I have a disability and cannot use my left hand very well. I am looking for a way to efficiently use Dragon NaturallySpeaking along with the telephone.

I recently graduated and I am unemployed at the moment but, I would like to work out a way to efficiently use the telephone with Dragon so that I can be as productive as possible.

Lunis suggested using a desktop microphone for dictation and a headset for working on the telephone. This would work great if I was working in a relatively quiet office. Unfortunately, I have no idea where I'm going to wind up and I don't want to let this problem limit my employment perspectives.

 Someone else has suggested wearing to headphones. This is definitely something I want to try and avoid.

I know there are several people with disabilities on this forum so I am sure someone has come up with a worthwhile solution to this problem.

The microphone I would like to use is the boom o.

Wheels,

First off, congratulations! Second, take a deep breath. Don't worry about having Dragon limit your employment perspectives. I entered the workforce not long ago. The world was my oyster. Now that I've entered a working situation where I've used Dragon every day -- and really, truly mastered office automation and creating content at over 100 words per minute, I'd argue to any perspective employer that if Dragon were to be provided to me as part of an accommodation, then having an employee who is a Dragon master is an asset, not a hindrance. The old "anything he can do, I can do better. Faster. Which leaves me time to concentrate on solving problems and improving operations... you know, making a difference," bit.

If you haven't read this thread, you might find it comforting: http://www.knowbrainer.com/PubForum/index.cfm?page=viewForumTopic&topicId=13755

To Lunis's suggestion of using a desktop microphone and a telephone headset: it didn't work for me, but that doesn't mean it's a bad idea. I used the SpeechWare 2-in-1 for a spell, and as excellent as that microphone is I just couldn't use it to its full potential. A gentleman sat very close to me who had a similar speaking voice to me, and wouldn't you know it Dragon would sometimes transcribe his phone conversations. So it goes.

Honestly, average "cubicle noise" will NOT interfere with productive speech recognition use. Take it from someone who's done the Dragon-in-a-cubicle thing for almost four years now. 

The solution to the problem for me was a simple fix: a close talk, headset microphone like the KnowBrainer hands-free, Sennheiser ME-3, VXI Tria or Audio Technica headset. I prefer the Sennheiser ME-3, but you might want to try the VXI Tria. It has attachments that can make it compatible with some phone systems. Lunis might be able to walk you through your options in that regard.

One reason I like the Sennheiser ME-3 is that it's got open ears. This lets me wear a second telephone headset. I know this is something you said you wanted to avoid, but it works for me. For years I wore a simple GN Netcom telephone headset. It could, technically speaking, work with Dragon, but performance was atrocious -- worse than the standard Andrea Dragon headset, about on par with the built-in microphone found on most laptops. So I upgraded to the Jabra bluetooth headset. The ones Lunis sells are superb telephone headsets, and they are more than passable as speech recognition microphones.

Your stated preference is for theBoom O. You might be surprised how well that could work for you... and how much of a non-issue this "telephone headset" thing could be. Several enterprises are switching to VOIP and soft phones. That is, physical telephones are old technology. Most are looking to leverage technology that everybody already has... laptops and software... to eliminate the hardware telephone. If you're using software to be your "telephone" interface... i.e., Skype, Google Chat, Office Communicator, etc... then a monaural headset like theBoom O could be perfect for you.

Bottom line: WHATEVER your situation is, there is a solution. Concentrate on getting the job first. Don't let a perceived lack of Dragon incompatibility discourage you.  Don't let your disability pre-emptively rule out any potential gainful employment. Sure, you and I may never be bodybuilders or secret agents or professional athletes... but if you're working a "knowledge" job where information and communication and your ability to process is more important than your physical ability, you'll find a solution.

-------------------------

Eric Wright At work: DNS 12 Pro. At home: DNS 11.5 Pro,  KnowBrainer 2011, and Utter Command by RedStart Systems; Dragon Dictate 3 for Mac

 

Appetite for Dictation - My Blog

Eric,

Thank you for the advice and for the congratulations. I recently graduated and I have not yet found a job. But I want to make sure that when I do find employment I have all of my ducks in a row.

I have seen the thread you referenced and it does make me a little bit more comfortable.

I know that working on the telephone is definitely intricate part of any office job. I have found a possible solution I found and Andrea switch that will allow you to use speech recognition and the telephone with the same headset simultaneously.

 

Of course, the first one I ordered was defective and it has taken me quite some time to get a replacement. I will definitely report my findings back.

Wheels,

don't know if it sells in your country but I use the Sennheiser DW Office for dictation and telephone. The docking station has a switch to choose between the two (and of course, I always forget to switch to the right application :-)

People tell me that the Sennheiser DW Pro headset, which uses the same docking station, is better in terms of noise cancelling. Since I work in a quiet environment, I couldn't find any discernible difference. I get 99% accuracy, too, so any recognition errors are usually due to my sloppy pronunciation and not to the hardware.

Good luck to you,

Stephan

-------------------------

www.egs-vertrieb.de - Speech Recognition Blog - Forum: www.immer-eine-Nuance-besser.de

Thanks, I will definitely have to give that a look.

We discontinued offering the Andrea Electronics SeleCT Switch a decade ago because we couldn't convince the manufacturer that the switch was improperly shielded. Unless you live in the Outback, the SeleCT Switch will pick up all kinds of interference such as low band FM radio. Over 50% of our customers returned these units but even the ones that worked reasonably well suffered from substandard accuracy when attempting to use the unit in the 3rd position so you could talk on the phone and your computer simultaneously. This is why this item doesn't appear on our website. In theory, we loved the idea of being able to dictate on the phone and the computer without having to click any buttons because that's exactly the problem with other types of systems such as the Jabra Pro 9470; human error, as Stephan pointed out. 

Note that we also tested 3 Sennheiser DW Office systems and the noise cancellation was so dismal that we found it to be unacceptable for most environments where a keyboard click or even breathing could cause a misrecognition.

-------------------------

Click KB 2012 REV D to Download a 30 Day Evaluation of KnowBrainer 2012 

 

 

 

I can't confirm this. I just tested a DW Office against the DW Pro headset precisely because I had received that kind of feedback. I had a podcast on my computer loudspeakers at moderate volume, and there was no measurable drop in recognition. Also, 99% may be dismal for some but is my average :-)

I found keyboard noises to cause slight delays in recognition but I've never ever had a misrecognition that I could attribute to these kinds of noise.

Just my opinion, and the headset may react differently in other surroundings, but I still swear by (not at) my DW Office.

Stephan

-------------------------

www.egs-vertrieb.de - Speech Recognition Blog - Forum: www.immer-eine-Nuance-besser.de

Lunis

I know that some of the PC switches are prone to reissues. I think I read on PC speak.com that if you could get one of the older models it was actually shielded better. I'm this ordering on the hope that I will get one of the ones that actually works.

Thanks