http://www.dpamicrophones.com/en/Mic-University/Technology-Guide/Directional%20vs%20Omnidirectional%20Microphones.aspx

Please keep in mind that for Dragon speech recognition, omnidirectional microphones tend to work best in quiet environments.  Omnidirectional microphones work really well for close talk microphone use (for example, the new SpeechWare FlexyMike).

The polar pattern of a directional microphone should be chosen on the basis of the desired direction of maximal noise rejection.

Happy dictating,

David

DMPE 4.3 (v15.5) | Lenovo ThinkPad P52 [Xeon E-2176M, 16GB DDR4] | Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 6th [i7-8650U, 16GB LPDDR3] | Philips SMP3700 & SMP4000 w/ ACC4100

"The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated." - Mahatma Gandhi

This is an interesting article and should give pause when choosing a microphone type in a quite and close microphone use situations.  This, from my experience, however, tends to go against traditional advice given on the type of microphones that would be best suited for speech recognition, even in quite environments.  The recommended advice normally given to me by microphone specialists have been to use a supercardoid microphone where imperfect dictation environments exist to reduce off–axis sounds, and to avoid lateral and rear generated sound pickup.  They have even advised in these types of environments that a cardoid should not be used because it is less directional than a supercardoid.  It would be interesting to determine which microphone type – omnidirectional, cardoid, or supercardoid – are best suited for speech recognition situations where moderate, noisy, or intermiitently noisy environments occur beyond the representation provided by the frequency curves and polar curves.  

DPI 15.3, Knowbrainer, VoiceComputer, Lenovo Thinkpad P50, Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon, Sennheiser MD 431 II, Microtech Gefell MD 300, Sound Devices USBpre 2 and Sound Devices MixPre 3 - II.

I decided to post this topic because I am concerned that some Dragon users may equate microphone quality and accuracy based on how directional a microphone is; in other words, believing super cardioid to be better than cardioid, and cardioid better than omnidirectional. I thought this article would provide proper information to help Dragon users better understand directional versus omnidirectional microphones so they can make more informed decisions. A quiet dictation environment is always best for Dragon dictation but unfortunately is not always a situation we can all have. I was quite elated the first time I came across the microphone specifications for the new SpeechWare FlexyMike single ear/dual ear omnidirectional microphones; I thought to myself, yes!, bravo!, here is a speech recognition company that really knows what they are doing. I just knew I had to have one and the FlexyMike has far exceeded my expectations for accuracy (I use it in fairly quiet exam rooms and sometimes in my quiet work office). I thought it would be rather unfortunate for a Dragon user to pass on some excellent omnidirectional close talk microphones such as the FlexyMike SE/DE just because it was omnidirectional.

If the environmental noise is loud enough to get Dragon to flash "Please say that again" or is decreasing accuracy, then I believe a directional microphone will be the way to go. For example, my home office is next to a moderately loud mechanical room in an unfinished basement and in my experience the headworn Shure WH30XLR (cardioid) and the Samson AirLine 77 (cardioid) to be the only ones in my microphone collection to give excellent accuracy. I plan to try the FlexyMike SE with the Buddy 7G & the SpeechMatic MultiAdapter in my moderately noisy home office.

If the interfering noise source is coming from the rear, a cardioid microphone will be better at noise rejection. If the interfering noise source is coming from the sides, a super cardioid will be better at noise rejection.

DMPE 4.3 (v15.5) | Lenovo ThinkPad P52 [Xeon E-2176M, 16GB DDR4] | Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 6th [i7-8650U, 16GB LPDDR3] | Philips SMP3700 & SMP4000 w/ ACC4100

"The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated." - Mahatma Gandhi

Thank you very much indeed for your great enthusiasm about our devices! Possibly unlike most competitors, who focus in the end consumer market, we do design and manufacture them with great care for speech recognition enthusiasts and professionals like you and in order to achieve the highest quality and accuracy standards.

We believe that both, the interesting article that you are quoting and your assumptions are essentially correct regarding Dragon NaturallySpeaking. However, it is also in our planning to bring a cardiod FlexyMike Dual Ear sometimes during next year --if we are successful with the current launching…

SpeechWare Team

Windows 7, Intel  i7, 8 GB, USB TravelMike or SpeechWare USB MultiAdapter with FlexyMike Dual Ear