For some reason, speech recognition software has attracted the misnomer that you are required to dictate loudly. This is incorrect. Perhaps it was attributed by the manner in which some people speak to those who can’t understand them. The immediate response in that situation is often to slow down your speech and speak more loudly. As patronising as this may be, it comes as a natural instinct.
Dragon doesn’t require you to speak loudly. The software is geared towards uniformity and consistency, which means that keeping a steady speech pattern usually is the best practice. You’re asked to keep the microphone about a thumb’s width away from the corner of your mouth. If you’re speaking loudly, the microphone set up will adjust to accommodate people with booming voices. If during usage you speak too loudly, this distorts the sound quality and may prompt the software to bring up a message to recalibrate your microphone. The same can happen when you’re in a noisy environment when the speech engine is struggling to differentiate your voice from background noise.
The fact is you can dictate quietly in an open office set up as long as you keep this volume level consistent. Set up the microphone according to your workplace requirements. If you don’t want colleagues to be bothered, trying using a quieter volume of speaking to avoid causing unnecessary distraction. Dragon just needs to be able to get a clear recording.