Category Archives: Patch on Speech

Tip: Taking the named Touch commands to the next level


Once you get used to naming a mouse click, you might want a little more. Take a look at UC Lesson 10.24 and you’ll find you can combine named mouse touches with other keys in a couple of useful ways.

Here’s a good use of combining a named mouse touch with a letter key. When you’re in an e-mail message in Thunderbird*, you can click on the Sender’s address to drop down a menu that includes Copy e-mail Address and Add to Address Book.

To enable copying the sender e-mail address or adding it to the address book in a single speech step, name a mouse Touch to click on the sender address:

1. Position the mouse on the Sender’s address using a command like “20 By 11”

2. say “Add Touch” to bring up the Touch dialog box

3. name the touch something like “Sender”

4. say “Enter” to put the touch on your Touch list

5. say “Window Close · Yes” to close the UC List dialog box and save changes

6. If necessary, say “Restart NatSpeak” to restart the speech engine.

Now try the command and some combinations.

With an open email in Thunderbird you can say “Sender Touch” and it will click the Sender address to drop down the menu.

Better yet, you can say “Sender Touch c” (or “Sender Touch Charlie”) to copy the address to your clipboard, or “Sender Touch b” (or “Sender Touch Bravo”) to bring up the New Card dialog box with the address entered into it.

Have you found a good application for advanced Touch commands? Tell me about them – reply here or let me know at info@ this website address.

*Thunderbird is a free, open-source, full-featured e-mail program from Mozilla. It’s included in the UsefulFreeSoftware list on the UC Exchange Wiki (say “UC Exchange”).

RSIs, Christina Abbott and Utter Command

I get a lot of questions about why I started using speech recognition and how Utter Command came about. The gory details of my experience with RSIs are here: Greetings from planet RSI: what it’s like to have hands that hurt all the time.

I attribute my recovery from Repetitive Strain Injuries to four main factors: massage therapy and stretching (getting the knots out of my muscles), Alexander Therapy and Tai Chi (body awareness and efficiency of movement), keeping hydrated (creating a better environment for muscles and tendons), and staying away from the keyboard and mouse (avoiding major strain-producing activities). There are more details here: Advice from planet RSI: how to get better

The massage therapist who contributed greatly to my recovery is Christina Abbott. She’s an excellent neuromuscular therapist. She thinks and reads a lot about muscles and pain, makes great connections, and explains well. She’s started putting the information she’s discovered, gathered and thought about in a blog. It’s great stuff. Christina’s Pain Therapy Blog

Utter Command came about because I needed to use a computer hands-free without being tempted to cheat.

Tip: Rudolf Noe’s Customize Your Web

Rudolf Noe, creator of the Mouseless Browsing add-on, is beta testing a new add-on that gives nonprogrammers extensive control of the Web.Noe’s Customize Your Web Firefox add-on allows you to specify that certain things happen every time a given webpage comes up. You can control where the focus is, click a button automatically, change how webpage elements look, and even change how they’re arranged on the page. Customize Your Web also contains a macro facility that allows you to attach keystrokes to elements on a given webpage. The key thing about the extension is it provides extensive control without having to program.Two of the simplest abilities — controlling where the focus is and clicking buttons, are fairly easy to implement. The focus ability lets you, for instance, open the Google Documents Site with the focus in the search bar. The click ability allows you to automatically login to any site.

To set up a focus change or button click on a webpage you go to that webpage, click the tiny Configure Your Web button in the bottom right corner of the screen right above the toolbar, click the element you want to affect, choose an action, then save what you have done.

You can name a Mouse Touch to click the Customize your Web button (see UC Lesson 10.24).

With just a little more effort you can specify keystrokes to do things like going down one search result, or click “Previous” or “Next” at the bottom of a search page.

If you assign the up and down arrows to go up and down by search result in a Google search, and Enter to click a selected result, you can then use the Utter Command speech command “3 Down · Enter”, for instance, to open the third search result down.

