- I get around 97%-99% text accuracy depending on how fast I push it and how fresh I am, but I get nearly 100% command accuracy, and I use commands much more than most users I think.
Bruce
I’m really looking for a
I’m really looking for a stationary mic as I work standing up and move around quite a bit. I currently use Sennheiser wireless headphones combined with the Logitech Desktop mic I mentioned and I love the freedom of that setup. However that Me3 is tempting. Out of curiosity what soundcard are you using with the Me3? Would my current Soundblaster 16 be sufficient for that mic or would I need to get an external?
I use it with an Andrea USB
I use it with an Andrea USB pod. SFAIK, the SB16 should work fine.
With your additional specs you should get better feedback.
Bruce
LivinLife wrote: I’m
I’m really looking for a stationary mic as I work standing up and move around quite a bit. Would my current Soundblaster 16 be sufficient for that mic or would I need to get an external?
Your SoundBlaster 16 should be just fine. If you do not need an On/Mute switch the Samson Q7 with Windscreen, Cable and microphone clip handheld microphone when used with a windscreen is awfully close in terms of accuracy and noise canceling to the Sennheiser MD431II for a fraction of the money.
--
Marty Markoe, eMicrophones, Inc.
The best microphones for Speech Recognition
We agree with Marty about
We cannot recommend any Logitech microphones for speech recognition use.
We agree with Marty about your soundcard and additional agree that the Samson Q7 desktop microphone would be a good choice (considering the price of the Sennheiser MD 431 II) but our Q7 sales have dropped off significantly since we introduced the Olympus ME 31 gun microphone which allows you to dictate from as far away as 4 feet.
Lunis Orcutt - Developer of KnowBrainer &
Host of the http://www.TheMicrophoneStore.com
A Nuance Gold Certified Endorsed Dragon NaturallySpeaking Partner/Trainer
ALWAYS Ask If Your Speech Recognition Partner Is Nuance Certified
While I would concur with
While I would concur with KnowBrainer that the Olympus ME 31 is a very viable alternative, I have cautioned before and I will caution again, if you try to dictate using this microphone from more than 8 to 12 inches, you will be disappointed with the results. The fact that you can dictate up to 4 feet away in no way is a recommendation. Your accuracy will definitely decline if you set it up and try to dictate from that distance. The ME 31 has some amazing characteristics, but noise canceling is not one of them and the further away from your mouth that it is, the more noise is introduced from the background. If you like to hear you're playback coming back at you as if you are standing in an echo chamber with other subtle background noise playing right along with you, and if you want your accuracy to drop off probably anywhere from .5 to .8%, then purchase the Olympus ME 31 and dictate with the microphone further away from your mouth then 8 to 12 inches.
Also, the Olympus ME 31 is definitely not noise canceling.
Note that this is not a criticism of the microphone itself. I love it! It's great! I use it whenever I am tired of wearing my wireless headset (Samson Airline 77 wireless microphone) and can work a little bit more relaxed. Also, if I need to shut the microphone off and I've walked away from it, I can yell at it and it will respond. Nevertheless, you can't dictate from that distance. It simply will not work properly as nice as this microphone is. Anyone who thinks otherwise hasn't really tested it. I've been using mine now for over two months consistently at least once or twice a day for 20 or 30 minutes under various conditions running the Audio Setup Wizard at different distances. I can tell you, if you want to spend the money for the Olympus ME 31 and have it not work well for you just disregard what I'm saying.
Chuck Runquist
Owner, GEMCCON - The Choice of Intelligence
Speech Recognition Consulting and Training
"We are all victims of mythology in one way or another. We are the inheritors, and many times the propagators, of a desire to believe what we want to believe, regardless of whether or not it is true." -- J.V. Stewart
Chuck Runquist wrote: I will
I will caution again, if you try to dictate using this microphone from more than 8 to 12 inches, you will be disappointed with the results. Also, the Olympus ME 31 is definitely not noise canceling.
eMicrophones introduced the Olympus ME-31 to the speech recognition community about 6 months ago. We agree with Chuck, in what he says about it. We think of it for those times when you are in a very quiet environment and accuracy does not have to be spot on. For someone with a disability that requires a desktop microphone, the ME-31 may be a good choice.
