If you have difficulty using speech recognition, refer to the following list of symptoms and try the suggested steps to isolate and solve the problem.
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The character does not respond to my spoken input.
This symptom may be caused by a number of problems. Try the following suggestions to isolate the problem:
- Verify that the microphone is correctly plugged into the microphone input of the sound card.
- Verify that the sound card is correctly installed and configured. You can test this with another application that uses sound input like the Sound Recorder program which should already be installed with theMicrosoft Windows operating system.
- You can open the Sound Recorder application from the Start menu. On the taskbar, click Start, then All Programs, then Accessories, then Entertainment (or Multimedia, depending upon the version of Microsoft Windows) and finally, Sound Recorder. When the application window has opened, click the Record button and speak into the microphone. The display in the window should now move in response to your voice input.
- If the Sound Recorder application doesn't record your voice correctly, the sound card may not be compatible with this version of Microsoft Windows, it may not be set up correctly, there may be a problem with its software drivers or some other cause. These errors should be corrected before you continue on with the other troubleshooting suggestions. Contact the sound card manufacturer's technical support for assistance, if necessary.
- Verify that a compatible speech recognition engine is installed. You can do this with the Speech applet in the Control Panel.
- For the Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT 4.0, and Windows 2000 operating systems, if there isn't a Speech icon already available in Control Panel, you can install this item from the
Microsoft Agent downloads page.
- For the Microsoft Windows XP operating system, click the Speech icon in Control Panel. In the Speech Properties dialog box, click the Other tab, if it is present and then click SAPI 4 Control Panel, if it is also present. If there isn't such a button, or if there isn't an Other tab, install the same
Speech Control Panel item, as instructed above.
- This SAPI 4 Control Panel program will list installed SAPI 4.0 speech recognition engines under Speech Input. If none are shown, you can install the
Microsoft Command and Control speech recognition engine.
- Verify that the Microphone Settings for the Speech Input engine is set properly.
- In Control Panel, click the Speech icon to open the SAPI 4 Control Panel item as described above.
- Click the Speech Input engine that you have installed and want to test.
- Click Adjust Microphone Settings.... If this button is not enabled, the speech engine is either not compatible, not installed correctly or does not support automatic adjustment.
- Follow the instructions provided by this wizard to set the microphone correctly for your voice input. If the wizard cannot successfully complete its adjustments, you may want to try using a different microphone, move to a location with less background noise or some other remedy.
- Verify that the application or Web page written for Microsoft Agent also supports speech input. Not all Microsoft Agent applications and Web pages support speech input. You may want to try using this
sample Web page that is written correctly for speech input.
- Press and hold the Listening key. Typically, this will be the Scroll Lock key by default (unless it was previously changed in the Advanced Character Options).
- A pop-up Listening Tip should appear under the character (unless this option was previously changed in the Advanced Character Options) to display text indicating the listening state of the character. If the Listening Tip does not appear (even after checking the setting in the Advanced Character Options), either the application or Web page does not support speech input, or you don't have a compatible speech recognition engine installed correctly.
- If the Listening Tip does appear and indicates the character is listening, speak one of the character's voice commands. If you do not know what voice commands are available, release the Listening key, right-click on the character and click Open Voice Commands Window from the shortcut menu. If you do not see this command available in the context menu, speech input support is not available for the application or Web page you are using.
- If the character still does not respond when you press and hold the Listening key while speaking one of the available voice commands, proceed to the next troubleshooting suggestions.
- Verify that no other application is currently using the audio output device.
- Verify that Microsoft Agent's use of MIDI is not blocking the audio channel (see Applications that play MIDI have no audio output when Microsoft Agent is running).
- If you followed the suggestions provided above but still have problems with speech input, verify that your sound card and driver software are compatible with the speech recognition engine that you are using. Check with the manufacturer of your sound card and speech recognition engine for additional assistance.
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When I talk into the microphone, I also hear my voice through the speakers/headset.
Your sound card is not set up properly for use with Microsoft Agent. Choose the Microphone Settings Wizard on the property sheet of the Speech object in the Control Panel. See the troubleshooting suggestions above for
"The character does not respond to my spoken input" for information on how to access this button.
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I don't hear a tone when I press the Listening key.
When the Listening key is pressed, a MIDI tone may optionally be played to cue the user to begin speaking. This option is configured from the Advanced Character Options. If this option is selected, but a tone either isn't heard or plays too quietly, follow these suggestions:
- Verify that the Web page or application you are using supports speech input. Also, verify that speech input is working by following the suggested steps for "The character does not respond to my spoken input."
- Verify that your speakers are correctly plugged into the sound card/interface.
- Verify that the settings and drivers for your MIDI device are correctly configured. This can typically be accomplished by opening/playing a MIDI (.mid) file in the Windows Media Player. You should be able to find some MIDI (.mid) files in the Media folder of your Windows system folder.
- Verify that your MIDI volume is set loud enough. How this can be accomplished will depend upon which Microsoft Windows operating system you are using and the system software for your sound card/adapter. Following are descriptions for two different ways to access the volume control, adjustments may be required for your particular circumstances.
- If there is a speaker icon visible in the notification area of the taskbar, right-click on it and click Open the Volume Control in the shortcut menu.
- In the Volume Control dialog box, there will be volume level controls for several different sound sources.
- Increase the MIDI volume by moving up the slider for Synth (or SW Synth).
- In Control Panel, click the Sounds and Audio Devices icon.
- Click the Audio tab of the Sounds and Audio Devices Properties window.
- Click Volume in the MIDI music playback area.
- In the Volume Control window, there will be volume level controls for several different sound sources.
- Increase the MIDI volume by moving up the slider for Synth (or SW Synth).
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When I press the Listening key, the tone plays too loudly and disrupts speech input.
If the volume of other audio sources like text-to-speech engines or CD audio is also too loud, turn down the volume level of your speakers (or amplifier).
If the volume level of other audio sources are acceptable and only the MIDI tone is disproportionately loud, you need to adjust the volume of the MIDI device alone. How this can be accomplished will depend upon which Microsoft Windows operating system you are using and the system software for your sound card/adapter. Following are descriptions for two different ways to access the volume control, adjustments may be required for your particular circumstances.
- If there is a speaker icon visible in the notification area of the taskbar, right-click on it and click Open the Volume Control in the shortcut menu.
- In the Volume Control dialog box, there will be volume level controls for several different sound sources.
- Decrease the MIDI volume by moving down the slider for Synth (or SW Synth).
- In the Control Panel, open the applet for Sounds and Audio Devices.
- Click the Audio tab of the Sounds and Audio Devices Properties window.
- Click Volume in the MIDI music playback section.
- In the Volume Control dialog box, there will be volume level controls for several different sound sources.
- Decrease the MIDI volume by moving down the slider for Synth (or SW Synth).
Playback of this MIDI tone when the Listening key is pressed can also be globally disabled for all Microsoft Agent applications from the Advanced Character Options Window with the following procedure:
- Open the Try Out Microsoft Agent sample Web page. When the character appears in the taskbar, right-click it and choose Advanced Character Options from the shortcut menu.
- When the property sheet displays, select the Speech Input page.
- Clear the Play tone when you can speak option and click OK.
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Troubleshooting problems installing Microsoft Agent
Troubleshooting problems loading Web pages
Troubleshooting problems using text-to-speech engines
Troubleshooting other types of user problems
