None of the samples respond to my voice input

The information in this article applies to:

• SpeechKit 2.0

Symptoms

The only SR engine installed on this system is Dragon Naturally Speaking Deluxe, which I am not sure if it is fully SAPI compliant.

I was able to compile the programs fine, but whenever I run something like the dictate example, I am able to select the Dragon engine, and the program starts appropriately, but it will just sit there. None of the samples will respond to my voice input. I am not sure if I am not doing something, or if something else needs to be setup before using the samples. I know all of the hardware is functional, because I have been using this machine for other Speech Rec. projects, and I know the Dragon engine is functional.

I am mainly trying to get a sample working with dictation.

Cause

There are several possibilities:

• the gain on your microphone is too high or too low;
• another application owns the audio source;
• the engine is in disabled state; or
• the session has lost focus.

A quick test to check the gain on your microphone is to run the sound recorded applet from the Windows Accessories Multimedia folder. Use the mixer to set the mic gain level to the optimal level without having to run wave output level too high.

Depending on the speech engine and which SAPI interfaces it supports, it may or may not share the audio source. If it does not then only one speech application can run at a time with that engine.

Some speech applications may leave the engine in disabled state. To enable the engine, you must create a session (i.e., StartRecognition) and enable it. A quick test is to run MS Voice or MS Dictate and see if you can get the engine to recognize.

It is possible that then engine may have stalled, or that the application lost speech focus. Try giving another window focus, then click back and see if recognition occurs.

Status

This behavior is by design.