Support for IBM ViaVoice
Gold for Windows 95 and NT
Technical
support: frequently asked questions. Click on the question number to
see the answer.
|
* |
indicates
a new or updated question and answer since January 1998. |
Section 1
- Installation and configuration |
1.1 |
|
What
releases of Microsoft's Word does ViaVoice Gold support
and how much memory does my system require to run both
ViaVoice Gold and a supported version of MS Word? |
1.2 |
|
Does
ViaVoice Gold support Windows NT? |
1.3 |
* |
Can I
install ViaVoice Gold over any of the previous versions
of VoiceType or ViaVoice? |
1.4 |
* |
When I move
from a previous version of VoiceType or ViaVoice to
ViaVoice Gold, is my personal data (enrollment, added
words and statistics) migrated as well? |
1.5 |
|
I have
partitioned my harddrive. Can I install ViaVoice Gold on
one partition and any other version of VoiceType or
ViaVoice on my other partition? |
1.6 |
|
I want to
uninstall my previous version of VoiceType before I put
ViaVoice Gold on my system. How do I delete the previous
version? |
1.7 |
|
How do I
reinstall a previous VoiceType or ViaVoice version after
I have installed ViaVoice Gold? |
1.8 |
|
How can I
uninstall and reinstall ViaVoice Gold without losing my
user data (e.g. enrollments)? |
1.9 |
|
I deleted
the files and program folders through the Windows 95
Explorer, but the product is still on my system. |
1.10 |
|
Will
navigation macros I have created with VoiceType Dictation
3.0.x, Simply Speaking Gold and ViaVoice work under
ViaVoice Gold? |
1.11 |
|
Will
additional vocabularies available with VoiceType
Dictation 3.0.x, VoiceType Simply Speaking Gold and
ViaVoice work with ViaVoice Gold? |
1.12 |
|
When
available, can more than one language of ViaVoice Gold be
installed in the same system? |
1.13 |
* |
I have a
sound card that is not advertised as a 100% Sound Blaster
compatible. Can I still use it for ViaVoice Gold? |
2.1 |
|
What is the
User Wizard?
|
Section 3
- Microphone Setup |
3.1 |
|
What is
Microphone Setup? |
3.2 |
|
When should
I run Microphone Setup? |
3.3 |
|
The
microphone in my copy of ViaVoice Gold is different from
the one shown on the Microphone Setup. |
3.4 |
|
Can any
other microphones be used? |
3.5 |
* |
New
inexpensive ThinkPad adapter now available. |
3.6 |
|
I didn't get
a power adapter (black) with my microphone. |
3.7 |
* |
Do I need to
use the microphone adapters included with ViaVoice Gold? |
3.8 |
|
Can I use
the microphone that shipped with my computer (or the
built-in microphone, if there is one)? |
3.9 |
|
How often
should I change the batteries in the microphone battery
adapter? |
3.10 |
* |
I have an
Ensoniq Sound Card in my PC and I keep failing the test
in Microphone Setup "I am Testing...". |
3.11 |
* |
I have a
Crystal sound card in my PC and when I run Microphone
Setup, a "General Error" message is returned. |
3.12 |
* |
If you have
an FX sound card in your Acer PC... |
3.13 |
* |
The Sound
Galaxy 534 sound card in my PC appears to constantly be
recording background noise. |
3.14 |
* |
I have a
Creative Labs Soundblaster 16 sound card and I am having
a problem with microphone setup. |
4.1 |
* |
What is
enrollment and is it required? |
4.2 |
|
How many
sentences should I read for enrollment? |
4.3 |
|
What if I do
not speak with a native accent for the language version I
have installed? |
4.4 |
|
What shall I
do if my screen turns dark while enrolling? |
4.5 |
|
FOR US
ENGLISH ONLY
How can I create
additional users and enrollments in version 4.3.0.0 of
the US English edition?
|
Section 5
- General dictation and SpeakPad |
5.1 |
|
What is the
difference between isolated-word speech and continuous
speech? |
5.2 |
|
How does the
system learn as I correct mistakes in SpeakPad? |
5.3 |
|
Once I've
dictated a document in SpeakPad, how do I transfer it to
another application? |
5.4 |
|
Is it
possible to add an alternate pronunciation for an
existing word in the vocabulary? |
5.5 |
|
My
recognition was good, but it now has deteriorated. Why? |
5.6 |
|
How do I
dictate numbers? |
5.7 |
|
How can I
improve my recognition performance with ViaVoice Gold? |
5.8 |
* |
Can I save a
voice session to a diskette or other removable cartridge
like device such as an IOMega Zip** or Jazz Drive**? |
5.9 |
|
I want to
open a saved session but it does not react. |
5.10 |
|
Can I have
text in files read to me? |
5.11 |
|
When reading
the dictated text in SpeakPad, the volume is extremely
low compared to the volume of correcting dictation error.
How can I increase the volume? |
5.12 |
* |
A Word Basic
Error 53 appears every time I open Microsoft Word. |
Section 6
- ViaVoice Gold Options |
6.1 |
|
How do I
change users if more than one user has enrolled? |
6.2 |
* |
What is the
Recognition Sensitivity used for under the ViaVoice Gold
Options Voice page? |
6.3 |
|
What is the
Recognition Performance used for under the ViaVoice Gold
Options Voice page? |
6.4
|
|
In addition
to Continuous General Dictation, can I select any
isolated dictation vocabulary, or any of the optional
isolated vocabularies in the Vocabulary field, of the
USER tab, of ViaVoice Options?
|
Section 7
- ViaVoice Gold Macros |
7.1 |
|
What is the
difference between Current and Always macros? |
7.2 |
|
What's the
difference between dictation macros and
navigation/control macros? |
7.3 |
|
What are
Select Lists used for in What Can I Say macros? |
7.4 |
|
When I am in
navigation mode, and issue a command, the command appears
to be recognized in VoiceCenter however, it does not
execute.
