Optimising your Laptop Microphone for Dictation

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Optimising your Laptop Microphone

Using the built-in microphone often results in poor sound quality unless you’re sitting right next to the source of the recording. This is because many internal microphones are unidirectional. That means they will only record sound from one direction and a very close distance (around a few metres).

We do not recommend using a built-in microphone as this will not generate the best captions possible for you.

Tip

If your only option is to use your built-in microphone, try sitting as close as you can to the source of the recording and try facing your laptop more towards them/yourself for more accurate captions.

Using a USB microphone

Using a USB microphone helps you control the quality of your audio a lot better. Most USB microphones are class-compliant devices meaning you can just plug it in and record.

They are light and small, clip to the top of your laptop, and a microphone like the Samson Go Mic switches modes between cardioid (records sound from the front) and omnidirectional (records sound from all sides). The advantage of these microphones is that you can use them for other types of recording, like podcasts, videos and interviews for further university, work or personal use.

We do recommend using a USB microphone, as this should generate the best captions possible for you.

 

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