SpeechVibe Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

HOW TO:

Q. How do I learn all the speech commands I need for SpeechVibe?

Q. I see that SpeechVibe has an update feature. Is this automatic?

Q. I purchased SpeechVibe from the SpeechVibe's website. Now what do I do?

Q. I purchased SpeechVibe on CD from a reseller other than Conceptual Speech Technologies, LLC. Now what do I do?

Q. What is the difference between the registration key and the CD Key?

PURCHASING:

Q. Does Conceptual Speech Technologies, LLC accept Checks or Money Orders?

Q. Does Conceptual Speech Technologies, LLC ship overseas? If so, at what cost?

Q. What is the Conceptual Speech Technologies, LLC's refund policy?

Q. Why buy SpeechVibe from a reseller?

Q. Is there a list of Conceptual Speech Technologies, LLC resellers?

COMPATIBILITY:

Q. Is SpeechVibe supported in Windows 98 or ME?

Q. Can I use SpeechVibe if I have an accent?

Q. Is SpeechVibe supported in languages other than English?

Q. Is there a 'list' of applications with which SpeechVibe works?

Q. Is SpeechVibe compatible with MAC computers?

TROUBLESHOOTING:

Q. I am not getting good accuracy. Is there anything I can do to improve accuracy?

Q. Why is SpeechVibe making mistakes?

HOW TO:

Q. How do I learn all the speech commands I need for SpeechVibe?

A. This will take some time, but eventually you will become proficient. Meanwhile, SpeechVibe is designed to make it easy for you to find and learn the speech commands you need to run the program and dictate text.

Say “what can I say” or use the “What Can I Say?” menu item in SpeechVibe's menu from the system tray icon to open a dialog of all the available speech commands for the program. This dialog is dynamic, and shows only the speech commands that are available at the time.

Q. I see that SpeechVibe has an update feature. Is this automatic?

A. No, the update feature is not automatic. You have to access the update feature manually to see if updates are available. If you did not opt out of being contacted when you purchased your license for SpeechVibe, then typically you will receive an email when an update becomes available. If you opted out of being contacted by Conceptual Speech Technologies, LLC, you can opt-in by sending an email to support@speechvibe.com with your order number. Our support staff will adjust your status in our database. However, you should check the update feature periodically to see if there are any new updates available. We recommend an interval of at least every three months. You can check for updates manually from the about dialog, accessible from a right-click on SpeechVibe's icon in the system tray, and then click on the 'Licensing...' button. In the resulting dialog, there will be a 'Check for update' button.

INSTALLATION AND REGISTRATION:

Q. I purchased SpeechVibe from the SpeechVibe's website. Now what do I do?

A. First, if you have a spam filter, make sure you can receive email from the speechvibe.com domain.

Print the confirmation page at the end of your purchase. It contains information about your order and we will need some of that information to help you if you have a problem downloading the program or if you do not receive your confirmation email and registration key. From the confirmation page, click on the download link. It will take you to the download page, and auto-populate the email address and order number fields. From here you can enter your download page and download the Conceptual Speech technologies, LLC products from your order. When the download is finished, double click on the file to start the install and follow the instructions.

You will receive a confirmation email with your order number. Save a copy of this email. You will need the email address and order number from this email to obtain support in the future. You will also receive an email with your user information and registration key. Typically, you will receive these two emails almost immediately, but the email with your registration key could take up to 24 hours.

Once installed, SpeechVibe will function in trial mode for up to 15 days, so you can start using it right away even if you don’t receive the email with your registration key immediately. We recommend registering SpeechVibe as soon as you receive your registration key by email. Just click on the “Register” button in the SpeechVibe trial dialog and follow the instructions.

Q. I purchased SpeechVibe on CD from a reseller other than Conceptual Speech Technologies, LLC. Now what do I do?

A. Put the CD in your computer, and it should auto-run. If not, then browse to the CD, and click on the SpeechVibeInstall.exe file. The CD will start. You can install SpeechVibe from there. It will function in trial mode for 15 days.

Next, if you have a spam filter, make sure you can receive email from the speechvibe.com domain.