|
Section 8
- ViaVoice Direct |
8.1 |
|
I am having
problems using ViaVoice Direct dictating into some
application. The information displayed in the application
I am using with ViaVoice Direct is not correct. What can
be the problem? |
8.2 |
* |
When I
dictate directly into an application using ViaVoice
Direct, the system does not perform as well as when I
dictate into SpeakPad. |
Section 9
- Vocabulary Expander |
9.1 |
|
How can I
quickly add words to my vocabulary and improve
recognition? |
9.2 |
|
When I
analyze a text the system hangs.
|
Section
10 - Vocabulary Manager |
10.1 |
|
How do I see
my added words, and when would I want to delete a word?
|
Section
11 - Hardware and software requirements |
11.1 |
|
What are the
minimum hardware and software requirements?
|
Section
12 - Known limitations |
12.1 |
* |
Are there
any known limitations? |
Answers
section 1 - Installation and configuration |
1.1
|
What
releases of Microsoft's Word does ViaVoice Gold support
and how much memory does my system require to run both
ViaVoice Gold and a supported version of MS Word?
MS Word release 6.0C (US English only), 7 and 8 are
supported if running Windows** 95. MS Word release 6.0C
is not supported under Windows NT**. Releases 7 and 8 are
supported in Windows NT. The minimum specification for
running ViaVoice Gold with Microsoft Word is 32MB under
Windows 95 (or 48MB under Windows NT). However, like with
any software, increasing the processor and/or the memory
will improve the speed of decoding, but will not improve
the recognition performance.
|
1.2 |
Does
ViaVoice Gold support Windows NT?
Yes. It supports Windows NT 4.0. You must have
administrator privileges during the installation of
ViaVoice Gold under Windows NT.
|
1.3 |
Can I
install ViaVoice Gold over any of the previous versions
of VoiceType or ViaVoice?
Yes. It is possible to install ViaVoice Gold over
- VoiceType Simply Speaking 3.01, 3.02
- VoiceType Simply Speaking Gold 3.5
- ViaVoice 4.1
- all discrete and continuous runtimes.
For any other product, you have to uninstall the product
first.You can
uninstall VoiceType Dictation 3.0.x using the uninstall
tool which is part of the product. To uninstall VoiceType
Dictation 1.32, use the ADD/REMOVE Programs from the
Windows 95 Control Panel. You must reboot your system
after uninstalling previous versions of VoiceType and
prior to installing ViaVoice Gold. After this reboot, you
may get a message that another version of VoiceType
Dictation has been detected on your system, but you can
proceed with the installation.
|
1.4 |
When I
move from a previous version of VoiceType or ViaVoice to
ViaVoice Gold, is my personal data (enrollment, added
words and statistics) migrated as well?
- If you install ViaVoice Gold over of ViaVoice,
all user data (added words, enrollments and statistics)
will be migrated and available under ViaVoice Gold.
- If you install ViaVoice Gold over of VoiceType
Simply Speaking or VoiceType Simply Speaking Gold,
your added words will be migrated to ViaVoice Gold.
Navigation macros will also be migrated when installing
over Simply Speaking Gold. Your speaker models
(enrollments) will be saved, but as these can not be used
in ViaVoice Gold, you will need to do enroll again.
- If you install ViaVoice Gold on a system which had VoiceType
Dictation 3.0.x installed previously, your personal
data will not be migrated.
|
1.5 |
I have
partitioned my harddrive. Can I install ViaVoice Gold on
one partition and any other version of VoiceType or
ViaVoice on my other partition?
ViaVoice Gold cannot coexist with other versions of
VoiceType or ViaVoice on the same system because it uses
common registry entries, the same speech engine,
directory structure and program files. Unless you have
two separate copies of the operating system (for example,
two copies of Windows 95 each running in its own primary
partition), you will not be able to run ViaVoice Gold and
VoiceType or ViaVoice on the same computer.
|
1.6 |
I want to
uninstall my previous version of VoiceType before I put
ViaVoice Gold on my system. How do I delete the previous
version?
IBM VoiceType Dictation version 3.0.x, VoiceType Simply
Speaking versions 3.0.x, VoiceType Simply Speaking Gold
and ViaVoice are equipped with an uninstall Program you
can find in the tools folder of each of these
products. You must run this uninstall program to
successfully delete any entries that were made to the
Windows 95 Registry. VoiceType Dictation version 1.32,
and earlier versions, will have to be removed using the
Add/Remove Programs icon in the Control Panel of Windows
95.
|
1.7 |
How do I
reinstall a previous VoiceType or ViaVoice version after
I have installed ViaVoice Gold?
VoiceType Simply Speaking, VoiceType Simply
Speaking Gold and ViaVoice:
To reinstall Simply Speaking, Simply Speaking Gold or
ViaVoice, uninstall ViaVoice Gold, shut down and restart
your computer, and then reinstall Simply Speaking, Simply
Speaking Gold or ViaVoice in the same directory. Your
enrollments and other personal data will be restored.
VoiceType Dictation 3.0.x:
To reinstall VoiceType Dictation 3.0.x, uninstall
ViaVoice Gold, then install VoiceType Dictation in its
original directory (x:\ibmvtype).
|
1.8 |
How can I
uninstall and reinstall ViaVoice Gold without losing my
user data (e.g. enrollments)?
When you reinstall ViaVoice Gold, be sure to specify the
same directory where ViaVoice Gold was installed
previously. That way, you will not loose any user data or
enrollments from the previous installation.
|
1.9 |
I deleted
the files and program folders through the Windows 95
Explorer, but the product is still on my system.
You should not delete the files and program folders
through the Explorer. Instead, you should use the
uninstall program provided in the product. IBM VoiceType
Dictation, VoiceType Simply Speaking, VoiceType Simply
Speaking Gold, ViaVoice and ViaVoice Gold versions are
equipped with an uninstall program. You must run this
uninstall program to successfully delete any entries that
were made to the Windows 95 Registry. VoiceType Dictation
version 1.32, and earlier versions, will have to be
removed using the Add/Remove Programs icon in the Control
Panel of Windows 95. After uninstalling a version of
VoiceType or ViaVoice, make sure you shut down and
restart your system before installing any version of
VoiceType or ViaVoice Gold.
|
1.10 |
Will
navigation macros I have created with VoiceType Dictation
3.0.x, Simply Speaking Gold and ViaVoice work under
ViaVoice Gold?
