Mask Observation Report

After VW I ended, I was on a roll! Using the open mic had been going awesome! Excitement about using the mask was followed by a bit of anxiety. Initially, I was under the impression that getting used to and adapting to the mask would be easy. It was with great ease I was able to set up the mask with my laptop and DNS. One of the 1st things I dictated was my Week 1 discussion post. The mask was working well with Dragon and seemed to be hearing me. One of the 1st obvious challenges that I faced with the mask was breathing and getting used to the feel of it on my face. For me, through some trial and error, I discovered the best way to take in a deep breath; is to lift the mask downwards, so that my nose is exposed and take in a deep, silent …show more content…
One day, my accuracy scores are great and I am feeling encouraged. The next day, it’s like we are back at square one. I never had this issue with the open mic. My accuracy always got better and I always ended my practice feeling encouraged. When working with the open mic, my accuracy scores were at 96% or higher. When working with the voice mask, my accuracy scores seemed to plummet! My initial scores seemed be in the low to mid 90s but at times in the high 80s. Most of the dictations improved after my training but a lot of my mistakes were with the little words such as: and, the, a and ‘s. The paragraphs that we had through the weeks, which focused on particular sounds, were some of the harder dictations for me. Whenever I would sit down and start to read the paragraphs, I would speak clearly (or so I thought) and not only that, I would be reading from a paper, which I thought would make things easier. I wouldn’t have to focus so hard because the words would be right there and I could concentrate more on enunciation and taking my time. The paragraphs were where I got some of my worse accuracy scores. I would stick with it until I improved or usually, if I came back to it later or the next