Setting speech options

You can use the Speech Properties dialog box to set options for Windows Speech Recognition and Text to Speech.

1. Click to open Speech Recognition.
2. In the left pane, click Advanced speech options.

 Speech Recognition

The following table describes the options on the Speech Recognition tab.

Option	Description
Language	Lists available Speech Recognition engines. Select the engine you want. Speech Recognition is available only in English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese.
Settings	Shows additional engine properties. The display is specific to the engine type, and not all engines have additional properties.
Recognition Profiles	Lists available user profiles. Selecting a profile from the list will mark it as active.
New	Adds a new user profile. The Add a profile wizard runs and sets up the profile and calibrates the microphone and speakers. The wizard will automatically launch the Microphone Setup wizard.
Delete	Removes the selected profile. The selected profile must not be in use by any other program when you choose to delete it.
Train Profile	Starts the Speech Recognition Voice Training wizard. The wizard can help improve recognition accuracy by learning about your specific speaking style and the sounds of your environment.
Run Speech Recognition at startup	Sets Speech Recognition to run when you start your computer.
Review documents and mail to improve accuracy	Allows Speech Recognition to review documents and e‑mail on your computer for commonly used words and phrases. This can help improve recognition accuracy.
Enable voice activation	Sets Speech Recognition to start in sleep mode and allows Speech Recognition to enter sleep mode when you say "stop listening."
Number of spaces to insert after punctuation	Sets the number of spaces to insert after sentence-ending punctuation when you're dictating text using Speech Recognition.
Level	Indicates the sound level of the microphone.
Audio Input	Opens the Sound dialog box. You can adjust settings for your audio input devices.
Advanced	Allows you to set a preferred audio device, such as an audio input for Speech Recognition. It will be active only if there is at least one audio device installed.
Configure Microphone	Starts the Microphone Setup wizard. This helps you to calibrate the audio input devices and speaker levels.

 Text to Speech

The following table describes the text-to-speech options on the Text to Speech tab.

Option	Description
Voice selection	Lists available text-to-speech voices. Click a voice to activate it. Once selected, the text-to-speech engine will speak the text to preview the voice.
Settings	Shows additional information or options about the text-to-speech engine. It is specific to the engine type, and not all engines have additional properties.
Use the following text to preview the voice	Displays the sample text spoken by the text-to-speech playback voice. You can change the text temporarily, but it will always default to the original content.
Preview Voice	Speaks the text in the Use the following text to preview the voice box using the selected voice. Each word is highlighted as the engine speaks it. When speaking, the Preview Voice button changes to Stop, which allows you to end the speech. When finished speaking (or if it's stopped), the Stop button changes back to the Preview Voice button.
Voice speed	Adjusts the rate of speech for the text-to-speech playback voice.
Audio output	Opens the Sound dialog box. You can adjust settings for your audio output devices.
Advanced	Click to set a preferred audio device as output for text-to-speech playback. It will be active only if there is at least one audio device installed.