Only navigation Macros created with VoiceType Simply
Speaking Gold 3.5 will be migrated during the
installation of ViaVoice Gold.
|
1.11 |
Will
additional vocabularies available with VoiceType
Dictation 3.0.x, VoiceType Simply Speaking Gold and
ViaVoice work with ViaVoice Gold?
No. ViaVoice Gold does not support vocabularies which
have been created for VoiceType Dictation 3.0.x,
VoiceType Simply Speaking Gold. Discrete vocabularies
will only work with discrete applications which are based
on our discrete technology. ViaVoice Gold is able to
install continuous vocabularies. |
1.12 |
When
available, can more than one language of ViaVoice Gold be
installed in the same system?
Yes, multiple languages can be installed. A user ID may
have multiple languages under the same user ID. However,
only one language may be active at a time. |
1.13 |
I have a
sound card that is not advertised as a 100% Sound Blaster
compatible. Can I still use it for ViaVoice Gold?
ViaVoice Gold uses a powerful technology. If your sound
card and PC do not meet the minimum requirements,
ViaVoice Gold will not work adequately on your PC.
|
Answers
section 2 - User Wizard |
2.1 |
What is
the User Wizard?
The User Wizard is a tool that is designed to improve the
out of the box experience. It will be opened by any
program which creates a new user and also leads the user
through Microphone Setup and Quick Training.
|
Answers
section 3 - Microphone Setup |
3.1 |
What is
Microphone Setup?
Microphone Setup is a wizard, located in ViaVoice Gold
Tools folder, that helps you connect the IBM ViaVoice
microphone headset to your computer and helps you
configure your audio settings. Microphone Setup does the
following: |
|
|
- Shows you
how to connect the microphone headset to your computer. |
|
|
- Tests your
existing audio setup. |
|
|
- Adjusts the
microphone volume. |
|
|
- Performs a
speech recognition test. |
|
|
Setting
up your microphone correctly is the single most important
thing you can do to enhance the use of ViaVoice. Proper
microphone set up, and correct audio settings are
required to achieve the highest recognition accuracy.
|
3.2 |
When
should I run Microphone Setup?
You should run Microphone Setup: |
|
|
- BEFORE
you begin your first dictation session. |
|
|
- If your
recognition accuracy has deteriorated. |
|
|
- If you've
changed your sound card. |
|
|
- If you've
changed your microphone. |
|
|
- If you've
switched users. |
3.3 |
The
microphone in my copy of ViaVoice Gold is different from
the one shown on the Microphone Setup.
The microphone shown in the Microphone Setup (the Andrea
ANC-500) is one of the many microphones which works with
ViaVoice Gold.
|
3.4 |
Can any
other microphones be used?
You can use many microphones for speech recognition;
however, not all microphones will produce satisfactory
results. Several microphones have been tested and found
to produce dictation accuracy consistent with the
microphone included with the product. Please click here to be linked to an up to date list
of tested microphones.
|
3.5 |
New
inexpensive ThinkPad adapter now available.
Some IBM Thinkpads can now use an inexpensive adapter to
provide power to the microphone which does not require
any batteries. This would replace the battery adapter
that you are currently using. These adapters can be
purchased from Andrea Electronics. Please be aware that these adapters will
work on all models of the following families of
Thinkpads: 380, 385, 560, 760, 765 and 770. |
3.6 |
I didn't
get a power adapter (black) with my microphone.
Not all IBM ViaVoice Gold microphones require the power
adapter (black). The NC-50u and NC-80u (also called
NC-80) have the power adapter built-in to their tips.
Therefore they are not supplied with a separate power
adapter.
|
3.7 |
Do I need
to use microphone adapters?
The Microphone Setup program gives you instructions on
what microphone adapters to use, depending on the sound
card it detects.
- Signal adapter (light gray): this adapter
reduces the microphone signal. It is used with sound
cards that require a weak microphone signal. The
Microphone Setup will give you instructions if this
adapter is required.
- Power adapter (black): if you have one of the
ViaVoice Gold microphones Andrea NC-50 and ANC-500, you
may require power. Most sound cards provide power to the
microphone, but not all sound cards provide this power in
the same way. This is why the power adapter (black) is
necessary for some sound cards. For instance, the Sound
Blaster(**) cards usually require the power adapter
(black). However, the other ViaVoice Gold microphones
(Andrea NC-50u and NC-80u) have the power adapter built
in to their tips and is therefore not shipped as a
separate item in your microphone package.
- Battery adapter: A few sound cards and some
laptop computers (including the IBM ThinkPad range) do
not provide microphone power. For those, you must use the
battery adapter. If you require a battery adapter, please
contact Andrea Electronics (information included with the
headset). Try the microphone both with and without the
black power adapter (if supplied with your microphone),
following the instructions in the Microphone Setup
program, before deciding to use the battery adapter.
Don't forget to install two fresh AAA batteries in the
correct orientation into the battery adapter before using
it. Even if it seems that your sound card needs the
battery adapter, you may not, in fact, need it. Some
sound cards have the ability to provide microphone power,
but this feature is disabled. To enable the feature,
carefully read the documentation for your sound card; you
might need to set a jumper or run a setup utility. If you
do not have documentation for your card, contact your
computer or sound card manufacturer and ask if and how
your particular sound card can provide power to
microphones so that you can avoid using the battery
adapter and having to buy batteries. Note:
to increase the life of the batteries, unplug the
microphone from the battery adapter when you are not
using it.
|
3.8 |
Can I use
the microphone that shipped with my computer (or the
built-in microphone, if there is one)?
