OS X Setup

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โ€ŒOS X Setup

Unless you keep reading, OS X will use the iPhone-style recognizer that transmits all speech waveforms to Apple for analysis via the internet; this is neither fast nor usable.

OS X (Mavericks/later) offers a better-quality speech recognizer available via free optional download from Apple: it does not require a live internet connection and does not have a recognition time limit and other issues. You do initially need a live internet connection and some time to set it up:

โ€ข Open System Preferences

โ€ข Go to Dictation and Speech

โ€ข Turn on Dictation

โ€ข Click "Use enhanced dictation"

โ€ข Wait for download and install, approximately 1 GB.

Use the Text to Speech tab to select the speaking voice, such as Alex or Vicki.

To activate speech recognition, click in Synthiaโ€™s text input box, then click the function key or right command key twice (or whatever sequence you have set up in the OS X Dictation preferences).

OS X 10.9 and earlier: OS X disables speech synthesis during dictation, which is backwards and extremely unfortunate. (At most, it should disable recognition during synthesis, and even that is unnecessary when a headset is being used.) So either you must forego speech responses from Synthia, or you must click Done, click Synthiaโ€™s Send button, then double-click Fn for each interaction. Apple fixed this in Yosemite. :-)

ยฉ2025 Boris FX, Inc.ย โ€”ย UNOFFICIALย โ€”ย Converted from original PDF.


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