WSR and Array Microphones
Printed From: MSSpeech-Forum
Category: Windows™ Speech Recognition Forums
Forum Name: General Questions
Forum Description: Setting up, using and testing microphones and soundcards
URL: https://www.msspeech-forum.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=221
Printed Date: 03/Nov/2025 at 10:02pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.02 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: WSR and Array Microphones
Posted By: Sixwheels
Subject: WSR and Array Microphones
Date Posted: 29/Mar/2011 at 12:13pm
The problem is I haven't found my sweet spot yet.
 I have switched back to my Acoustic Magic array microphone, and with some of the new adjustments found in the toolkit, I have been able to boost its accuracy quite high, but I'd like to have it perfect before I quit messing around with it. Do you have any suggestions from other users of the Acoustic Magic microphone what input level and SNR work best?  |
mmarkoe_admin wrote:Replies:
Posted By: mmarkoe_admin
Date Posted: 29/Mar/2011 at 8:00pm
If you want perfect you will need to go to the Garden of Eden.
 The Voice Tracker Acoustic Array Microphone was designed for audio and video conferencing. We only recommend it for WSR use in very quiet environments because it has such a strong pick up signal. I would try starting with an Input Volume of 15 and SNR of 10.
What I do to check microphone output is:
1. Right click the speaker icon in lower right taskbar.
2. Choose Recording Devices
3. Talk into the microphone while watching the vertical volume meter
I want to see 1 -2 bars as I talk. If not, start by adjusting the Volume level in properties to 50. Then try setting the Tune Microphone values. When you set the Tune Microphone values, you must exit WSR and restart. When ever you change volume in the Properties or Setup microphone, it defeats Tune Microphone settings.
Marty |
Posted By: Sixwheels
Date Posted: 30/Mar/2011 at 9:45am
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Thanks a lot, Marty. I will try out your recommended settings for the Acoustic Magic microphone. With this microphone, should the signal to noise ratio always be lower than input volume? Something that has always puzzled me about this particular microphone is that when I use it to record sound, there is absolutely no noise in the background at all. It's as clear as a bell, not even a fragment of hiss, so why is it that it's not all that great for speech recognition? In a quiet environment, it is actually pretty good, but I would expect it to be great in every environment.
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Posted By: mmarkoe_admin
Date Posted: 30/Mar/2011 at 12:47pm
I would not obsess about this. Just use what I said as the guideline. If the volume meter in recording devices shows 1-2 bars you should be just fine.
What you may not hear as noise, speech recognition software (WSR or Dragon) will.
Why in the world would you expect an array microphone to be good in every environment? Let's look at the laws of physics in simple laymen terms. For microphone to pick up your voice and the greater distance, it must have a stronger pickup signal. This stronger pickup signal will also pick up more extraneous noise. In addition, an array microphone is not only sampling directly at your mouth, it is sampling sound coming from up to 180°.
I highly recommend you adjust the microphone level so you see the 1-2 bars in the recording devices and then just get back to doing whatever it is you need to do on the computer with speech recognition.
Marty Markoe, eMicrophones, Inc.
See us at: http://www.emicrophones.com - www.emicrophones.com
Microsoft MVP
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Posted By: Sixwheels
Date Posted: 30/Mar/2011 at 4:23pm
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Okay, thanks for your input Marty. I will stop messing with it and see what happens.
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