We recommend using the microphone supplied with your
ViaVoice Gold product. This microphone has noise
canceling capabilities and was specifically designed for
speech recognition. However, if you have another
microphone for your computer, you can use it to make sure
that the computer's sound system works before you plug in
the microphone for ViaVoice Gold. For this pretest, make
a test recording of your voice in the Windows Sound
Recorder. Again, use this microphone only for testing the
sound system -- not for ViaVoice Gold speech recognition.
When plugging the ViaVoice Gold microphone into your
computer, do not use the microphone-in jack on the side
of the monitor. Instead, make sure that you plug the
microphone directly into your sound card's microphone-in
jack. This will help avoid getting any interference from
your monitor through the microphone.
|
3.9 |
How often
should I change the batteries in the microphone battery
adapter?
The microphone draws power from the battery adapter even
when the microphone is off. To increase the life of the
batteries, unplug the microphone from the battery adapter
when you are not using it. If you are using ViaVoice on a
daily basis, you should change the batteries every month
or so.
|
3.10 |
I have an
Ensoniq sound card in my PC and I keep failing the test
in Microphone Setup "I am Testing...".
Updating to the latest drivers for the Ensoniq sound card
often resolves this problem. However, if you still have
problems after downloading the latest drivers, the error
may be due to the microphone input being set too high.
|
3.11 |
I have a
Crystal sound card in my PC and when I run Microphone
Setup, a "General Error" message is returned.
Updating to the newest drivers almost always resolves
this failure.
|
3.12 |
If you
have an FX sound card in your Acer PC...
Make sure you disable the wavetable and special effects
such as 3D and Reverb.
Note: Removing or disabling components in this
manner may affect the functionality or performance of
your sound card and other software. |
3.13 |
The Sound
Galaxy 534 sound card in my PC appears to constantly be
recording background noise.
Removing PB Fast Media and FM Thunk from the Startup
Folder and disabling the wavetable usually resolves this
problem.
Note: Removing or disabling components in this
manner may affect the functionality or performance of
your sound card and other software.
|
3.14 |
I have a
Creative Labs Soundblaster 16 sound card and I am having
a problem with microphone setup.
If your Soundblaster 16 has Auto Gain Control (AGC), you
should make sure the box is checked. Please refer to the
ViaVoice README for complete instructions on how to do
this.
Note: Removing or disabling components in this
manner may affect the functionality or performance of
your sound card and other software.
|
Answers
section 4 - Enrollment |
4.1 |
What is
enrollment and is it required?
Enrollment is the process of teaching ViaVoice Gold your
voice so your speech can be recognized with greater
accuracy. Although enrollment is not required (you can
simply start using ViaVoice Gold right out of the box),
doing either the short or full enrollment will help
improve your recognition accuracy.
The enrollment should not be confused with the short
speech recognition task in the User Wizard where each
user must speak 4 or 5 words. The enrollment process
consists in reading a minimum of 50 sentences in the US
English version of ViaVoice Gold.
|
4.2 |
How many
sentences should I read for enrollment?
Although you can start using IBM ViaVoice Gold right out
of the box, we recommend that you do the short enrollment
to improve recognition accuracy. The short enrollment
requires that you read 50 sentences (for the US English
version, this might be different for the other language
versions). After reading the 50 sentences, you will be
prompted to select Train. Unless you have a heavy accent,
the short 50 sentence enrollment should suffice. If you
decide not to train and continue reading beyond the 50
sentences, you must then complete the full enrollment of
265 sentences before you can process this enrollment. For
this reason, we suggest that you choose to train after
reading 50 sentences. You still have the option to do the
full enrollment by going back and reading the remaining
sentences later.
Even after you have processed your enrollment, IBM
ViaVoice continues to update your personal language model
helping to improve your recognition performance. Whenever
you use the Correct Error function to correct
recognition mistakes, IBM ViaVoice Gold will learn the
usage of the corrected word in the same context to its
language context and will give this word higher rank next
time this word is spoken. Essentially, doing word
correction allows ViaVoice Gold to learn from its
mistakes and recognize the corrected word next time you
speak it.
|
4.3 |
What if I
do not speak with a native accent for the language
version I have installed?
If you do not have a native accent for that language, or
if you have a strong regional accent, and are frequently
getting "red" words while reading the
enrollment sentences, decrease the recognition
sensitivity as follows:
|
|
|
- Click
"Options" in the Enrollment panel. |
|
|
- Move the
slider to the left in the "Match word to sound"
section by clicking the "Approximate" arrow 3
to 5 times. |
|
|
- Click
"OK", then click "Yes". |
|
|
However, do
not forget that most times problems with "red"
words occur because of incorrect positioning of the
microphone. Make sure that your microphone is positioned
and adjusted properly by running Microphone Setup before
you start the Enrollment.
|
4.4 |
What
shall I do if my screen turns dark while enrolling
As the enrollment does not necessitate you to move your
mouse or type anything, your screensaver might become
active. Please disable it while enrolling.
|
4.5 |
FOR US
ENGLISH ONLY How
can I create additional users and enrollments in version
4.3.0.0 of the US English edition?
If you are using ViaVoice Gold US ENGLISH version
4.3.0.0, you should download a fix to resolve problems
with using the "Create" button to create
additional user IDs or the "New" button to
create additional enrollments. Testing found that using
these functions on version 4.3.0.0 will result in the
loss of user data. Get more information now.
NOTE: All other
versions (UK English, French, German, Spanish, Italian)
are NOT affected by this problem.
|
|
If you
do not download the fix, but you want to create
additional user IDs, do not use the "Create" or
"New" buttons in Enrollment; please
follow the procedure outlined in the paragraphs below.
Adding New
Users:
To add new users to your ViaVoice Gold System, please use
the Add User... button in IBM ViaVoice Options. This can
be found under: Start->Programs->IBM
ViaVoice->Tools->ViaVoice Options.
