Nuance Dragon Medical eTIPS Newsletter

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Dragon^Ž Medical

February 2011, Volume 3, Number 2

Greetings!

Nuance is pleased to present you with this edition of eTIPS where you will find tips about:

eTIP 1: How Dragon Medical can automatically add periods and commas for you when you dictate.

eTIP 2: How Dragon Medical is not currently supported on any AppleŽ Macintosh environment.

eTIP 3: How to resolve USB Device detection issues within Dragon Medical.

eTIP 4: How unwanted repetitious single syllable words like "him him him" appearing in your dictation are usually caused by some form of interference which can range from substandard shielding to a frayed microphone cable.

Save the date for Conversations Healthcare 2012. Click here to navigate to the article providing more information.

eTIPS

Did you know that Dragon Medical can automatically add periods and commas for you when you dictate?

INTENDED AUDIENCE: ALL USERS

LEVEL: BASIC

Press the play button on the following video player to view a short demonstration on how to configure and use the automatic period and comma feature.

Perform the following steps to toggle the auto-formatting of periods and commas to either on or off:

Click Tools on the Dragon Bar and then select Formatting.
Go to the bottom of the Formatting dialog box to enable or disable automatically add commas and periods.

auto-format periods

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Did you know that Dragon Medical is not currently supported on any AppleŽ MacintoshŽ environment?

INTENDED AUDIENCE: ALL USERS
LEVEL: BASIC

While AppleŽ technology has adapted the MacintoshŽ platform to run other operating systems like MicrosoftŽ WindowsŽ, the Dragon Medical product is not supported at this time in any Apple Macintosh environments. Apple Boot Camp for Intel-based Macs can boot into a Microsoft Windows emulation, and third-party products such as Parallels Desktop for Mac or VMware Fusion can allow Windows-based applications to run in a virtualized environment on the Macintosh operating system. However, there is currently no version of Dragon Medical supported in any Apple Macintosh environment.

Having said that, Nuance does offer a separate product for MacŽ users called MacSpeech, and there is an edition for Medical called MacSpeech Dictate Medical. Here is the Nuance link:

http://www.nuance.com/for-individuals/by-product/dragon-for-mac/macspeech-dictate-medical/index.htm

While MacSpeech is a speech recognition product based on Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking technology, MacSpeech Dictate is not "Dragon on the Mac". Basically, spoken audio is recognized by the Dragon speech engine, but that is where any further similarities end. The recognized text is processed and formatted 100% by Macintosh code written by the MacSpeech group, and uses no code from the Dragon Medical product. The MacSpeech product and the Dragon Medical product are supported by different Technical Support groups.

Note: Apple, Macintosh and Mac are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

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Did you know the facts about resolving USB Device detection issues with Dragon Medical?

INTENDED AUDIENCE: POWER USERS OR SYSTEM ADMINISTRATORS

LEVEL: ADVANCED

Dragon Medical supports USB input devices (microphone and headset). Detection of these devices by Dragon Medical is contingent upon a Microsoft Windows operating system successfully detecting the same USB device, first. Depending on several factors including the actual USB device, computer hardware, operating system, and user's workflow; failure to detect USB devices can occur. The detection process for USB devices by Windows operating systems is called enumeration and involves multiple steps through the operating system software stack, USB hub driver, and PnP Manager.

Each time a USB device is plugged into a USB port, enumeration must occur, even for devices previously enumerated on that computer. This means, for example, that when a PowerMic II microphone, that was successfully used on one (1) USB port, is unplugged and then plugged into another USB port, re-enumeration must take place. This is a function of the Windows operating system, and not Dragon Medical. Further, under certain circumstances when switching USB ports, re-enumeration can fail, resulting in Dragon Medical being unable to either recognize, or use all of the functions of the PowerMic II.

There are several troubleshooting steps below when USB device enumeration fails.

