The primary function of a microphone is to send a good sound signal to your computer. Many different microphones work well, and there are many to choose from. Most popular are headset microphones. Several headset microphones in the $49-$100 range work roughly the same. Individuals may have legitimate preferences, either because recognition rate is better or because they are physically more comfortable.
The VXi TalkPro-USB (traditional headset - out of production as of mid-2011 but still available), Andrea 700 series (traditional headsets), and Sennheiser ME3 all are reasonable choices. With every one of these, I've clients who love them and clients who strongly prefer a different one -- mainly because they are worn differently. If noise is an issue, the Sennheiser ME3 is a clear-cut favorite, but be sure to buy one modified for computer use.
The Andrea NC-181, came with Dragon Medical 10, Professional 10, and Legal 10 products. It is a basic headset microphone which works well in quiet environments. Starting in September 2010, Plantronics Audio-610's were often included with Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Professional and Legal.
Features available on some of these microphones include mute switches and volume control for playback. Mute switches are useful for some speech recognition users as they are sometimes the best way to turn off a microphone.
The hand-held Philips SpeechMike Pro USB is excellent if you have a quiet dictation place and dictate many times per day (as in after each patient). It includes a trackball, mouse buttons, and programmable buttons that make this multi-functional device a powerful dictation tool. There is a SpeechMike II series and as of 2010 there is a SpeechMike III series which may be slightly better from an accuracy perspective.
The SpeechWare 2-in-1, SpeechWare 6-in-1, and Buddy DesktopMic are built to rest on a desk, with a gooseneck that can be positioned for excellent speech recognition in a quiet office.
The Buddy Gooseneck has a much longer gooseneck and a clamp for attaching to the edge of furniture. It is often better when dealing with wheelchair seating or when a microphone is needed for a bed-ridden person.
Array microphones sit on your desktop. They are necessarily wide so that they have a chance at distinguishing speech from noise. They will not generally produce results as accurate as headset microphones, but may be suitable when it is not feasible to put on a headset.
If you depend heavily on your speech recognition system, buy a spare microphone! These microphones are all prone to breakage.
We don't stock all models -- we are more prone to have the Philips SpeechMike, Sennheiser ME3 and VXi TalkPro USB-100 models in stock because they are more popular.
If you need a USB microphone, we recommend either the Philips SpeechMike Pro USB or else a combination of a USB "pod" plus a good headset such as the Sennheiser ME3. Another option is the VXi TalkPro USB 100 (or the 200 if listening with both ears is important).
Andrea, VXi, and Buddy each make pods that work essentially the same for most purposes. There are USB adapters for MUCH more -- hundreds of dollars, used for professional recording (Roland/Edirol UA-100 and UA-30 -- plug in a good microphone.).
In this group my opinion is that these are ALL quality microphones. For any particular person, you may find that one works better than others. I've got clients who have gotten best results with VXi's, some have gotten best results with Sennheiser, others best results with Andrea, and others swear by their old Emkay's or Talk Mics.
If you find these on close-out sales, in a heap at a garage sale, or otherwise at a deeply discounted price, consider yourself lucky. They are good microphones, but no longer in production.
The SpeechWare 2-in-1 is our slight favorite for a desktop microphone.
One notable desktop microphone is the Buddy Gooseneck, a very long gooseneck microphone (36" / 1m) with a C-clamp that attaches the microphone to a table, desk, etc. Many of these are in use by people who need to roll their wheelchairs under a desk to work.
Other semi-pro vocal microphones will work well as desktop microphones so long as you are consistent in positioning your mouth with respect to the microphone. "Watch your mouth" are good words to remember when using speech recognition with desktop or handheld microphones.
Others claim good results with wireless microphones. I've only dealt with one that has worked well, and it isn't manufactured any longer. Shure has another series of wireless microphones, but the Shure TCHS Wireless microphone was a reasonably-priced microphone that works well for speech recognition. Good luck finding them!
Beware that these switches cost more than many good microphones. It is much more difficult to build a good switch than it appears, and there isn't a big market for them. Beware the Andrea PCTI-2 -- you may find it cheap, or you may be a lucky one and find it works well for you. It doesn't generally perform as well as the PCTI, and doesn't allow you to listen on the phone while dictating on the computer.
These others are very comparable and all work well on most phone systems:
Confused? Locally (Phoenix) we have samples of many of these microphones. If you visit us, you can see them all -- including many not listed here. If we go to see you, we have a sack packed with samples of the more common microphones and will add to that set if we know your needs before seeing you. Contact us for details.
Most of these microphones are not available in retail stores. They are specialty items with very limited distribution. What you will find at the major computer stores is roughly equivalent to what you receive in your software package. Rarely have I seen a top-notch microphone in such stores. You'll pay no more from us or the specialty distributors than what you'll pay for a less-effective microphone from the retailers.
We don't carry a broad line of microphones. Both http://www.emicrophones.com and their competitors, http://www.microphones.com, deal in microphones and understand speech recognition. If we don't carry it, we suggest them as alternate sources.
If you wish to learn MUCH more about how microphones work, we suggest browsing the following:
While interesting, this information won't help much in selecting a microphone for speech recognition.
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