The Add User... button is under the User tab. There are
other ways to add users to the system, but IBM recommends
that you use the IBM ViaVoice Options path to add new
users.
Creating New Enrollments:
On version 4.3.0.0, you should have only one enrollment
per user (as creating multiple enrollments under the same
user name will erase the previous user data). Therefore,
if you want to create a new enrollment, you should add a
new user and a new enrollment under that user name.
Follow the instructions above to add a new user.
|
Answers
section 5 - General dictation and SpeakPad |
5.1 |
What is
the difference between isolated-word speech and
continuous speech?
Isolated-word speech is speaking with small pauses
between your words. Continuous speech allows you to speak
without pauses between your words, however you should
speak at a moderate pace and pronounce each word clearly.
It is important not to run your words together. You
should use the Quick Trainer to learn how to speak
when dictating with IBM ViaVoice Gold.
|
5.2 |
How does
the system learn as I correct mistakes in SpeakPad?
As soon as you correct a word, the correction is saved in
memory and is available during your dictation session.
Once you close your SpeakPad dictation session, the
correction is saved to disk and your speech data is
updated with the correct pronunciation of a new word and
the context usage of the misrecognized word.
|
5.3 |
Once I've
dictated a document in SpeakPad, how do I transfer it to
another application?
After you have completed a dictation session in SpeakPad
and corrected any errors, you can transfer the text to
any application which accepts text input (e.g. a word
processor). With the left mouse button, click the
Transfer icon in the icon toolbar (this will transfer the
text automatically to the last application that you used)
or click and drag the icon with your mouse pointer to the
opened application window where you want to transfer the
dictated text. The formatting of the document in SpeakPad
WILL NOT be preserved in the other application. You
should format the text after transferring it.
|
5.4 |
Is it
possible to add an alternate pronunciation for an
existing word in the vocabulary?
No. It is not possible to insert an alternate
pronunciation for a word in the dictation vocabulary. You
can only create a macro for this word and train it with
this alternate pronunciation. However, if the system
detects that you've corrected a word more than twice, a
pop-up message will appear and you will be asked to
provide a new pronunciation. This new pronunciation will
be stored along with the old pronunciation.
|
5.5 |
My
recognition was good, but it now has deteriorated. Why?
Several factors could account for this problem: |
|
|
- The
microphone settings might have been changed either
manually or by some other sound application. Please run
Microphone Setup. This will readjust your microphone
settings so that ViaVoice Gold will work correctly. |
|
|
- You might
not be using your own speaker model. Make sure you use
the correct user name that contains your own personal
language model. You can use the IBM ViaVoice Gold
Options, in the Control Panel, to check and change users.
Never let an anyone else dictate with your user name. |
|
|
- You might be
positioning your microphone incorrectly. The microphone
boom should be angled toward the corner of your mouth
(not up or down) so that the flat part on the microphone
element under the foam faces the corner of your mouth.
The Microphone Setup Wizard illustrates the correct
positioning of the microphone. |
|
|
- Make sure
that you are not breathing directly into the microphone
mouthpiece or speaking too loudly when dictating. Also,
make sure the foam microphone wind screen is attached and
in place. |
|
|
- The
batteries in your battery adapter may be running low. If
you are using the battery adapter, try using fresh
batteries. |
5.6 |
How do I
dictate numbers?
There are two ways you can dictate numbers:
1. To dictate numbers, like a social security
number, you should break them up into two digits at a
time. For instance, to dictate the following social
security number, 521-44-9655, say fifty-two one hyphen
forty-four hyphen ninety-six fifty-five. Initially, the
numbers will have spaces in between them, but once
ViaVoice Gold understands the context of this number, by
saying another word, it will glue these digits back
together.
2. To
dictate numbers as digits (0-9) rather than allow
ViaVoice Gold to spell out the numbers, say begin
numbers. Begin Numbers mode gives you higher
recognition accuracy since you are restricting the
vocabulary to numbers only. Please note, that this voice
command will not be acted upon until you check the
'Enable "Begin numbers" box' under
Dictation Options in the Dictation menu of SpeakPad. To
end numbers mode and resume dictation, say Resume
Dictation. Saying Change that while in numbers
mode after a digit has been spoken, will delete the
digit. You cannot use the correct error pop-up menu for
digits dictated in numbers mode, so we advise making your
corrections before returning to dictation mode.
|
5.7 |
How can I
improve my recognition performance with ViaVoice Gold?
ViaVoice Gold is speaker independent, so you can use
SpeakPad to dictate without first training it to
recognize your voice (enrollment). Let's assume that you
are using the US English version of ViaVoice Gold. If you
have set up your microphone correctly, and if you have a
native US English accent, you should get more than 90%
recognition accuracy for words in the ViaVoice Gold
vocabulary without enrolling. To gauge your true
recognition accuracy, dictate a few paragraphs, say, from
a business letter, skipping words, such as names, that
are not likely to be in the vocabulary. After you finish
dictating, you might find that there are a number of
misrecognized words in your text. If you find your
recognition performance is lower than 90%, then we
recommend going through enrollment. Refer to the
enrollment section in the on-line help and in these
frequently asked questions for further information.Here are some tips on how to
improve your recognition performance:
- Do the correction in the
normal reading direction: do it from left to right and
down.
- Use speech correction to correct a word that ViaVoice
Gold misrecognizes and teach it how to display the word.
Speech correction adjusts your personal speech files so
that ViaVoice Gold remembers the correction each time you
say the word. There are several methods for error
correction using ViaVoice Gold. Please reference your
"How Do You Dictate and Correct Errors" in the
on-line help.
- ViaVoice Gold is a continuous speech program. However,
you will still need to ensure that you dictate at a
moderate rate of speed and pronounce your words clearly.
Do not run your words together.
- It is important to speak in a normal tone of voice. If
the audio level is low (not reaching the green in the
microphone input level), move the microphone closer to
the side of your mouth, or rerun the Microphone Setup
program to readjust your microphone settings.
