Speech Recognition Overview

Speech Recognition Overview

You can talk to CyberBuddy and tell him to do a number of things. For example:

Ask for the Time, Date, News, Weather, Stocks, Internet Speed etc.
Ask him to get or read your email.
Ask for a joke, thought or Feel Good Message
Tell him to change characters
Tell him to raise or lower his volume
Ask him to read a web page or to load a web page in your Favorites or Bookmarks to your browser.
You can ask him to run certain programs for you.
Tell him to dial a phone number of a friend.
There is even a speech driven calculator

And more…

With the CyberBuddy Speech Recognition versions, you can also build Interactive Scripts. These scripts can be used to have the characaters help with presentations and teaching. To learn more about Interactive Scripting, go to the Advanced Funtions section of the CyberBuddy homepage at http://MyCyberBuddy.com/Advanced.

The Microsoft Speech Recognition Engine must be installed on your system before you can use Speech Input Feature. Currently, Microsoft has only a U.S. English version of the speech recognition engine. See the CyberBuddy Website at http://thecyberbuddy.com for details on downloading this free software. Once installed, the speech recognition engine should be "trained" to your voice in order to be effective. Training for speech recognition consists of reading text shown on your screen into your microphone. As more text is read, the speech input engine learns more about your particular voice patterns. You may not have to train the speech recognition engine to operate CyberBuddy, but it will be more effective if you do.

Once you have installed the speech recognition software, and have trained it, you are ready to use it with CyberBuddy.

Before a command can be understood, CyberBuddy must be listening. The Speech Recognition Engine has a "Hot Key" to place it in Listen Mode. This is usually the "Scroll Lock" key. Press and hold this key key to have CyberBuddy listen.
Note, the first time during a program session that CyberBuddy is put in listen mode, there might be a slight delay before the first command is heard. This is due to the Microsoft Speech Recognition Engine being loaded.
Speak your command clearly. CyberBuddy is listening for key words. Sometimes, your speech is more natural if you use the command in a normal phrase. For example: "What is today?" will work as well as "Today" when asking for the date.

Check the Speech Commands section for specific commands.

Speech Training
Training the speech recognition engine helps the computer understand your voice. To get to the Training Mode:
Go to the General Tab on CyberBuddy, click the Speech Recognition Options button. In Speech Recognition Options, click theSpeech Control Panel button. Select the Microsoft Speech Recognition Engine then click the Training button.

Important: Remember, training the speech recognition engine and the correct adjustment of your microphone parameters will add to the accuracy of CyberBuddy in understanding your speech. These items can be adjusted on the Speech Options Window in the Speech Control Panel section. The quality of your microphone can be very important to the success of speech recognition.

If you have problems with Speech Recognition. See Speech Recognition portion of the Troubleshooting/FAQ section of the CyberBuddy homepage at http://thecyberbuddy.com.