Hi,

I have received my 2nd generation 3-in-1 microphone. I have done a comparison between green light and blue light mode, using the check microphone process. I assumed that in green mode there would be zero bars showing when silent, much the same as if the microphone was off, as compared to blue light where I would expect it to pick up some background noise. This test was done in a quiet room with the only detectable noise being the computer cooling fan.

I found that on both settings the microphone was picking up some background noise. Is this normal, and is there any other way to test the micrphone is working as designed.

	Blue Light.jpg  (15 KB)
	Green Light.jpg  (15 KB)

sparrow 34,

First, the yellow bars are background noise, the green bars or what is being picked up at the front of the microphone element. SpeechWare has included the -37 dB cardioid microphone element with the shipping SpeechWare 3-in-1 and has slightly boosted the audio output (gain). What you see is what you should see when running the Audio Setup Wizard (Check Microphone - DNS 11). The only difference between the green mode and the blue mode is that in green mode, when dictating, all of the algorithms designed for speech recognition are applied. In the Blue mode, the SpeechWare 3-in-1 acts like a standard microphone. That is, there are no special SR effects applied. The long and the short of it is your microphone is performing as it should.

What you are seeing relative to the green bars is the microphone picking up the slight noise from your cooling fan. That is normal and will have no impact the overall performance of your SpeechWare 3-in-1 in terms of accuracy. If you want to see what the ultimate results are from the Audio Setup Wizard (Check Microphone - DNS 11), open your Dragon log and go to the bottom immediately after running the Audio Setup Wizard (Check Microphone - DNS 11). You will see the SNR results, the first one being the volume adjustment and the second one being the quality check. That's what's important.

Chuck Runquist
Technical Project Manager
VoiceTeach LLC
Home of VoicePower®: We don't make Dragon NaturallySpeaking, We make it better!

.. a computer is a stupid machine with the ability to do incredibly smart things, while computer programmers are smart people with the ability to do incredibly stupid things. They are, in short, a perfect match. ~Bill Bryson

Hi Chuck:

You mentioned that the cardioid microphone in the second generation 3 in 1 is -37dB.  That is what it also says on the specification sheet.  I have one of the first generation 3 in 1 microphones.  I have the new board and I cut the resistor in the microphone.  It seems to be working well but it is still on the soft side.  Do you know if by cutting the resistor in the microphone I now have a -47dB microphone.  That is what it says on my specification sheet.  I think with the resistor it was -58dB.  So I am wondering if a new microphone would solve my volume problem.  It is certainly better on the second-generation board than on the first-generation board but I can't help but wonder if it could be better yet.  Speechware will be coming out with the new telescoping microphone soon.  I wonder how much that will cost.  In my case it might be worth trying if it is the -37dB one and I have the -47dB one.  Thanks

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