How to Control Your Mac with Speech

Did you know that you can control your Mac computer using speech commands? All you need to do this is to connect a microphone to your Mac and then set some preferences in the Mac OS X System Preferences.


To start, open the Mac OS X System Preferences and select the Speech Recognition tab to set preferences that will help Mac OS X 10.5 recognize your voice and commands. First, turn on speech recognition by clicking the circle in front of On next to Speakable Items.

A small circle with a text box (the speech feedback window) will appear on your desktop.

Settings

Select the Settings tab on the Speech Recognition Pane to set options for your speech input.


Click the button next to Microphone and select the microphone you want to use from the drop-down menu. Next, click the Calibrate... button to ensure that your microphone is adjusted correctly. A new pane will open and you can test and set the correct volume for your microphone.


Next, you need to select settings to direct Mac OS X 10.5 to listen for your commands. The default key to press while speaking to your computer is the Escape key. If you want to use a different key, click the Change Key... button and a dialog box will open, letting you change the speech activation key. Note that you can only use a key from a specific set of keys - ESC, F5 to F12 (on keyboards with function keys), Delete, numeric keypad keys, most punctuation keys, and the Shift, Control, Command, or Option key in combination with another key.


Next, decide when Mac OS X 10.5 should listen to your spoken commands by clicking in the circle in front of your choice next to Listening Method:

- Listen only while key is pressed - If you select this option, you'll need to press the listening key the entire time you speak.

- Listen continuously with keyword - If you select this option, you need to say a keyword before giving spoken commands. Write the keyword of your choice in the text box next to Keyword. You also need to tell Mac OS X 10.5 when you will say the keyword:

• Optional before commands - You can give spoken commands at any time without using an activation key or spoken word.
• Required before each command - You have to say the keyword before each new command that you give to Mac OS X 10.5.
• Required 15 [30] seconds after last command - You can give several commands at one time after saying the keyword but once you have a silence or pause for 15 [30] seconds or more, you'll have to say the keyword again before Mac OS X 10.5 will recognize the next command.

Click the button next to Keyword is and select the option you want from the drop-down menu.

Commands

Select the Commands tab on the Speech Recognition pane to view commands available in Mac OS X 10.5.

To see the commands built into Mac OS X 10.5, click the Open Speakable Items Folder button. Mac OS X 10.5 will switch to the Finder and you should see a long list of commands plus a folder for application specific commands.

Once speech recognition is activated and preferences are set, you can start giving your Mac commands using your microphone.