- The microphone position is very important for good
recognition accuracy. Be sure that the microphone boom
bends toward your mouth. The microphone should be about
20 mm (3/4 inch) away from your face. It should be a
little to the side of your mouth so that you do not
breathe into it.
- If you have enrolled, use the same microphone and sound
card that you used for enrollment when you dictate.
Although you can move your speech data to another
computer, your accuracy will never be as good as on the
system you used to enroll. So if you switch computers,
sound card, or microphone, and you want the highest
possible dictation accuracy, rerun Microphone Setup and
re-enroll on the new system!
- If your system has at least a Pentium 200MHz processor,
then you can increase recognition accuracy by setting
recognition performance to "accurate" under
ViaVoice Gold Options on the Voice page. Refer to the
ViaVoice Gold Options section in these Frequently Asked
Questions for further information.
- If you want to interrupt your dictation, for example in
order to answer the phone or talk to someone, first stop
your dictation by saying "Stop-Dictation" or by
clicking Stop Dictation in the Dictation menu.
|
5.8 |
Can I
save a voice session to a diskette or other removable
cartridge like device such as an IOMega Zip or Jazz
Drive?
One minute of dictation equals approximately 1MB of disk
space, because ViaVoice Gold saves your original
dictation audio. A two page document could be as large as
30 - 40 MB of disk space. Therefore, you will be limited
not only on the size of the document you want to save but
also how many documents you could save as a result of the
size. Since these files are so large, they can take a
long time to save, especially if you are using a parallel
drive. We recommend that you save the file to your
harddrive and then use a file copy command to copy them
to your removable drive.
|
5.9 |
I want to
open a saved session but it does not react.
A speech session contains a lot of information. Therefore
it might take some time to open it. If you have to save
very long sessions we would recommend to use SpeakPad
rather then Word.
|
5.10 |
Can I
have text in files read to me?
Yes, ViaVoice Gold (US and UK English, German and French
versions only) has a text to speech option, ViaVoice
Outloud. Dictate some text or open a file using SpeakPad,
then select "Reading" on the toolbar, and
finally select "Begin Reading". All of the text
in the file will be read back. To have portions of text
read instead of the complete file, highlight the portion
you want read and then select "Begin Reading".
The first time you do this, the IBM Text to Speech icon
will appear on the right of the Taskbar. Right mouse
click on the IBM Text to Speech icon and select Help to
find out how you can use IBM Text to Speech.
Note: when using ViaVoice Gold on NT4.0, ViaVoice
Outloud is only available to users who have administrator
access.
|
5.11 |
When
reading the dictated text in SpeakPad, the volume is
extremely low compared to the volume of correcting
dictation error. How can I increase the volume ?
Select Dictation and then Dictation Options from the
SpeakPad menu and click on the audio tab. Move the slider
to change the output volume level. Or you can use the
Audio Mixer (by running the Volume Control applet in the
Accessories/Multimedia folder) to increase the playback
volume.
|
5.12 |
A Word
Basic Error 53 appears every time I open Microsoft Word.
If this error occurs, copy the NORMALB.DOT file into the
MSOFFICE\TEMPLATES folder (Word 7.0 & Word 8.0) and
rename the file to NORMAL.DOT. After that, you will need
to update the Microsoft Office Registry entry to point to
the current templates drive and folder for Microsoft
Office. Refer to the online reference for more help on
how to correct this error and other problems you may
encounter with Microsoft Word.
|
Answers
section 6 - ViaVoice Gold Options |
6.1 |
How do I
change users if more than one user has enrolled?
Start IBM ViaVoice Gold Options located in the Tools
folder within the IBM ViaVoice Gold program folder. You
must click the User tab and select a new user from the
drop down menu. If you have multiple enrollments for the
same user (for example, one for a noisy environment and
one for a quieter environment), or multiple languages
installed, you can switch enrollments and languages from
this menu as well. You can make these changes by clicking
on "OK".
Note: If any speech applications are active, you
will be prompted to close them before the changes take
effect. |
6.2 |
What is
the Recognition Sensitivity used for under the ViaVoice
Gold Options Voice page?
The recognition sensitivity slider does not affect the
recognition for dictation. However, it is used to relax
or tighten the acceptance of the pronunciation of words
read during enrollment, and when you control your PC by
voice with command words. If the pronunciation doesn't
match the expected pronunciation of the word read during
enrollment, ViaVoice Gold will reject the sentence by
highlighting this sentence in red. ViaVoice Gold will be
more likely to reject sentences when this slider is moved
closer towards "Exact Match". If during
enrollment you get a lot of red sentences, you can move
the slider closer to "Best Guess". This will
help reduce the number of red words. This is particularly
important for people with heavy accents. This setting is
the same as the Match Word to Sound setting under Options
in Enrollment. |
6.3 |
What is
the Recognition Performance used for under the ViaVoice
Gold Options Voice page?
The Recognition Performance setting is used to increase
performance or accuracy depending upon your system. In
general, if your system has a lower speed Pentium
processor (166MHz, for example), we recommend that you
set the recognition performance to "fast" or
"balanced". This will speed up recognition
processing at the slight expense of accuracy. If your
system has a higher speed Pentium processor (200MHz, for
example), you should set the recognition performance to
"accurate". This will improve recognition
accuracy with a small degradation of speed. |
6.4 |
In
addition to Continuous General Dictation, can I select
any isolated dictation vocabulary, or any of the optional
isolated vocabularies in the Vocabulary field of the User
tab of ViaVoice Options?
No. Continuous General Dictation and Navigation are the
only supported vocabularies in ViaVoice Gold.
|
Answers
section 7 - ViaVoice Gold Macros |
7.1 |
What is
the difference between Current and Always macros?
- Always macros are always available when IBM
VoiceCenter is running independently of the active
application. These macros are commands that send a series
of keystrokes to the active application or highlighted
object. You specify these keystrokes by recording
(capturing) them. The Always macros you create are added
to the Always page in the "What Can I Say?"
Window.
