| Perfect English Not Needed For Voice Recognition Software |
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The questions continue to pour in, with voice recognition technology still the hot topic: Question Is there any experience with voice recognition technology for foreign-born physicians? I have not had a very good experience with voice recognition in my car; it just does not recognize certain syllables, no matter how hard I try to teach it. I am sure there are many other foreign-born physicians who would love to change over. Answer One of the great strengths of voice recognition software is that it doesn't care about the way you speak -- only that you are consistent. As you do the initial training process, the software "learns" how you pronounce specific words and phrases. Although low background noise is ideal, technology is intelligent enough to separate the background noise from your voice, as long as it is consistent. I would suggest that you try using voice recognition in stages. First, use it directly at a desktop personal computer, in a relatively quiet part of your clinic. Then, once you have had good results with that, you can move to using a portable digital recorder. Because the digital recorder does not give you instant feedback, you might discover that your error rate has increased. Although it may cause you to change your clinic work flow a bit, try to dictate outside the patient room, directly into a desktop PC. Question Can you suggest software and hardware that might work in conjunction with a Compaq IPaq if it were to be used for a voice dictation device? Also, are there Web sites that might demonstrate how this could be used together? Answer Because voice recognition software is very demanding, even on the most powerful desktop PCs, I think practical voice recognition with personal digital assistants is still a bit out of reach. One current solution is treating the PDA as a digital recorder, and exporting the recorded sound file to a desktop PC with voice recognition software. You might find Fonix Corp.'s Web site (http://www.fonix.com/) interesting. The company makes natural user interface technology solutions for wireless and mobile devices, which you might find useful. Question In your previous column, you referred to ViaVoice; how can I learn more about that company? Answer Access the ViaVoice Web site (http://www-4.ibm.com/software/speech/). Question Can you direct me to a comparative review of the Dragon vs. IBM systems? Also, have you heard anything about the MD Dictate system (aka MD Productivity), which has a Dragon-based product? Answer You'll find a few reviews of products in PC World magazine (http://www.pcworld.com/). I haven't heard of MD Productivity; however, in the search for your ideal solution, gather as much information as you can. Let MD Productivity provide you with one of its demonstrations. Remember, most of the off-the-shelf voice recognition packages do have a 30-day return policy. Question Is there software for word-processing a consult on, for example, a laptop? Would that be less efficient than dictating on voice recognition software? Answer One of the fastest ways to create a note is through the use of a word processor, such as Microsoft Word, and using a "template" or "macro." You can learn more about this feature in MS Word by typing "autotext" in help (F1 key). Once you spend a little bit of time generating these templates, the text can be automatically generated. For example, by simply typing in "abdomen exam," the text "abdomen is soft, nontender, with active bowel sounds and no guarding" can be generated automatically. With regard to voice recognition technology and the laptop, make sure it's powerful. I've used voice recognition software on a PIII 500 laptop with 64 MB of RAM and found it to be still a bit slow. Thus, if you want to experience voice recognition technology, try it first on a powerful desktop PC. Question I would like to incorporate voice recognition technology into my practice but am concerned about the accuracy and ability to handle dictation speeds. I dictate very rapidly and am skeptical that there is software capable of keeping up with this speed. Do you have any suggestions? Answer Voice recognition technology can handle high dictation speeds. But with some slight changes to the way you dictate, you may be able to actually increase your speed. Remember that in creating a template, by simply saying "normal physical exam," the entire physical exam note can be generated. Don't be surprised if you may have to change the way you currently dictate. The reason: Voice recognition software has a bit of trouble with "mumbling," or with the ever-popular "ah" or "um" that people use as time fillers while they think. Written byTom Savel, MD |
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