Kinect As Microphone

[Dominique]

There is a guy who specializes in home automation using a M.S. Kinect.  His software is called CastleOS.  This is not a promotion of CastleOS no.  This is a visual on how using a Kinect for speech recognition can improve by using the Kinect as a microphone.  In this particular video, he is able to give commands from 25 feet away!  Using this with V.C. would ensure that you do not need a bluetooth, not a cheap microphone.  The Kinect has a microphone array of 4 built-in mics so it is excellent for speech recognition!  The great thing is, now that the Xbox 360 has been surpassed by the Xbox One, the old first generation Kinects are dirt cheap!

Here is the video I speak of.

 http://youtu.be/ksiJWthOxY0

Here is a diagram of the Kinect and the microphone array inside.

[Kalle]

Here is a summary from our Wiki page about the Kinect which you can find here:

http://voxcommando.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Microphones

Microsoft Kinect:
We had high hopes for the Kinect as a microphone for speech recognition but so far it has fallen short of expectations. We have tested this microphone with speech recognition in Windows and the results were very disappointing. Some users have reported good results with it in relatively quiet environments, but for the price we don't recommend it unless you already have one lying around. It is possible that a more mature SDK will yield better results but it's not likely.

[Dominique]

Here is a summary from our Wiki page about the Kinect which you can find here:

http://voxcommando.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Microphones

Microsoft Kinect:
We had high hopes for the Kinect as a microphone for speech recognition but so far it has fallen short of expectations. We have tested this microphone with speech recognition in Windows and the results were very disappointing. Some users have reported good results with it in relatively quiet environments, but for the price we don't recommend it unless you already have one lying around. It is possible that a more mature SDK will yield better results but it's not likely.

That is incredibly surprising to hear.  I use it with Dragon Naturally Speaking and it is flawless.  I do have one and will try but in the end it may be the speech recognition engine difference that ultimately makes the experience good or not.  For those who do not own a 1st gen Kinect, they can be purchased for like $30 or less.

[Kalle]

I'm sure that the kinect will work well when you use it for dictation in a quiet environment, but some of us tested it with VC and it sucks especially for this price, but feel free to try and let us know how it works.

[jitterjames]

Quite a few people use Kinect with VoxCommando and I believe some people are very happy with the results they get.

I personally found that it did not match my expectations.  In terms of noise-cancelling I found it to be not very impressive.  Your voice can be picked up by the microphone from pretty far away which is nice but it really picks up a lot of other sounds too.  In this sense it is not too different from a boundary layer microphone, except that the Kinect audio quality may not be as good.  I found that in terms of audio quality, my Kinect was poorer than most other microphones that I have tried.  This might be down to quality control.  I get the impression that some Kinects are better than others and it is possible that I just got a dud.

So, yeah it works fine, but the same can be said of many other microphones that cost less.  Once you try something like VoxWav or an Amulet you get used to the idea of being understood correctly almost every time, with essentially zero false positives, and it makes the Kinect experience seem a bit pale by comparison.

If you have a Kinect or can get one cheap, then by all means give it a shot.  Maybe it will be the perfect solution for you.  Just be prepared for the possibility that it isn't going to be all that you had hoped.  I for one did not feal that it lived up to what it promised, despite the fancy specs.

I suspect that there are other array microphones that perform better, but even the expensive ones still don't really filter out other sounds that effectively while still delivering clear audio. 
Personally, I still prefer using an Amulet, VoxWav, or a wireless headset, but VoxCommando is all about doing things your own way so try different things and see what works best for you!