I recently picked up a used Speechware USB 6-in-1 Tablemike, quite inexpensively. It works quite well, except that at least once a day NaturallySpeaking stops responding to my dictation, particularly when I have not dictated for a while. The microphone icon is still green, but I don't get any response to dictation or commands. I can use the mouse to check the microphone, and all seems well on that test, but I still am unable to dictate.

I can only resuscitate NaturallySpeaking by reloading the user.

I tried creating a new user, but the problem is unchanged.

It occurs to me that perhaps I need to change the volume settings on the microphone, but it's not obvious to me what kind of change would be helpful.

I've looked in the Dragon log, but I don't see any clear indications of problems.

Suggestions will be welcomed.

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We only sold a few of the old 6-in-1 microphones because we were not particularly happy with the range which did compare to the 2-in-1s dual microphone element range. We didn't like the discontinued 6-in-1 microphone because of its limited range and only tested it for a few minutes. The only reason we carried the 6-in-1 was because some end users wanted a foot pedal option. However, we never heard back from anyone with this particular issue.

What we can tell you is that the old 6-in-1 is equivalent in comparing WordPad to Microsoft Word or WSR to DNS.

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Lunis, if you don't know the answer, say so.  The range of the 6-in-1 is fine with me.  At $45, it was a good deal.

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Matt,

the way you describe it, it may be a "simple" hardware flake, such as Windows letting go of it. In this scenario, are you able to re-run the audio setup, or have you tried unplugging and reinserting the cable?

In addition to that, are you using it in Windows 7 (sorry in case you have mentioned that) and do you make sure that it is the default recording device in Windows?

Rüdiger

 

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Well, it's past the point where we can make any changes in the code, but we can still make changes to the Easter Egg!

I'm running Windows XP.  If I rerun the audio setup, the microphone passes the test, but I still can't dictate.  

Unplugging and reinserting the cable doesn't solve the problem.  

I'm baffled, obviously. 

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Can you create (add) another audio source, even if it is just just a fake one, and try switching back and forth?

Rüdiger

 

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Well, it's past the point where we can make any changes in the code, but we can still make changes to the Easter Egg!

Excellent suggestion! Will give it a try Monday.

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I've got one remote customer with Dragon 11.5 Pro reporting the same sorts of problems, 2-3 times per day, using an Andrea half-duplex USB adapter on one system and a Buddy 6G adapter on another system.  Both are running Windows-XP.

When this happens, can you open Sound Recorder and use the microphone to record?

I've still got a 6-in-1 myself in my microphone collection.

 

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Larry Allen
Softnet Systems, Inc.
http://www.pcspeak.com

Another good idea!  I'll give that a try, too.

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Cannot record with the Sound Recorder, so it doesn't seem to be a Dragon problem.  Also, creating a new dictation source did not work.  Unplugging the microphone from the computer did not work.

I'm still baffled.  Maybe my future Windows 7 upgrade will solve the problem.

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Matt,

Pardon me if I have missed this, but could it be a cable problem? Have you tried switching cables, or using Lunis' technique of shaking the table vigorously while dictating and then listening to playback for problems?

MDH

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Can't really switch cables, because the 6-in-1 has a built-in cable. It's possible that the cable is the problem, but the problem only seems to occur when I have not used the microphone for a few minutes. Also, I'm not moving the microphone at all, so I don't know why the cable problem would suddenly appear. Also, the fact that the microphone works once I reload the user suggest to me that it is not the cable.

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On loading the user profile, Dragon has to ascertain that the specific device signed in is currently available when searching for it. So this basically working, there must be something else going on. Have you made sure that the 6-in-1 is the default recording device? Not being able to use it in the sound recorder makes me think it isn't so.

Rüdiger

 

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Well, it's past the point where we can make any changes in the code, but we can still make changes to the Easter Egg!

 I had not tried that. It has never been necessary for me before with Dragon, but it certainly is worth trying now. (I just checked in the Control Panel applet and discovered that the Speechware microphone was not in fact the default recording device. I have changed the setting. Maybe this will be the solution.)

Maybe this has something to do with the fact that NaturallySpeaking cannot control the Speechware microphone audio settings.

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Larry's answer gave us an idea…

We don't believe it's the cable but you might try turning your 6-in-1 microphone completely off when you stop dictating for a few minutes. It probably won't make any difference if you leave the DNS microphone on or off but we're thinking that you might be suffering from something we call “soundcard saturation” where environmental noise is picked up by the microphone when NaturallySpeaking is in the Asleep state or the 6-in-1 microphone is on but the NaturallySpeaking microphone is off. We suspect that small environmental noises are being buffered by the system which effectively prevents you from dictating until you reboot or close and re-launch or user profile or NaturallySpeaking. Although fairly rare, we have seen this occurrence in some other sound systems.

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That's occurred to me, or perhaps some sort of problem with background noise causing Dragon to try to adjust the mike settings, but I don't understand why running the audio setup doesn't clear the problem.

Since I tried setting the 6-in-1 as the default recording device earlier today, I haven't had the problem.  Fingers crossed. 

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Quote:

I don't understand why running the audio setup doesn't clear the problem

We don't fully understand this problem either but we have experienced the “sound saturation” issue with every USB soundcard on our website and once this bad behavior occurs, it is if a buffer fills that can't be emptied. Running the Audio Check has absolutely no effect. Swapping out the soundcard, which is not possible with a built-in soundcard such as the 6-in-1, will work and sometimes even switching to a USB port will work but only sometimes. Obviously rebooting works but that's not much of a solution or even much of an answer but it's all we have for the moment…

We experienced this problem frequently when testing the Buddy 7G with the Airline 77, SpeechWare 2-in-1 and KnowBrainer hands-free microphones. Sometimes we could plug the Buddy 7G into a different USB port and it clear up but sometimes we would have to swap out the Buddy 7G USB soundcard for another Buddy 7G USB soundcard (same USB port) and interestingly enough it usually worked for 20 minutes or so.

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