- Current macros are commands that carry out a
series of actions in a single application program. These
macros are named "current" because they apply
only to the application window that was active when the
macro was created. You specify these actions by recording
(capturing) the actual keystrokes and mouse
clicks within the application's windows. Current macros
you create are added to the Current page in the
"What Can I Say?" window whenever the
application has focus. When you say a macro command,
VoiceCenter sends the keystrokes and mouse clicks in the
captured sequence to the application.
|
7.2 |
What's
the difference between dictation macros and
navigation/control macros?
Dictation macros are used to substitute frequently used
text for a short expression during dictation, e.g.
"business address" could print off the details
of your office address. Navigation/control macros are
voice-command shortcuts for working with applications and
objects on your Windows desktop, e.g. "show
calendar" to open the Lotus Organizer diary.Note: The on-line help gives
further information and tips on creating dictation macros
as well as navigation/control macros.
The Dictation Macro Editor
allows you to create dictation macros and voice templates
which are only active during dictation sessions. Note
that although dictation macros are active in all methods
of dictation, voice templates are only active in
SpeakPad.
The navigation and control macros, shown in the
"What Can I Say?" window, are not
available during dictation. The IBM VoiceCenter must be
running to activate the "What Can I Say?"
command and control macros. ViaVoice Gold comes with
predefined macros for commonly used applications, as well
as the mini-applications and accessories provided by
Windows. You can create additional command and control
macros. For example, you could create a macro in which
you select the style, font and type size for a document
in a word processor.
|
7.3 |
What are
Select Lists used for in What Can I Say macros?
Macro select lists add useful function to command and
control macros. For example, you can use macro lists in
the "What Can I Say?" window to create a macro
for typing telephone numbers or even currency into a
document. To create an always macro for typing currency: Say or click Macro and the
Macro window appears.
Say or click Capture.
Say or click Lists.
Select $ and cents and then click on OK.
Say or click Done.
Insert the word value before the macro list, <$
and cents> in the voice command field then click on OK.
Train the macro named value and click on Done.
The macro named value
<$ and cents> just created should now appear
under Customized Always Macros in the What Can I Always
Say window.
Now, if you open an application like Wordpad and say in a
continuous phrase (without pausing between the words), value
two hundred three dollars and forty two cents, 203.42
should display in your active application.
The $ and cents list is identical to the Amounts list,
except that it also includes the words dollars and
cents. The digits list provides numeric values
with high recognition accuracy where the values are
spoken as separate digits. For example: for 17.32, say one
seven point three two.
If you click on the + sign before the macro list name, it
will show you an example and list the available words for
this macro.
|
7.4 |
When I am
in navigation mode, and issue a command, the command
appears to be recognized in VoiceCenter however, it does
not execute.
Some commands are not available for use at all times with
all applications. For example, if you are in SpeakPad and
you have not dictated any text yet and you issue the
command "Begin Correction", the command is
recognized in the VoiceCenter, however, no action will
take place as there is no text to correct.
|
Answers
section 8 - ViaVoice Direct |
8.1 |
I am
having problems using ViaVoice Direct dictating into some
application. The information displayed in the application
I am using with ViaVoice Direct is not correct. What can
be the problem?
If ViaVoice Direct is working correctly with other
applications, but is doing strange things in one specific
application, try disabling infirm word display by
removing the check mark from "Show Infirm
Words" in ViaVoice Options, under the Dictation tab.
During dictation, infirm words are tentatively recognized
by ViaVoice as possibly fitting the context of the
dictation. If "Show Infirm Words" is enabled,
the infirm word is displayed in reverse video
(highlighted), and may change as the dictation
progresses, depending on the context of the words
following the infirm word. With some applications the
process of highlighting and modifying the infirm words
may cause problems to that application. |
8.2 |
When I
dictate directly into an application using ViaVoice
Direct, the system does not perform as well as when I
dictate into SpeakPad.
Because SpeakPad is controlled by the speech engine in
ViaVoice Gold, you may notice that the words appear in
SpeakPad faster than when dictating using ViaVoice
Direct. However, the accuracy of the dictated text is the
same in both methods of dictation.
|
Answers
section 9 - Vocabulary Expander |
9.1 |
How can I
quickly add words to my vocabulary and improve
recognition?
By using Vocabulary Expander, you can analyze text and
add words to your current Added Words List. Vocabulary
Expander also helps ViaVoice Gold learn your dictation
patterns, and updates your personal language model via
the "Words in Context" dialog. This helps
improve dictation accuracy. To analyze text you can open
a file which has previously been created (in text or MS
Word 7 format), copy text from the clipboard, or create
text in the Vocabulary Expander by using your keyboard.
Vocabulary Expander will be able to analyze the text,
allow you to select words you wish to add, and train the
words you added. Most of the words you will add will be
in ViaVoice Gold's 260,000 word pronunciation/spelling
dictionary and therefore, you will not be prompted to
provide a pronunciation for them. |
9.2 |
When I
analyze text the system hangs.
Your System probably does not hang. Analyzing text is a
very intense procedure. Please be patient until the
system has finished the process.
|
Answers
section 10 - Vocabulary Manager |
10.1 |
How do I
see my added words, and when would I want to delete a
word?
The Vocabulary Manager utility is used to display words
that were added to your personal added word list. On
occasion, a word will be added to your personal added
word list that will take the place of an already existing
word. For example, if the word "comma" was
inadvertently added during word correction, the word
"comma" might appear instead of the punctuation
mark ",". In your added word list, you can
delete the word "comma" and the punctuation
mark should again appear during dictation. You might also
want to delete misspelled words and words such as proper
names that you know you will not use again.
|
Answers
section 11 - Hardware and software requirements |
11.1 |
What are
the minimum hardware and software requirements?
To run IBM ViaVoice Gold, you must be running Windows
95(**) or Windows NT 4.0(**) and have at least the
following hardware: |
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- Pentium(**)
155MMX, Pentium 166MHz, or equivalent AMD-K6 MMX Enhanced
Processor (**). |
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- 32MB of
memory for Windows 95 / 48MB of memory for NT 4.0. These
memory requirements include running Microsoft Word.
