Background noise in Dragon Naturally Speaking

[Captcha]

I'm spending huge amounts of time in my car these days, and I often have ideas for writing as I drive. So I bought a a digital voice recorder and Dragon Naturally Speaking, and set them up according to instructions (reading the sample in order for it to learn my accent, etc.). And things work REALLY well. I get a very accurate transcription of my dictation - as long as there's no background noise. You know, noise like you'd get WHILE DRIVING A CAR!

So now I'm looking for a solution. A few I've thought of:

- get a mike for the DVR - I'm currently just speaking into the end of it. Would a detached mike be better at cutting out background noise? If so, any recommendations re. brand?

- find a setting somewhere that will allow me to block out the background noise. During the lengthy setup, I feel like I saw somewhere that mentioned sensitivity, but of course I can't find that anymore. Does anyone have any suggestions? The DVR is a Sony IXDPX820D, if that's important... http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/sony-sony-digital-voice-recorder-icdpx820d-icdpx820d/10146837.aspx?path=da1d509088aa04e82ec7df213ebf807 9en02

- something else?



It's funny, because I'm writing a romance, and the program transcribes the car noises as "him him him him him him him him him" which isn't a terrible description of the thought process of my POV character. Still, not exactly the style of writing I was hoping for...

[ChronicSelfEditor]

And here I thought cars weren't as noisy as they once were. I'm sorry this is making me giggle. Maybe it's the early hour. Maybe insanity is finally settling in and I can finally be taken off to a hospital where I don't have to care about anything anymore.

I would probably do both things you've thought of. Doing both won't cancel out each other.

[CraftyCreations411]

I can't be of much help but it would seem to me that a detached mike would pick up more noise.

Is there a way to turn the volume down on your recorder when you're driving so that it only picks up your voice?

Candy

[RJK]

I would start thinking about what you'd like carved on your tombstone and written in your obituary.

There's a reason why they have laws against talking on cell phones while driving. People can't do 2 things at once. You're probably going to kill yourself and most likely someone else, while you're playing around with your recorder and driving.

[Captcha]

People can't do 2 things at once.

Do you really believe this? Because where I am, people do two or more things at once pretty damn frequently.

Maybe you mean that it's not a good idea to divide one's attention while driving. I think that's more justifiable, but honestly, how long can you drive for with your mind JUST on the road? If the DVR doesn't require me to take my eyes off the road (it doesn't), I don't think it's any more dangerous to speak to a recorder than it is to sing along to the radio, or to talk to somebody else who's in the car with me. Or do you not do either of those things while you're driving, either?

I appreciate your concern (?) for my safety, and, more sincerely, for the safety of others, but I think you may be getting a little carried away.

[veinglory]

I think Dragon absolutely needs a head mic, and a better one than what comes stock.

But I do think consuming activities (listening) are safer in a car than creating activities (composing speech).

[Jamesaritchie]

A directional head mike is really teh only option that works well. I wouldn't worry about using Dragon while driving. Talking on a cell phone while driving is dumb and dangerous, but this is because you're having a two way conversation. Dragon isn't the same thing.

And, yes, people can do more than one thing at a time. We would all be in serious trouble if we could only do one thing at a time. It just depends on what the two things are, and how complicated each is.

[RJK]

What I meant was you should not divide your attention between driving your car and doing things that distract you from the road. I've pulled too many broken bodies from cars to listen to arguments about how many things you can do while driving. Nearly all accidents are caused by one of the driver's inattention to what he should have been doing. That could have been the result of alcohol or whatever, but paying attention is the number one cause of two car accidents.

If you're dictating notes, you're not paying attention to driving. The odds are, you're going to get hurt or hurt someone else.