I have a Sennheiser 835S which is about 10 years old.  In recent months, I have had increasing innacuracies with extra words, commas, and assorted junk.  Does the mike go bad?  Should I just replace the wire?  I have done so in the past.  Should I invest in a new setup, ie wireless?

Using a Andrea USB device which is about 4 years old.

TIA

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

Stephen J. Rockower, MD

Capitol Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation, LLC

Rockville, Maryland, USA

www.cordocs.com

@DrBonesMD

It is my understanding that over time microphones can go bad. I think it usually has to do with just general use and where as well as saliva hitting the microphone element over time.

Whether or not you should invest in a new microphone is up to you. If you are getting a high level of accuracy I would just keep going with what works. If you think going wireless would increase your accuracy and give you an added bit of convenience it might be worth a try. In my mind it really depends how much you depend on speech recognition software.

 

Stephen,

In order to find out whether the problem is with the microphone or anything else, such as your dictation style, there is a really simple method to test it. The next time any kind of inaccuracy appears, select the whole phrase and dictate it again but this time do take care of speaking clearly enough, and if that resolves it, the problem is not with the microphone.

Otherwise, get yourself a new one.

Rüdiger

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

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!

Over time, microphones can wear out and saliva is their greatest enemy; as noted by wheelstb. However, USB sound cards can theoretically last forever if you manage not to mangle the plug or fray the wiring. A large diaphragm capsule such as the Sennheiser 835S will typically last much longer than a headset microphone because of its sheer size but 10 years is a long time for any microphone. Our personal favorite speech microphone is the SpeechWare 3-in-1 TableMike.

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

Click KB 2012 REV D to Download a 30 Day Evaluation of KnowBrainer 2012
Click SpeechStart+ to Download a 15 Day Evaluation of SpeechStart+