On the back of your CD sleeve, there is a sticker with a CD key and a link – typically http://www.speechvibe.com/register. Go to this link, enter your CD key exactly as it appears on the back of the CD sleeve, and enter the rest of your user information. Completing and submitting this page will enter you in our system, and you will end up at a confirmation page. Print this confirmation page. It contains information we will need to help you if you have a problem receiving your confirmation email and registration key.

You will receive a confirmation email with your order number. Save a copy of this email. You will need the email address and order number from this email to obtain support in the future. You will also receive an email with your user information and registration key. Typically, you will receive these two emails almost immediately, but the email with your registration key could take up to 24 hours.

Once installed, SpeechVibe will function in trial mode for up to 15 days, so you can start using it right away even if you don’t receive the email with your registration key immediately. We recommend registering SpeechVibe as soon as you receive your registration key by email.

Q. What is the difference between the registration key and the CD Key?

A. To run past the 15 day trial period, SpeechVibe must be registered. All licensed copies of SpeechVibe require a registration key. If you buy SpeechVibe directly from Conceptual Speech technologies, LLC as a download, you will get a registration key automatically from our key generator. This registration key is generated on the fly, and is personalized based on your computer hardware.

If you purchase SpeechVibe on CD from a reseller, there is a CD Key on the back of the CD sleeve. You need this CD key to register with our website so our key generator can send you your personalized SpeechVibe registration key as it does with our own customers. This process also registers you in our support database, so you are eligible to submit a request for support on our support page.

PURCHASING:

Q. Does Conceptual Speech Technologies, LLC accept Checks or Money Orders?

A. Yes, we do. However, you will not be able to download SpeechVibe until the money order or check has been received and clears. We do accept all major credit cards as forms of payment.

Q. Does Conceptual Speech technologies, LLC ship overseas? If so, at what cost?

A. SpeechVibe is available by download from anywhere where you can download programs in the USA. We ship CD’s and Microphones anywhere in the USA and Canada. If you order a CD or Microphone from a country other than the USA or Canada, extra shipping charges will apply. We will contact you with the amount of these extra charges and if you agree we need to process the charges separately over the phone or by email. You will need to give us your credit card information again, as we do not save it when your purchase is complete. If you do not approve of the additional shipping charges to your location, we will refund only the portion of your order that we did not ship. There is no refund on downloads.

Q. What is Conceptual Speech Technologies, LLC's refund policy?

A. If you purchased SpeechVibe by download or CD, or a microphone from Conceptual Speech Technologies, LLC, the following refund policy applies.

• Absolutely no refunds on downloadable products.
• Any defective CD will be exchanged.
• All other products, 30 day money back or exchange at customer's option.

If you purchased SpeechVibe on CD from a third party reseller, you must contact the point of purchase and follow their refund policy. Conceptual Speech technologies, LLC cannot issue any refunds for products not purchased from Conceptual Speech technologies, LLC.

Q. Why buy SpeechVibe from a reseller?

A. There many good reasons to buy from our resellers.

If you don’t need the download right away, or if you want a CD instead of the download. Conceptual Speech Technologies, LLC does not sell the CD separate from the download and the CD is $15.00 extra when you get the download.

Price – Our resellers buy CD’s from our distributor at wholesale prices. Sometimes they may offer better prices than Conceptual Speech technologies, LLC, or may bundle SpeechVibe with a microphone for a better overall value. It’s also good to purchase a microphone, and receive both SpeechVibe and the microphone at the same time. You will have better results if you start using SpeechVibe with a good quality noise cancellation headset microphone. So, unless you need the download right away, buying from a Conceptual Speech technologies, LLC reseller may be a good option for you.

You get the same quality product and support as if you purchased directly from Conceptual Speech technologies, LLC or not.

Q. Is there a list of Conceptual Speech technologies, LLC resellers?

A. No. Resellers of SpeechVibe vary from time to time. There are always new resellers and some resellers only offer Conceptual Speech technologies, LLC products at certain times. Sometimes, copies are available on eBay.com or Amazon.com. To find a Conceptual Speech technologies, LLC reseller, search for SpeechVibe on the Internet. If you don’t find a reseller, you can always purchase SpeechVibe from Conceptual Speech technologies, LLC.