Noe’s video shows you how to use the extension in detail.

Also see UC Exchange page UCandFirefox.

Have you found Firefox or Thunderbird add-ons that make things easier when you’re using speech? Tell me about them – reply here or let me know at info@ this website address.

Tip: Rudolf Noe’s Customize Your Web



Rudolf Noe, creator of the Mouseless Browsing add-on, is beta testing a new add-on that gives nonprogrammers extensive control of the Web.Noe’s Customize Your Web Firefox add-on allows you to specify that certain things happen every time a given webpage comes up. You can control where the focus is, click a button automatically, change how webpage elements look, and even change how they’re arranged on the page. Customize Your Web also contains a macro facility that allows you to attach keystrokes to elements on a given webpage. The key thing about the extension is it provides extensive control without having to program.Two of the simplest abilities — controlling where the focus is and clicking buttons, are fairly easy to implement. The focus ability lets you, for instance, open the Google Documents Site with the focus in the search bar. The click ability allows you to automatically login to any site.

To set up a focus change or button click on a webpage you go to that webpage, click the tiny Configure Your Web button in the bottom right corner of the screen right above the toolbar, click the element you want to affect, choose an action, then save what you have done.

You can name a Mouse Touch to click the Customize your Web button (see UC Lesson 10.24).

With just a little more effort you can specify keystrokes to do things like going down one search result, or click “Previous” or “Next” at the bottom of a search page.

If you assign the up and down arrows to go up and down by search result in a Google search, and Enter to click a selected result, you can then use the Utter Command speech command “3 Down · Enter”, for instance, to open the third search result down.

Noe’s video shows you how to use the extension in detail.

Also see UC Exchange page UCandFirefox.

Have you found Firefox or Thunderbird add-ons that make things easier when you’re using speech? Tell me about them – reply here or let me know at info@ this website address.

Tip: Undo for closing a webpage


Ever close a webpage, then wish you hadn’t? In Firefox there’s a shortcut that undoes a tab close: “Shift Control t”.

Ever close several webpages in a row and wish you hadn’t? You can use the same shortcut to get back the last few pages you closed at once, e.g. “Shift Control t Times 3”. Here are some related commands: use “Document Close Times 3” to close tabs and “Control t Times 3” to open blank tabs.

Speak quietly and you don't need a big stick


Computers can be frustrating when they don’t act as you anticipate. You can anticipate better, however, if you know what they’re going through.

One thing I’ve found with speech recognition is when something is misrecognized the common instinct is to speak more loudly into the microphone — like you’re talking to a person who didn’t quite hear.

This usually makes things worse. Most good microphones are fairly sensitive, and are more likely to interpret the sounds coming out of your mouth more accurately if you speak a little softer rather than louder.

If you notice recognition falling off a bit, speak a little more softly. Picture someone onstage singing so loudly into the microphone that its distorted, and how nice it is when the person backs off a bit. Also think about putting the microphone further away from your mouth — I keep mine about 2 inches away.

Another common cause of recognition falling off is breathing into the microphone. It’s important that the face of the microphone is pointed slightly downward so you’re not breathing directly into it. Picture someone on an outside stage trying to use a microphone in a heavy wind. It’s lots easier to hear when the wind dies down.

Speak quietly and you don’t need a big stick


Computers can be frustrating when they don’t act as you anticipate. You can anticipate better, however, if you know what they’re going through.

One thing I’ve found with speech recognition is when something is misrecognized the common instinct is to speak more loudly into the microphone — like you’re talking to a person who didn’t quite hear.

This usually makes things worse. Most good microphones are fairly sensitive, and are more likely to interpret the sounds coming out of your mouth more accurately if you speak a little softer rather than louder.

If you notice recognition falling off a bit, speak a little more softly. Picture someone onstage singing so loudly into the microphone that its distorted, and how nice it is when the person backs off a bit. Also think about putting the microphone further away from your mouth — I keep mine about 2 inches away.

