Microphone Differences
               
                               
                                               

Differences between Microphones

There are various types of microphones. There are desktop-based, monitor-mounted, computer-mounted, hand-held and headset microphones.  Speech recognition, while at your PC,  works best with a headset microphone. Here are some of the things to consider when deciding what kind of microphone to use:

  1. Noise Cancellation: Speech recognition works best with a noise-canceling microphone. Most headset microphones provide this capability to prevent sounds other than your voice from being heard. Noise-canceling is not found in most hand-held, monitor-mounted and other desktop-based microphones. Noise-canceling microphones are rarely distributed with a PC or sound card since they tend to cost a little more than what manufacturers are willing to pay for.

  2. Positioning: The position of the microphone relative to your mouth is very important. Speech recognizers work best when this position doesn't change. Headset microphones are always at about the same position (just off of the corner of your mouth), while positions can vary significantly with other microphones.

Type of Microphone Description
Headset You wear close-talk microphones on your head so that the microphone is very close to the corner of your mouth. These work the best for speech recognition because they have noise-cancellation. Unfortunately, the cord sometimes gets in the way.
Built-into computer, monitor or keyboard Microphones built-into computers, computer monitors or keyboards do not work well for speech recognition because they are too far away and pick up a lot of noise.
Clip-on Clip-on microphones clip onto your shirt, just below your collar. They are not as good as close-talk microphones. Also, the cord sometimes gets in the way.
Desktop Desktop microphones usually rest in a microphone stand. If you keep the microphone pointing towards you and about 6"(15cm) from your mouth, they work well, but only in quiet rooms.
Ear-piece You wear ear-piece microphones on your head so that the microphone is as close to your mouth as possible. These work well for speech recognition and dictation but not as well as close-talk microphones. Unfortunately, the cord sometimes gets in the way.
Hand-held Although hand-held microphones pick up very little noise, they are not convenient for most speech recognition purposes because they must be held 4" (10 cm) away from the user's mouth.
Handset These microphones look like normal telephone handsets, but they plug into the microphone jack rather than the telephone jack. Handsets get good accuracy.
Resting on the computer Microphones that rest on the computer usually do not work well for speech recognition because they are too far away and pick up a lot of noise.