However, like with any software, increasing the processor
and/or the memory will improve the speed of decoding, but
will not improve the recognition performance. |
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- 125+MB of
available (non-compressed) hard file space. |
|
|
- Creative
Labs(**) Sound Blaster 16 (or 100% compatible) or
Mwave(*) sound card. |
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- CD-ROM
Drive.
|
Answers
section 12 - Known limitations |
12.1 |
Are there
any known limitations?
Following are known limitations: |
|
|
- A user
must use the same application for retrieving deferred
or delegated dictation as was used for saving it. For
example, if SpeakPad was used to save a dictation, then
you must use SpeakPad to retrieve and make corrections to
that dictation. |
|
|
- In the
French, German, US and UK English versions, when using
the "Text to Speech" function, the volume is
lower compared to the volume when correcting
dictation errors. Please note that ViaVoice Outloud (the
text to speech function) is found under SpeakPad as
'Begin Reading' as specified in the online help. If you
have VoiceCenter up, you can also say 'Begin Reading' to
read any text from any active window. Also note that you
must have administrator privileges to use ViaVoice
Outloud when running ViaVoice Gold on NT4.0. |
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|
- If "Check
Grammar as You Type" option in Word 97 is
selected, dictated word correction does not work. You can
temporarily remove the grammar checking by right-clicking
the underlined words and clicking Ignore Sentence |
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- Microsoft
Word 6.0c and Word 7.0 (Office 95) might not work after
you install Word 97 in the same system and then install
Dictation Support for it. |
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- The Quick
Trainer in the User Wizard is difficult to read with
the display properties set to Large Fonts. To change to
small fonts, click Start/Control Panel/Display and make
sure that the font size is set to small fonts. |
|
|
- You
must have administrator privileges to install ViaVoice
Gold on Windows NT 4.0. You must also have
administrator privileges to use ViaVoice Outloud
(text-to-speech) and MS Word support. |
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|
-
Problems with ViaVoice Gold and Anti-Virus Software.
If you receive errros such as SMAPI RC = 215, SMAPI = -4
in Microphone Setup Wizard, general error in Dictation
Trainer, no playback in SpeakPad, or errors using
ViaVoice Gold options, make sure that you are not running
any antivirus software (e.g. IBM Antivirus for Windows 95
or NT, or Norton Antivirus) during the installation of
ViaVoice Gold. If
you run IBM Antivirus for Windows 95 or NT, make sure
you disable the "Check files when accessed"
field in System Shield setup before installing ViaVoice
Gold.
|
|
|
- On
Windows NT, do not use an Audio Description on saved
dictation sessions. You must answer "No" to
the question "Would you like to record an audio
description for this session?" when saving a
dictation session. |
|
|
- If Word
support is not working, please update your printer
drivers. Uninstall Word support and reinstall it
afterwards. |
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|
- Direct
Dictation to Word 6.0c is not supported under Windows NT.
You can use SpeakPad to dictate, then transfer your
dictated text into Word 6.0c. |
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|
- If you
get square brackets around words when dictating in Word,
please disable the view of bookmarks in the menu. To
do this open the tools menu click Options select the View
tab and uncheck the checkbox "Bookmarks". |
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|
-
Bookmarks - Do not use direct dictation into Word if
you want to use bookmarks. If you once save without
saving the dictation session, all your bookmarks will be
deleted. If you require the use of bookmarks, dictate
into SpeakPad and do the formatting in Word. |
|
|
- Do not
use VoiceCenter to navigate the User Wizard. As the
User Wizard and the Microphone Setup tool try to
determine and set the audio parameters for your system,
using VoiceCenter to navigate either of these program may
cause problems. Therefore, close the VoiceCenter before
starting User Wizard or Microphone Setup. |
|
|
-
Navigation problem with error correction in SpeakPad. Sometimes
the 'Correct Error' item in the Dictation menu becomes
disabled (grayed out), and the voice command 'Correct
Error' does not work. This may happen after issuing 'By
Line' commands (i.e. 'Forward to Period' or 'Backward to
Period'). To recover from this situation, double-click on
a word you want to correct. |
|
|
- When
using an IBM ThinkPad, you must Stop Dictation before you
enter suspend mode. |
|
|
- I have
an MWAVE adapter and have just upgraded my software from
29.8 to 33.6. ViaVoice no longer works since I have
upgraded my modem software.
The 33.6 modem software uses a lot of resources and may
keep the modem on all of the time. This will prevent
ViaVoice from being able to use audio and therefore,
ViaVoice will not be able to run. You should use the 29.8
modem software for MWAVE with VoiceType. |
|
|
- Recently
there has been a trend towards lower end, inexpensive
consumer like PC's. One of these cost cutting methods
is the elimination of L2 cache. L2 cache is used to
buffer data into the main CPU (processor) to insure
optimum system performance. This is also referred to as
Pipeline Burst Cache or Processor Cache. Systems without L2 cache will run
slower with CPU/floating point calculation intensive
applications such as speech recognition and other
multimedia programs which may result in performance
problems. Some systems have sockets where customers can
add L2 cache by purchasing this feature separately.
Customers who experience
performance problems should contact their place of
purchase or system manufacturers for information on
adding cache to optimize their systems to run these
applications.
|
NOTE: If
these Frequently Asked Questions did not help solve your
problem, please refer the on-line help, Readme file, the
CD booklet and other documentation in ViaVoice Gold. |
THE
INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS TECHNICAL SUPPORT WEB SITE
IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
KIND. You assume the entire risk as to the accuracy and
the use of the information contained herein. |
(*) IBM ®, Mwave ®,
Aptiva ®, ThinkPad ® and VoiceType ®
are IBM registered trademarks.
(**) Microsoft ®,
Windows ®, and NT ®, are registered
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
(**) All other products are
trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective
companies.
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