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To: Judy Evans; Voice-Users
Fr: Charles Horth
Email: Charles_Horth_Biomed@@compuserve.com
Re: Microphones: over here, over-priced and over-rated?
An apology -- two versions of my original message went out. The first was
a draft.
On Sat, 18 Jul 1998 Judy Evans < jae2@@york.ac.uk> wrote:
>> Here in the UK, it hasn't been the very easy to source the types of
>> microphone that users across the pond are able to order.....[snip]
>It depends on the company. Andrea Electronics have a London Office; they
aren't >that forthcoming, and I don't think you'll get the ANC 600 from
them; but you never >know. Vxi are just setting up European offices and
are extremely helpful.
>The TalkMic is a British mike though available in the US too.
>Shure have a UK distributor; address on their web page.
>Sennheiser and AKG both have UK-Europe addresses or contact numbers.
>And Philips is Dutch so you get the joy and happiness of paying no more
than they >charge the North Americans :) :)
>-- office in Colchester.
>(Both Vxi and Philips pick up home page inquiries quickly and follow up.)
>Admittedly it took me time -- and in 2 cases help from other people -- to
find all this >out!
Thanks. I'll check. I've tried the Philips hand held SpeechMike but it
wasn't a good demo. The rep only had a laptop with V.V. or S.S. and took
so long to get the mike into wake up mode I nearly FAOC (fell asleep on
couch).
>> when my NaturallySpeaking Preferred 2.02 was supplied with a lightweight
>> mic and headset. However, I, as I'm sure many other users, found this
>> device dreadful to use satisfactorily. After using it for about 15
>> minutes, the pressure of the clip and the ear piece caused me a lot of
>> discomfort.
>This must be the Anon Vxi that maimed my head! -- a good mike, and I'm
returning >to Vxi, but not, I thought, good to wear.
I found the play-back quality far better (to listen to) with the new mike
-- seem to play a wider range of frequencies, richer tone than the Vxi (?).
However, the issue (that was discussed in earlier posts) is what kind of
sound does the typist prefer to hear for good VR? Dare not ask -- bit of a
dragon -- you know what I mean?
>> Fortunately, he managed to track down a replacement. It was an imported
>> product the MLI, model number HM -- 7602 CVM, which has a flexible
>> microphone arm, a swivel pivot, an adjustable head band and slider, and
an
>> on/off switch with an adjustable control for volume. The headphones are
>> stereo with cushioned ear pads.....It is really comfortable to wear for
long
>> sessions of dictation.
>While this isn't my kind of mike -- I can't take headsets any more --
could you say >who made it?
Imported from Taiwan - manufacturer unknown but badged "MLI". Was the
injury from Vxi _that_ severe? I got sore ears and headache.
>> The audio wizard gives me consistently average.
>Average is OK, no problem at all.
Sigh of relief and of oh <???>! Colleague used to get consistently "below
average" and almost went bananas trying to tweak the setup to do better. I
think he now accepts that below average is no problem either as, with
training, his accuracy is pretty good and dictation quite fast. One Major
drag-o is "wants"="once" -- suggest saying "wants" to rhyme with "rants" as
per our former PM!
>> I would be interested to hear from some of the other pundits who may
able
>> to offer an explanation for the surprisingly good performance and
>> recognition when the microphone was positioned far away.........
>I'm not a pundit but I do have a comment; I have a quiet voice and any
mike I could >afford wouldn't work from that far away!
I thought these days anyone able to control a dragon was, by definition, a
pundit. If I raise my voice, my beast goes into a sulk and feigns
deafness. Seriously though, I didn't speak any louder than normal for the
MouseGrid to work with the mike at two feet away -- and it was not
particularly well oriented.
There's been a lot of interest in wireless mikes but I suspect they will
really dent the draggy bank. I can see some advantages like pacing around
the room for dictation and showing off to the new mark 3.0 typist due to
join next week or is it next month? Present typist grumbles if I breath too
close down the swan neck. The new one will have to get near perfect before
I'm confident with dictating from the other side of the room. When working
on complicated reports with papers covering the keyboard and books propped
against the VDU, it would be nice to get away from it -- and splash out on
new opera glasses as a cheap substitute for a projector to keep an eye on
the typist!!
Charles E. Horth
Biomedical Consultant
writing at 02:45 BST on 19 Jul 98
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