Start troubleshooting by capturing the exact wording of any error messages, if presented.
Close and re-launch the effected application(s) and try to reproduce using the same steps.
Next, try rebooting the computer.
If the USB device is connected to a USB hub, instead unplug and connect the USB device directly to a USB port on the computer.
If the problem continues, test the audio record function of the USB device with a third-party application like Windows Sound Recorder. Click the red record button on the Windows Sound Recorder interface to record, as the record button on the USB device will not be active. If the audio record channel is not working on the computer, the issue is not with Dragon Medical.
Check the Audio Device Properties of the Sound Settings on the computer to ensure that the USB device is properly detected and configured as the default device for recording.
Check to see if the device that is currently not working is connected to a USB hub. If a hub is being used, try connecting the device directly to a USB port on the system.
There could be a power consumption issue with the USB device. Normally, the USB Root Hub provides 500 mA of current per port. However, be wary of USB ports on the front of some computer platforms that provide lower power. Instead, try connecting to USB ports at rear of the computer. As well, some USB devices may consume more power when initially connected. Both the power consumption information and power management settings are located in each USB Root Hub's properties under the computer's Device Manager applet. It is strongly recommended to disable the computer's ability to turn off the USB device to save power (even on battery-operated laptops). This setting is located under: Device Manager>Root Hub properties>Power Management tab. Also, try testing with an active (powered) USB hub to ensure adequate power is available.
If available, replace the USB device with the same device to further determine if this is a device issue.
Update the USB device firmware, if applicable.
If the problem continues, reboot the computer and try again.
If the problem continues, perform a software repair of the application through Windows Add or Remove Programs. Otherwise, uninstall and reinstall the software application.
Eliminate all present and non-present USB device drivers using the Nuance iSupport article below. USB device drivers will accumulate unless manually uninstalled and can introduce conflicts to USB function. Disconnect all connected USB devices. Reboot the computer. After the computer is restarted, the operating system will reinstall the USB Subsystem. This process may take a few minutes. Do NOT connect any USB devices until the operating system has completely reinstalled the USB subsystem. Connect only the USB device in question. At this point, the operating system should install the software drivers for the USB device automatically. If however, appropriate drivers cannot be found, install the drivers from the original driver media or from a driver download.

For more information about troubleshooting USB devices, login to iSupport and search for solution 12751: Troubleshooting Input Device Installation: USB Device Cleanup. If you are not an iSupport subscriber, click iSupport Timesaver for information on how to get started.

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Did you know that unwanted repetitious single syllable words like "Him him him" appearing in your dictation is usually caused by some form of interference which can range from substandard shielding to a frayed microphone cable?

INTENDED AUDIENCE: All USERS

LEVEL: BASIC

Unfortunately, interference can be difficult to track down because there are so many variables so we recommend the following steps:

You can rule out breathing by removing your microphone, if it is a headset model, and setting it on your desktop in a quiet environment. If NaturallySpeaking repeatedly types the same single syllable word, like "him him him", "and and and" etc. you can move on to step #2. If the problem goes away when you remove your microphone, simply reposition the microphone element off to the corner of your mouth and possibly further away.
To test for a broken cable or loose connection, rerun the Audio Setup Wizard and swing the microphone cable back and forth as you read the text. When you reach the last stage, press the Play button before pressing the Finish button so that you can listen for possible interference. If you hear the occasional non-constant scratching sound, you may have a frayed cable or loose connection.
If you hear a constant "hum", when pressing the Play button, you're probably suffering from some form of AC interference which, on a notebook computer, you can verify by temporarily running off from batteries. AC interference can also be caused by your microphone, computer or soundcard being too close to a microwave, wireless phone, fluorescent light and a host of other possibilities. If you suspect AC interference, try moving your computer to a different location or even a different address.

If none of the previous steps produce a viable solution, you may have a defective microphone or even an oscillating chip on the motherboard of your computer. However, before blaming your computer, try another microphone and USB soundcard. For test purposes, your backup microphone doesn't have to be stellar quality but it does have to be good enough to pass the Dragon Medical Audio Setup Wizard.

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Conversations Healthcare 2012