For Seniors: Set Up Speech Recognition on a Laptop
If typing is challenging on your laptop, you can set up Windows for speech recognition and speak commands instead. While setting up Speech Recognition on your laptop, you train Windows to understand your speech pattern so that you can communicate effectively with it.
If your laptop doesn’t have a built-in microphone (most do), plug a headset with a microphone into your laptop headset ports.
Choose Start→Control Panel→Ease of Access→Start Speech Recognition.
If you've never used Speech Recognition before, the Welcome to Speech Recognition message appears; click Next to continue. The Set Up Speech Recognition dialog box appears.
Select the type of microphone you’re using and then click Next.
The next screen tells you how to place and use the microphone for optimum results. Read the message and click Next. The next page of the Microphone Setup Wizard appears.
Read the sample sentence aloud to help train Speech Recognition to your voice.
When you’re done, click Next. A dialog box appears, telling you that your microphone is now set up. Click Next. A dialog box appears.
Choose whether to enable or disable document review, then click Next.
Document review allows Windows to review your documents and e-mail to help it recognize the way you typically phrase things.
Choose either Manual Activation or Voice Activation mode, then click Next.
Manual Activation allows you to use a mouse, pen, or keyboard to turn the feature on; Voice Activation is useful if you have difficulty manipulating devices because of arthritis or a hand injury.
If you wish to view and/or print a list of speech recognition commands, click the View Reference Sheet button.
It’s a good idea to print out this list, as speech commands aren’t always second nature. Read about or print reference information, and then click the Close button to close that window. Click Next to proceed.
Click either Run Speech Recognition at Startup to disable this feature or leave the default setting. Click Next.
The final dialog box appears, informing you that you can now control the laptop by voice. You're offered a Start Tutorial to help you practice voice commands. Click the Start Tutorial button, or click Skip Tutorial to skip the tutorial and leave the Speech Recognition setup. The Speech Recognition control panel appears.
If you're using Voice Activation mode, say “Start listening” to activate the feature; otherwise, click the Start Speech Recognition link.
You can now begin using spoken commands to work with your laptop.
To stop Speech Recognition, click the Close button on the Control Panel. To start the Speech Recognition feature again, choose Start→Control Panel→Ease of Access and then click the Start Speech Recognition link. To learn more about Speech Recognition commands, click the Take Speech Tutorial link in the Speech Recognition Options window accessed from the Ease of Access window of the Control Panel.
