How to get more accurate dictation

Your microphone

• Closer beats better. A basic headset or earbud mic near your mouth usually beats an expensive desk mic across the room, because it picks up more of you and less of the room.
• Use one microphone. If your computer keeps switching between the laptop mic and a headset, pick one in your sound settings.
• Watch for rubbing. Earbud cables and collars brushing the mic create noise that turns into odd words.

Your room

• Turn off fans, music and the TV. Background speech is the hardest noise for recognition to ignore.
• Soft furnishings help. A small, echoey room makes speech less clear than a carpeted one.
• In open offices, a headset with a noise-cancelling microphone makes the biggest difference.

How to speak

• Speak in phrases, not single words. Recognition uses context, so "please send the report on Friday" is more accurate than pausing between every word.
• Keep a steady, normal pace. Speaking very slowly can actually reduce accuracy.
• Say punctuation as you go, for example "period" and "comma". Most tools add some punctuation themselves, but saying it gets you exactly what you want. See the command lists for each device.
• Think first, then talk. Pausing to think mid-sentence is fine, but "um" and false starts sometimes end up in the text.

Words it keeps getting wrong

• Names and jargon: some tools let you add custom words, and the paid apps in our buying guide are usually better at learning them.
• Homophones like "their" and "there": fix these in your final edit. Don't stop to fix each one.

A faster editing routine

1. Dictate the whole draft without stopping to correct.
2. Read it once, top to bottom, fixing words and punctuation.
3. Read it aloud, or have your computer read it back, to catch what your eyes skip.

Most people find this faster than fixing errors as they appear, which breaks your train of thought.