Another common cause of recognition falling off is breathing into the microphone. It’s important that the face of the microphone is pointed slightly downward so you’re not breathing directly into it. Picture someone on an outside stage trying to use a microphone in a heavy wind. It’s lots easier to hear when the wind dies down.

Speech recognition and Eastern equine encephalitis


I have a bone to pick with Nuance. I’ve several times seen Dragon NaturallySpeaking demonstrators wow people by saying a long phrase. “Eastern equine encephalitis” is a favorite. The implication is if computer speech recognition can get this difficult phrase right, it can get anything right.

The reality is just the opposite, and the demonstration gives people an incorrect mental map of how the speech engine works.

It’s important to have a good mental map of how something works. If your mental map is correct your instincts will be correct. If you’re working with a child you probably have an idea of the types of simple mistakes that child is going to make, and you’ll expect and have more patience for simple mistakes than when you’re working with an expert.

The NaturallySpeaking speech engine is different than either working with a child or an expert — it’s very good at some things, but not so good at others. The mix is different than it is with people. NaturallySpeaking is very good at identifying long words and even better at identifying common phrases — Eastern equine encephalitis is both and therefore very easy. It will rarely get this wrong. What’s more difficult for the engine is getting short utterances and uncommon phrases correct. If you give the speech engine more information to work with — a longer word, a phrase, or even the same word drawn out a bit, it has more information to work with and therefore does better.

A more impressive demo phrase for a speech engine would be “at up be”.

With the correct mental map of what’s easy and what’s difficult for the speech-recognition engine, you’ll instinctively speak in phrases and draw things out a bit if you see the engine start to make mistakes. This is probably different from how you tend to adjust to a person who isn’t hearing. In the case of a person a common instinct is to say one word at a time: “Eastern… equine… encephalitis”, which is more difficult for a speech engine.

The good news is a mental map works on instinct — if your mental map is correct, you often don’t even have to think about adjustments, they flow naturally. The bad news is a mental map works on instinct — if it’s incorrect your adjustments won’t work but it will feel like they should be working.

Rulers right

I’ve changed the way I position the mouse rulers, and it’s changed my behavior.

I used to leave Rulers in the default position of top and left. But lately I’ve been using them on the right and bottom, and and I’m liking this better for a couple reasons. I tend to notice them less when they’re tucked above the Taskbar and off to the right. So I tend to leave them on whether I’m using them or not. More important, they don’t change the position of windows, and so don’t affect named mouse touches.

(To change Rulers so they’re just on the right and bottom say “Rulers On”, “Rulers Right Bottom”)

Where do you like Rulers? Let me know here or e-mail at info at this Web address.

We're live


After working with Beta testers and presales customers for the past year, today we’ve announced the general release of Utter Command.

 

It’s been a long time coming. It started 15 years ago when I got repetitive strain injuries in my hands. I first used the Kurzweil speech engine, and then, when it came out, the first Windows version of DragonDictate, the precursor to Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

 

After several years of writing macros that were similar to everyone else’s — and that I often forgot — I started thinking about the way the brain works with language and started working on a more consistent system. Sometime after that we decided to make a general product out of it. We were thinking it would take six months. It’s taken five years.

 

One of the reasons it took so long is we’ve produced thorough, cross-referenced documentation. Every command is explained. Many thanks to our beta testers, trainers, and presales customers for using and commenting on the UC command system, applets and documentation as we were developing and refining them. Special thanks to Laurie, our VP of QA, and Bill theTrainer for many reads through the documentation and many trips through the self-guided tours.

 

And special thanks to Wren, a programmer who worked with us in the early days. The bird that appears in our logo is the Painted Redstart (we’d already named the company when Wren, also named for a bird, joined us). 

 

Note to presales customers: you should have received your general release copy of Utter Command. Contact us via the support email or Make a Comment contact form if you haven’t.