Subtle's dictation accuracy depends on audio quality, environment, and how you speak. These tips consistently improve results.
Fit your earbuds properly first
A well-seated earbud picks up your voice much more cleanly than a loose one. If accuracy is poor, recheck your fit before anything else. See Fit and comfort: choosing the right ear tips.
Speaking style
- Speak at a natural, steady pace — not too fast, not exaggerated. Subtle is designed for conversational speech.
- Use short phrases with brief pauses between sentences if you want cleaner paragraph separation.
- Avoid trailing off at the end of sentences — the mic picks up your voice best when you project slightly.
- Spell out acronyms, model numbers, and proper nouns on first use if accuracy is critical.
Environment
- Quieter is better. Background conversations, music, and ambient noise all reduce accuracy.
- In noisy settings, consider pausing until there's a quieter moment.
- Wind noise (outdoors) can significantly degrade quality — cup your hand slightly near the earbud or move to a sheltered spot.
Always review
Subtle — like all voice-to-text systems — can make mistakes, especially with names, technical terms, and homophones. Subtle's Terms of Use require you to review transcripts and AI outputs before relying on them. Build a quick review habit and edit as needed.
If accuracy suddenly drops
- Restart the Subtle app
- Reseat your earbuds
- Check your internet connection (transcription quality can degrade on slow connections)
- Check for a pending firmware update in Earbud settings — updates sometimes improve audio processing