--
Martin Markoe, eMicrophones, Inc.
The best microphones for Speech Recognition
Read, "Key Steps to High Speech Recognition Accuracy"
Thanks for all the ideas.
Thanks for all the ideas. Eventually I think I’ll get the Q7, for now I have been testing a pal’s headset which has been working very well(Sennheiser 166). Accuracy for my 3000 commands is probably 99.7% even without retraining the 3000 in vocabulary and even with the air conditioner blowing(I was kind of shocked by this). Unfortunately I will have to sacrifice wireless freedom for now.
LivinLife wrote: Thanks for
Thanks for all the ideas. Eventually I think I’ll get the Q7, for now I have been testing a pal’s headset which has been working very well(Sennheiser 166). Accuracy for my 3000 commands is probably 99.7% even without retraining the 3000 in vocabulary and even with the air conditioner blowing(I was kind of shocked by this). Unfortunately I will have to sacrifice wireless freedom for now.
LivinLife,
The Samson Q7 is an excellent microphone. However, it too is not noise canceling. You won't have to worry about minor background noise such as an air conditioner. Nevertheless, keep in mind that as background noise increases in volume, accuracy will decrease as well. So, if your environment is reasonably quiet and you don't have to contend with people talking to you or you keep music and/or the TV to a reasonably low-level, you'll find that the Samson Q7 will give you excellent accuracy and performance. In addition, the Samson Q7 will function better in terms of suppressing reasonable background noise (i.e., note that this is not noise canceling, it is simply the design of the cardioid microphone element used that does this) if you dictate from a position where any background noise is coming from behind the microphone. If any background noise is behind you, the ability of the Samson Q7 to suppress such will be compromised.
I would also recommend that you get the boom because the Samson Q7 is very heavy. You won't be able to hold it in your hand for very long. In addition, you need to keep the microphone element between three and 4 inches from your mouth. If you run the Audio Setup Wizard with the microphone at that distance, you will find that it's cardioid microphone element will be able to suppress normal ambient background noise as long as it is not excessive.
On the other hand, keep in mind that the average user doesn't go to the extent that some of us do in terms of testing microphones. Therefore, when comparing your "pals" headset/microphone in terms of accuracy, what you are getting at the present time may not be reflective of what you would get over time. Accuracy is relative. The higher the quality of the microphone and the better the noise canceling characteristics, the better the performance and accuracy of DNS will be in the long run. You can always get reasonably high accuracy from any basically good microphone initially. However, unless you have tested a variety of microphones, it is difficult to see the differences.
Nevertheless, the Samson Q7 is a good choice and I think you will be generally happy with it. Just remember that 30% of the overall accuracy you achieve is based on your hardware. 70% is based on how well you dictate (style and enunciation). Most users who end up with problems do so because of their own user dictation performance and style. How you dictate: how clearly you enunciate and pronounce words; how well you avoid slurring, mumbling, or running your words together; how to naturally you speak (i.e., short choppy phrases vs. smooth continuous and complete phrases as when you read a book) have a greater impact on overall accuracy than simply good, high-quality hardware. In the long run, it is the optimal combination of hardware vs. user dictation style that makes for high accuracy. Good, high-quality hardware will not save the user from poor dictation and the enunciation.
Chuck Runquist
Owner, GEMCCON - The Choice of Intelligence
Speech Recognition Consulting and Training
If there's more than one way to do a job, and one of those ways will result in disaster, then somebody will do it that way. (variant of Murphy's law - Edward A. Murphy, Jr.)
I have no idea how Dragon
I have no idea how Dragon works under the hood but I think the accuracy I’m experiencing in my case is due to having deleted the entire vocabulary base and training those 3000 commands with my old mic. This command base remains relatively static so I don’t think accuracy should change over time. Chuck if you have any additional mic recommendations I would love to hear about them. Thanks again.
