A USB Foot Pedal for Push to Talk

The Pedal Three ($69) is three ribbed foot pedals on a curved steel base with a captive USB cable. The most common reason to own one is push to talk: hold a pedal down, speak your prompt, let go, and both hands stay on the keyboard the whole time. What follows is what has to be true for that to work, because the pedal is only half of it.

What does the pedal actually send?

A keystroke. You program it once with the utility supplied for it, and after that it sends the same key or combination forever, into whichever window has focus. There is no driver left running, nothing sitting between the pedal and the application, and no way for information to travel back the other way. A foot switch is a simple mechanical object with a lead on it. That is its virtue and also its ceiling.

What does my dictation software have to support?

A key you can bind that means hold to talk. This is the part that decides whether the whole idea works, and it has nothing to do with the pedal. If your voice tool offers a push to talk shortcut, set the pedal to send that shortcut and you are finished. If it only offers a toggle, on and off, the pedal still works but the feel changes completely: you tap to start and tap again to stop, and holding gains you nothing.

Check this before you buy rather than after. Voice tools differ from each other, they change between versions, and no pedal can add a mode the software does not have.

Momentary or latching?

Momentary, for this. A momentary switch sends the key while your foot is down and releases it when you lift, which is exactly the shape of hold to talk. A latching switch stays on until you press it again, which turns a hold into a toggle whether you wanted one or not. Most USB foot switches are momentary, but it is worth confirming on the listing, because the two look identical in a photograph.

One pedal or three?

One is enough for push to talk on its own, and plenty of people never need more. Three earns its place when you want the small loop that follows dictation: talk, then yes, then no. The Pedal Three at $69 keeps its pedals close together on a curved base. The Pedal Four ($85) is a wide flat metal plate with four pedals in a row and more space between them, which matters if you work in socks or want to find the outer pedals without looking down.

Will it work on my machine?

The pedal itself will, on macOS, Windows or Linux, because it presents as a keyboard and every operating system already knows what to do with one of those. The configuration utility is the part that is not always available everywhere, so check which platforms the programming tool supports rather than assuming it matches the hardware.

One practical warning. A pedal types into whatever is focused. If you hold it while a text field has focus, you will fill that field with a repeated character instead of talking to your voice tool. Bind a combination rather than a bare letter and that problem goes away.

The full setup is written up in how to set up push to talk for dictation.