Transcription Technology Watch

This is the first in a series of quarterly articles that will focus on technologies relevant to medical transcription. Hopefully, maybe even those MTs who are techno-phobic will find some of the topics enlightening, stimulating and/or of value in making career decisions. But maybe not. To challenge that hope, I've started off with everyone's favorite technology: speech recognition. If you want to really stimulate a transcriptionist, just say "speech recognition." Or, better yet, assert that "speech recognition will forever change the process of converting physicians' thoughts and utterances into text." Then run for cover.

Every transcriptionist out there has heard some form of that assertion. Their reactions range from dismissal to fear to anger. So what's the truth? What does the future hold? Well, at some point in the future, there will be no medical transcription. Physicians will dictate into a PC or portable device; their speech will be converted to text; and the dictator will make any necessary corrections to finalize the report. No transcription expense. No transcription delay. But that future is at least 3 years off. Just kidding. It's way more than that. However, there is a future closer than that, related to speech recognition, which has some major implications for this industry.

Doctors hate doing anything that they believe is below their stature or slows down their ability to generate revenue. So we will not see "front-end" recognition-where they correct their own mistakes as described above-in most environments for many years. But there's a new game in town. It's called "back-end" speech recognition. Physicians don't change a thing in their dictation behavior. They continue babbling into telephones or some other dictation device just like they always have. But their voice files are now run through a server-based recognition engine, a draft is produced, and a medical editor corrects the errors both in recognition and dictation.

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IBM marketing software that makes speech just like text

ARMONK — IBM has begun selling speech-recognition software developed in the Hudson Valley to customers who hope to use the technology to develop real-world products.

The software, an outgrowth of IBM Research, is an effort to bring its intellectual capital to the marketplace.

Big Blue's selling the software to business clients, who then can find ways to incorporate it into new products. The company said its software will enable those clients to gain a competitive advantage in new markets.

"One of the unique ways IBM Research stays ahead of the competition is by looking at innovations that will have a real-world impact," said David Nahamoo, chief technology officer for speech technology at IBM Research. "We are helping the IT market explore new growth opportunities enabled by our state-of-the-art speech technologies and solutions."

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How To Use Speech Recognition in Windows XP

SUMMARY
This article describes how to use speech recognition in Windows XP. If you installed speech recognition with Microsoft Office XP, or if you purchased a new computer that has Office XP installed, you can use speech recognition in all Office programs as well as other programs for which it is enabled, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Speech recognition enables the operating system to convert spoken words to written text. An internal driver, called an speech recognition engine, recognizes words and converts them to text. The speech recognition engine may be installed with the operating system or at a later time with other software. During the installation process, speech-enabled packages such as word processors and web browsers, may install their own engines or they may use existing engines. Additional engines are also available through third-party manufacturers. These engines often use a certain jargon or vocabulary; for example, they may use a vocabulary that specializes in medical or legal terminology. They can also use different voices allowing for regional accents such as British English, or use a different language altogether such as German, French, or Russian.

You need a microphone or some other sound input device to receive the sound. In general, the microphone should be a high quality device with noise filters built in. The speech recognition rate is directly related to the quality of the input. The recognition rate is significantly lower or may be unacceptable if you use a poor microphone. The Microsoft Speech Recognition Training Wizard (Voice Training Wizard) guides you through the process, recommends the best position to place the microphone, and allows you to test it for optimal results.

After you have installed the system and it is working, you must train the engine for your environment and speaking style. To do so, click the Speech Recognition tab, click Train Profile, and then follow the instructions in the Voice Training Wizard to train the system to recognize background noises such as a fan, air conditioning, or other office sounds. The engine adapts to your speaking style including accents, pronunciations and even idiomatic phrases.

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Automation Of Medical Transcription Is Driving Growth In Speech Recognition

A new report by independent market analyst Datamonitor discusses speech recognition and its use in the medical industry for transcription and dictation. It reveals that healthcare automation is driving growth in speech technology and the leading vendors, Nuance and Philips, are providing specialized solutions. The report, "Automating and Enhancing Processes through Voice in Desktop and Back Office Environments", explains that although adoption of PC-based speech recognition is not widespread, the technology has found its niche in the healthcare market, where automation and cost savings are key drivers.

Tighte budgets and the need for accurate patient records are forcing healthcare providers to automate processes with speech recognition

Changes are taking place in the healthcare industry as issues over budgets and the accuracy of patient information arise. In order to reduce the error rate in diagnosis and ensure information is recorded efficiently, healthcare providers are adopting electronic health records (EHRs). Using speech recognition with digital dictation systems, to dictate notes directly into EHRs, means that doctors can update information faster and with lower error rates. "Patient information is gradually becoming digitized in order to address issues with delivering records and test results faster," said Aphrodite Brinsmead, analyst at Datamonitor and author of the report. "By reducing the number of illegible handwritten documents and simplifying processes, providers can eradicate errors in diagnosis."

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Medical Transcription: Automation is Driving Growth in Speech Recognition

Healthcare automation is driving growth in speech technology, with the leading vendors providing specialized solutions, according to a new report by Datamonitor. Although use of PC-based speech recognition is not widespread, the technology has found its niche in the healthcare market, where automation and cost savings are key drivers.

Tight budgets and the need for accurate patient records are forcing healthcare providers to automate processes with speech recognition. In order to reduce the error rate in diagnosis and ensure that information is recorded efficiently, healthcare providers are adopting electronic health records (EHRs).

By dictating notes directly into EHRs, using speech recognition with digital dictation systems, doctors can update information faster and with lower error rates. Patient information is gradually becoming digitized in order to deliver test results and records more quickly. By reducing the number of illegible handwritten documents and simplifying processes, providers can eradicate errors in diagnosis.

Speech recognition is also being used for medical transcription, easing pressure on transcriptionists and allowing healthcare providers to save on staffing costs. Medical transcription is estimated to be a multi-billion dollar market and speech recognition vendors are taking advantage of this.

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