We preferred the ME 31 over the Q7
We preferred the ME 31 over the Q7 because we found it to be slightly more accurate and can be used over a greater distance. However, if you're having a difficult time deciding between the Samson Q7 and the Olympus ME 31, you can always purchase both. Just return the one you don't like within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.
Lunis Orcutt - Developer of KnowBrainer
Host of the World's Top Speech Recognition Forum: http://www.knowbrainer.com/PubForum/
A Nuance Gold Certified/Endorsed Partner
ALWAYS Ask If Your Speech Recognition/Microphone Vendor Is Nuance Certified
Chuck Runquist wrote: The
The Samson Q7 is an excellent microphone. However, it too is not noise canceling.
In eMicrophones testing and use, the Samson Q7 is an excellent microphone for noise canceling and accuracy. There is a microphone vendor that says you can use this microphone at great distances, up to 4 feet. In our view, that is ridiculous. This is an entertainer type microphone. On our website, we recommend using a windscreen for best noise canceling. In addition, it is meant to be used at a distance of 1/2 to 1 or 2 inches. When used at greater distances, you'll have to increase the volume and thus it will pick up background noise. However if used at the recommended distance, it is excellent at noise canceling.
Marty
--
Martin Markoe, eMicrophones, Inc.
The best microphones for Speech Recognition
Read, "Key Steps to High Speech Reco
Marty, The Samson Q7 will
Marty,
The Samson Q7 will suppress a certain amount of background noise with the windscreen on and as a result of the fact that it uses a cardioid microphone element, which restricts the general area of input reception. However, even Samson specifically states that the Samson Q7 is not a noise canceling microphone.
To say that it is noise canceling is misleading. I spoke with their engineers who stated quite unequivocally that they would not support any contention that the Samson Q7 has any built-in noise canceling.
In addition, I tested the Samson Q7 that I got from you with CNN Headline News playing through my surround sound home theater system at between 84 and 90 dB as measured with a digital sound meter and the accuracy drops from about 99.5% to around 75%, whereas the Sennheiser MD431 II maintained 99.6% accuracy consistently under the exact same conditions.
Chuck Runquist
Owner, GEMCCON - The Choice of Intelligence
Speech Recognition Consulting and Training
"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." -- Mark Twain
Chuck Runquist wrote:The
The Samson Q7 will suppress a certain amount of background noise with the windscreen on and as a result of the fact that it uses a cardioid microphone element, which restricts the general area of input reception. However, even Samson specifically states that the Samson Q7 is not a noise canceling microphone.
Let's start out by looking at the Samson page of this microphone and the specifications at:
http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm...
I think you will notice it says, "Q7 - Supercardioid Dynamic Mic." It is not a cardiod pickup but the better super cardiod pattern which when used 1 inch or less from the mouth is sufficiently noise canceling.
The first time I tested this microphone was when Bob Brennan our Samson representative brought it to our office for us to test out. In case you do not know Bob, he was the guitarist for Tony Bennett for 30 years. I think he knows a little bit about audio. He has taken a deep interest in our company and has developed a good understanding of the needs of speech recognition. I highly suspect few people other than Bob from Samson understand speech recognition and noise canceling.
Although we agree there is nothing more noise canceling then the Sennheiser MD 431II, the Samson Q7 performs admirably under most typical office noise conditions. The fact that the Samson Q7 costs approximately a fifth of the cost of the Sennheiser MD 431II and in our testing performs just about equally of the most noise conditions, it is a Best Buy in our opinion.
--
Martin Markoe, eMicrophones, Inc.
The best microphones for Speech Recognition
Read, "Key Steps to High Speech Reco
After much research I took a
After much research I took a gamble and got the Samson G-track and a mic stand. Right out of the box I got 99.99% accuracy with my 3000 command. Cuts out all background noise and even has realtime monitoring which was helpful for setting it up. Thanks again for all the ideas.