Designing Effective Speech Interfaces

Medical

One of the vertical markets targeted for speech technology is the medical market. Doctors have been using traditional dictation devices for years. Doctors are highly paid, and their time is at a premium. They are on the move physically from room to room, floor to floor, ward to ward, or building to building. Their work often requires hands-free use. For all of these reasons, doctors have been using dictation. Speech technology is just a new device to meet their dictation needs.

Speech technology has advantages over regular tape dictation because tape dictation has to be transcribed from tape to a computer. Speech recognition technology eliminates that transcription step, saving time and reducing errors. Other health care practitioners, such as nurses, specialists, or the primary care physician, can receive information faster to act on treatment plans.

Speech recognition technology eliminates that transcription step, saving time and reducing errors.

Besides dictation, speech technology allows doctors to listen to patient records rather than having to read them. Often doctors need an eyes-free environment as well as hands-free. Speech synthesis allows the doctors to listen and look at the same time.