Has anyone tried out the AfterShokz OpenComm  headset for voice recognition? 

All the reviews on Amazon and YouTube are highly favorable as they come with an open ear design and a highly effective noise canceling microphone. However, all the reviews are focused on the ability to do calls and I haven't seen anything on voice recognition yet.

I have been searching for a solution like this for a while. Essentially something I can put on my head and forget about it for the rest of the day. I need to not only make calls during half my day but also heavily depends on text to speech and technology voice recognition technologies.

Generally I find that having my ears open when using voice recognition is very helpful since I'm able to speak softer and it results in a higher accuracy rate.

Sharing some review links here. (apologies if there against the rules, I will remove them in that case.)

https://www.amazon.com/AfterShokz-Conduction-Noise-Canceling-Microphone-Commercial/dp/B08DW2SJCQ/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtPXRYfB1bM

 

 

As you pointed out, this microphone was not specifically created for speech recognition. We believe it will work but the microphone element is not positioned as close to your mouth as we would prefer. However, Dragon's auto-gain feature should help with that. This microphone will probably need to be worn over an extended period of time and might not be as comfortable as you think. We are not excited by the plastic hoops that go around your ears and may chafe. Of course, if the microphone is light enough, chasing or discomfort may not be a problem. We prefer the Philips SpeechOne which is heavier but should be more comfortable because the speaker can be pushed away from your ear with 2 tiny memory foam pads. This microphone is a bit expensive but also the most accurate recognition wireless headset we have used. It also utilizes radio frequencies which are supposed to be cleaner than Bluetooth but we have yet to prove this manufacturer claim.

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So I decided to take the plunge, and bought the Aftershokz Opencomm headset. It has been just 2 days, but sharing my thoughts on my experience so far.

- it is by far the most comfortable headset I have ever used. The headset is light, wireless, does not cover the ears, battery last long, the microphone is very good at noise canceling at least for calls ( need more time to test it out in more situations with regards to voice recognition).

-I do not need to take the headset off even when I'm eating or drinking. The headphone quality is better than expected, in fact very good for call centric headset.

In fact, the headset is so comfortable that I prefer leaving it on my ears rather than have to take it down and wear it again for any reason.

Specifically with regards to voice recognition, it performs quite good in quiet environment. It works quite decent in noisy Café as well. It is not as good as my Audio Technica Pro 8HEmW microphone but performs quite okay for most part.

If anything above changes in the coming weeks, I will post an updated review as well.

EXCELLENT! Now you have piqued our interest. We have contacted AfterShokz for a test unit and will add them to our website if they work out. We will also post our test results

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Although a bit pricey, I am interested in this headset too. Sadly it does not seem to be available here in the Netherlands yet and buying it from the States usually means an additional $60 shipping.

 

If anybody knows about a German or UK seller let me know. 

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www.speechproductivity.eu 

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Most, but not all, of our FedEx overseas shipping is typically $35 but that is still $20 too much. We worked out a 66% off deal with FedEx

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I wanted to see whether any of you had further comments now with more experience? Do they work well enough for dictation? I am considering these vs the Plantronics 5200 as I would like a wireless, comfortable and lightweight headset that's decent for dictation. I find on ear headphones very hot, uncomfortable or painful it's I wear them for many hours each day and they often push on my glasses. Thank you for your help. 

We do not recommend any Plantronics headsets. We have tested the Plantronics 5200 but it did not meet our standards.

 

We have been waiting 2 months for AfterShokz to respond to our reseller and test questions but they have yet to respond. When we can't call a manufacturer or get an email response, we lose that warm and fuzzy feeling and begin to question their stability.


Our current best wireless recommendation is the Sennheiser MB Pro2 UC/ML which is designed to be worn over your ears but works very well around your neck. You only need to point the microphone to your mouth which makes the MB Pro2 more comfortable than either of your 2 previous microphones. Additional Perk: You can move the headset speakers to your ears when you receive a cell phone call.

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Thanks for the advice. For my use case I decided they made sense, needed to be able to keep them on rather than take on and off. The quality is overall good and with Dragon they perform pretty well. I have changed headset a few times so I need to let Dragon adjust, but I'd say they are performing better than previous plantronics and jabra headsets I had been given by work (which I know you don't recommend!). Leaving this review here in case others are considering them. 

Update to my previous review after 4 months

All the things I mentioned in my original review are still valid. I have used this headset every single day for the last 4 months and I'm very happy with the purchase. Considering the convenience and the performance, it works really well.

That said, there are a couple of things that can be better:
1. The microphone does not pick up the softest of the speech like my Audio Technica Pro 8HEmW microphone. So far it hasn't been an issue, but my office is reopening soon, and it would be beneficial to switch to a microphone which allows me to speak softer.
2. The microphone does quite okay with background noise, however if the background noise is really loud (e.g. Very loud music playing, people talking loud in the vicinity), the speech recognition is not as good. Generally I'm able to use it okay in coffee shops, but when the environment is really loud I need to compensate by speaking loudly.
3. If I turn on speech recognition after waiting for a while, it misses recognition of the first couple of words. I think it has more to do with the Bluetooth technology and the latency. That is also an issue when I'm using text to speech after waiting for a while. The text to speech feature misses the first few words.

While the headset is very usable despite the issues mentioned above, I'm looking to move up to next level, and considering to buy the Philips SpeechOne headset.

However, considering the price, can someone please confirm if the Philips speechone headset solve for the three concerns have mentioned above I.e. Ability to pick up the softest of voice, extreme noise cancellation and zero latency ( I understand it uses a different wireless technology than Bluetooth).

If you decide on the Philip SpeechOne, we have 2 units that we tested for 5 minutes. You can see that they have been unwrapped so technically they are now open box. We sent a 10% off coupon, to your email address, if you're interested.

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Thanks for the offer Lunis. From your experience and testing, do you think Philips speechOne will address the three concerns I highlighted?