Are there any headsets that can record whispers spoken under ones breath?

[zer0nix]

Are there any headsets that can record whispers spoken under ones breath?

ideally, i would like to use such a device to make personal recordings to be used with a speech recognition / transcribing program such as dragon, so the recordings ought to be clean and accurate.

unfortunately, i've not encountered a headphone/microphone that can do this, though i have not been trying hard (i picked up some basic models without shopping around and unfortunately, these only pick up my footsteps and more sibilant esses -although i know i can hear my own voice and i've even had people from outside answer back!).

ideally, i would like the device to be a headset that can be used with a smartphone or a laptop. is there anything in the market like what i'm looking for?

PS: i want voice transcription because i find that speaking produces a more natural flow of ideas than typing, moreover i won't be bound to the desk, and i want to do this with whispers because i'm just a private guy.

[Varjak]

It sounds like you need a spy shop.

[chimeraX]

Are you going to spy someone or what? You need a pro grade directional mic and a recorder. These two items may sum up to $500. If you are not ready to spend that much, I don’t think you can get something like that done. Look for throat mikes, but I think that they are not available in market. Also, it is not possible to record whispers.

[Hook]

Are you going to spy someone or what? You need a pro grade directional mic and a recorder. These two items may sum up to $500. If you are not ready to spend that much, I don’t think you can get something like that done. Look for throat mikes, but I think that they are not available in market. Also, it is not possible to record whispers.

Nonsense. Of course you can record whispers. It's a simple gain and signal-to-noise ratio problem.

He said he wanted to make personal recordings. I assume he would like to do dictation in a public place and wants to be able to speak softly enough that others won't likely hear him (or at least, it would require a great deal of effort).

I don't know what's out there to do this. You would probably have to look at high end audio equipment because what you would need is a mic that would be extremely sensitive but for a very small area. For instance, the Mic I use for radio only picks up sound that is inches away or less and nothing from the periphery. My wife can be listening to the TV in the next room and it won't pick it up. This is a large standard dynamic mic from a music store. There are USB adapters for most professional mics that will run the mic off the laptop's power and, of course, you could get headphones. You'd need a small mic and probably a good battery. You could probably use software, like Audacity which is free, to help with the gain settings.

There are security mics out there that claim to pick of whispers several feet away, but that would be a problem if I've guessed your use right because it would pick up so much from such a large area that your whisper would be lost in the noise. Or it's a shotgun type mic, which wouldn't do you any good at all. Your needed combo --high gain, small envelope-- may be hard to find. However, you may be able to filter the final output, again with something like Audacity, to clean it up for Dragon.

I am by no means an expert in this area, but I think this is going to require investigating outside the mainstream consumer electronics market. I'd try big music stores that include music production and staging equipment and radio/electronics specialty shops.