HappyMuse

Q: Dictation randomly goes crazy

I'm trying to use Dictation in various apps and it just goes crazy randomly.  In Word, I said "we consider" and it replaced the word 'only' with 'pick' three sentences up.  If I say undo, about half the time it just shuts off.  It types out commands such as 'go to end of sentence' or ignores them completely.

 

Another app I use, Scrivener, is worse.  Scrivener is on the list of apps I can open by voice, which told me it was at least fairly integrated with the Dictation engine.  I said 'this shouldn't be' and it opened Grab.  It shuts off every time I use 'undo' and will not respond to the start dictation command until 5-10 seconds later.

 

One day it has a recognition rate of 80-90% and the next (same app, same room noise, same mic) barely 20%. I can't get at least 60% of search, go to, and editing commands to work at all, and the rest do random things totally unrelated to what they are supposed to do.

 

When I first started using it, I was impressed with the recognition, though the commands didn't work from the start. It seems the longer I use it, the worse the recognition is getting. I use enhanced dictation and speak in a normal tone of voice. I do voice-over work, so I know there should be no problem with an accent or other variable related to the way I speak.

 

At this point, it's as bad as Dragon, which I was desperate to get away from because it is so horrible. Today, it took me fifteen minutes to dictate three paragraphs, and all corrections had to be typed in. It shut off at least twenty times in this span, had a less than 20% recognition rate, and launched programs randomly (such as Grab).

 

Is there any way to fix this, or should I give up and hire someone to type for me? I have very limited capabilities to type myself, thus the hope that Dictation would be a help.  My wife has typed this post for me, but she has a real job and can't take my dictation for the 6-10 hours a day I need it.

MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Aug 19, 2016 11:36 AM