COMPATIBILITY:

A. No. SpeechVibe was designed and developed to function only in only in Windows 2000 and Windows XP (Home and Professional). Our development team looked at supporting Windows 98se/Me and determined that because of the way these older operating systems interact with SAPI, it would require changes to the speech layer of SpeechVibe that could possibly degrade performance in Windows 2000 and XP. We decided not to take this risk because very few people still run Windows 98se/Me, and to our knowledge Microsoft has discontinued support for the former.

Q. Can I use SpeechVibe if I have an accent?

A. This varies from person to person. You need to train your speech recognition profile and try. Most users with an accent are able to achieve a reasonably high level of accuracy. We have many users from the UK, Australia and New Zealand who are quite pleased with the results, and several members of our development team have a French accent and are also successful with the program.

Q. Is SpeechVibe supported in languages other than English?

A. No. SpeechVibe works only in English. Unfortunately, Microsoft only offers the SAPI 5.1 speech engine in English and Chinese at this time. If Microsoft releases speech engines in other languages, then we may consider developing a multi-language edition of SpeechVibe.

Q. Is there a 'list' of applications with which SpeechVibe works?

A. We don't have a list, but we have yet to find a program that you can type in that does not also work with SpeechVibe.

A. No. SpeechVibe works only on Microsoft operating systems, Windows 2000 and XP, with Microsoft SAPI 5.1 and SAPI 6.1 (although only 5.1 is officially supported).

TROUBLESHOOTING:

Q. I am not getting good accuracy. Is there anything I can do to improve accuracy?

A. There are many factors that affect accuracy. Try these steps to improve your accuracy.

1. Make sure you have trained your own speech recognition profile at least two times, and that you have that recognition profile selected as the default. Run the 'Speech Recognition Wizard' from SpeechVibe's menu accessible with a right-click on SpeechVibe's icon in the system tray. Follow the instructions there. Also, you should always remember to position the microphone boom about an inch from your mouth.

2. Each time you use SpeechVibe, you should make sure the microphone position is consistent to the position you used in training. You should also configure your microphone (from the 'Audio setup' menu item available in SpeechVibe's menu) at the start of each session.

3. Use a high quality noise cancellation headset microphone that has been designed for speech recognition. The Andrea NC-91 available from Conceptual Speech technologies, LLC http://www.speechvibe.com/main.asp?bm=10#10 is a good choice. Desktop microphones do not typically provide good results as the microphone position to your mouth will typically be inconsistent.

4.Make sure you are in a quiet environment without too much background noise. Background noise can have an adverse affect on your results.

5. Make sure your system meets the minimum system requirements for SpeechVibe as indicated in the documentation.

6. Speak clearly and at a normal pace, and pronounce your words clearly. Do not speak too quickly, and do not pause between words. The speech recognition engine works best when speaking sentences normally. For a good example, listen to the news on radio or TV and try to imitate the newscaster’s speaking style.

Q. Why is SpeechVibe making mistakes?

A. Try the steps for improving accuracy in the question above. Accuracy will vary from user to user because of differences in the speaker, training, computer resources, the environment and many other factors that affect accuracy. In fact, its normal for two computers in the same room with the same speaker following all the required steps for accuracy to produce different results from the same reading. Just as you make mistakes when you type, the speech engine makes mistakes in recognition. This is normal functionality.

Once you have maximized accuracy for your individual factors, using speech recognition effectively requires modifying your habits. When most people type, they still make mistakes and they typically fix their mistakes and format their text as they type. With speech recognition, it is best to finish your dictation and then go back and correct any recognition errors and add formatting. Once they get used to this, typically most people find their productivity has improved.

In one study, it was determined that the average person types 35 words per minute with a 5% error rate. The average person using speech recognition can achieve 50 words per minute at the same 5% error rate. Although these are only averages, for the average person using speech recognition this represents a 43% increase in productivity.

This FAQ last updated on January 25th, 2007.