[MV] Re: Microphones for iListen/some thoughts

[Martin Markoe]

Erica,
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I have an Andrea NC-7100 headset. Surely NC
effectively means the same as ANC in this  context... Does this model
headset feature these characteristics? I have used this headset with
iListen, and have found it fairly satisfactory (and it certainly seems
to have more than enough gain), and I was wondering if you thought
that there would be any material benefit in purchasing a different
microphone.
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The Andrea NC-7100 is an OK microphone. It certainly does have more gain
than the Andrea ANC microphones. However, NC stands for noise cancellation
as opposed to ANC which stands for active noise cancellation. If you have
any kind of background noise when you dictate you would benefit from an ANC
microphone.

As to your question about any benefit to using a better microphone, it
really depends what you are using speech recognition for. The difference
between an Andrea NC-7100 and an ANC microphone may be only one or two words
per hundred. If you are just doing e-mails or nonprofessional correspondence
I would say there is no benefit. People who live by their words, doctors,
lawyers, writers etc. definitely find a benefit to a better microphone. If
you are dictating 5000 words a day in to have 1% better accuracy that
translates to 50 less corrections. This can mean 20 minutes or so saved. I
hope this explains my philosophy.

Martin Markoe, eMicrophones, Inc.
The best microphones for Speech Recognition
See us at: http://www.eMicrophones.com/index.asp
See, "Key Steps to High Speech Recognition Accuracy for the Mac" at:
http://www.emicrophones.com/docDetails.asp?DocumentID=39