Digital voice recorders and speech recognition have made it possible for you to be able to not only dictate what you want but obtain a hard copy transcript with minimal fuss. It used to be that you would dictate using a tape deck or even the even further outdated short hand written out by a secretary and then have someone else translate or transcribe to create the script.
Those long and convoluted ways of dealing with getting what you want done on paper quickly with the minimum amount of hassle are over. You can now use speech recognition software and digital voice recorders to not only dictate but transcribe. There are thousands of people who make use of these tools on a daily basis to make business that much easier.
Consider this example, you are in a meeting with a large group of people, brainstorming or simply discussing the latest data on a project. You can easily record that information on a digital voice recorder and then hand it off to a transcriptionist who then uses a speech recognition program to listen then dictate what is heard producing a hard copy script of the information; you need in a matter of minutes instead of hours.
Transcriptions used to listen, type, pause, listen, type, pause at a rate of around 70-90 words a minute. The average person speaks more than 120 words a minute. This accounts for the length of time it takes to transcribe the data from a digital voice recorder into hardcopy. However, a person using a speech recognition program can process data at the rate of 120 words per minute with more 98% or better accuracy on the first time.
Using a digital voice recorder and a speech recognition program for your own notes has never been easier. Once you have trained your speech recognition program to your voice patterns you can simply set up the recorder to play back and watch your speech program save you time by transcribing you voice. All you need to do is make minor corrections standard with the use of any voice recognition program.
The invention of the digital voice recorder took people from time-consuming tapes to compact MP3s and made it possible to recorder voices clearly and distinctly something that was sometimes lacking on tape based recorders. This makes it possible for you to be able to use speech recognition software to transcribe what you have recorded.
The combination use of speech recognition and the digital voice recorder is something new however; it is something that is making its mark when it comes to time management and cost effectiveness. There is a great deal that can be said for the benefits of technology and the advent and increased use of speech recognition software and the digital recorder has gone a long way to increasing the benefits that technology brings across the board to any number of business, professional, personal and creative applications.
It is amazing what your computers can do for us today compared to what they were able to do years ago. One thing that computers are capable of doing is talking to us. There are programs out on the market today that will allow you to take the text on your computer and turn into speech so that you can hear what is on your computer screen. This works not only for your computer but for things such as a GPS. This allows you to drive and hear the directions rather then having to look at a screen while you drive.
By using such text to speech software you can give and get so much more out of your computer. While many computers come equip with simple software that will do this, you can get more advanced options with different software for speech to text. You can choose different voices and languages and add the text to speech software to your website as well. This will allow you to give your visitors a whole new way to experience site. This works well for blogs. It can let your visitors explore other things on your site while they listen to your content.
Other ways that software uses text and speech are for mobile devices such as cell phones. Many phones now come with a speech or voice recognition program that will allow the user to train the phone to recognize their voice so that they can simply speak the name of who they want to call and the phone does the rest of the work. This can make using a cell phone so simple, as it allows you to keep doing what you are doing rather then having to stop and look at the screen. Even google is on board with their own mobile voice software that allows you to use their search engine from your cell phone by simply speaking what it is that you want to look for.
The text to speech software is a favorite for many people as it can help you to easily proof documents that you have typed and it can help those who suffer with dyslexia immensely as it reads the screen for them. People that have stayed away from computers as they have eye problems and can’t read the print on the screens have found that that this kind of software allows them to finally be a part of the World Wide Web. It let’s them experience the Internet in a way that they never dreamed of.
If you are thinking of getting this kind of software then you will want to make sure it does what you want it to. You can check to see what programs it will be compatible with so you will be able to use it in more then one are on your computer. You want to also check reviews out of each product that you are interested in so that you can be sure that you are getting a good quality product.
If you are accustomed to handling quite a lot of your personal business over the telephone then chances are that you are quite familiar with automated speech recognition. Although this system is wonderfully convenient at times, as well as being rather cost effective, it can be a bother. It would be even more wonderful if all you needed to do was to tell the system exactly what you want. Well, this might be a reality pretty soon, because spoken language understanding (SLU) is a project that is taking on the problem of real-time understanding in the area of advanced telecommunication. This project is called the LUNA project and has a cost of 2.61 million euros. LUNA is headed by Ms Silvia Mosso who is from Loquendo, and Italian speech technology group. They are attempting to make a tool kit for multilingual services that will be able to perform human to computer communication in a way that best suits the average client.
Among the issues that the LUNA project is addressing is ensuring that the system will understand language structure in order to understand what is said. But this is not all. Included in the issues LUNA is tackling are automatic learning, robustness issues for SLU, semantic modeling for the understanding of speech, as well as multilingual probability of SLU components.
The SLU is clearly more advanced than the interactive voice response systems (IVR). With IVR callers have to respond to specific questions by saying specific words or phrases that the system gives as options.
With LUNA that will be a thing of the past. Instead, people will be able to communicate unrestrained with a computer. In the end, thanks to LUNA people will be much more satisfied with the service that they have received.
Ms Mosso explained that they were required to record many unrehearsed conversations between different people as well as between people and computers. The computer’s basic language is called Corpora, and is a collection of all the words and phrases that were recorded. Of course the terms had to be translated in a way that the computers can understand. For example, you might tell the system that your printer is not working properly. It will respond by assisting you to go through a series of options available to you in order to rectify the situation.
Naturally, the developers all agree that once SLU is up and running people will be able to conclude their telephonic business in a far more efficient manner.
Makes the system so agreeable is the fact that it can be useful in any call centre irrespective of what the service the company provides is.
Businesses agree with the researchers that LUNA is extremely practical.
Various academic institutions from around the world are involved in the LUNA project, from France to Italy and from Poland to Japan.
Of course, once the system is fully operational the experts working on the LUNA project are expecting a degree of competition to flare up between the industrial partners.
Whereas LUNA has already devised the most advanced SLU for both Italian and Polish they are still working on the finishing touches. According to Ms Mosso the project should be done by the end of next September.
According to American Airlines, their customers will be able to access flight information with the minimum of difficulty thanks to speech recognition technology. This naturally improves its service to its customers, especially those who fly with them often.
Although speech recognition technology does replace the need for human employees it is meant only to increase customer service. However it also means that the airline will be able to save money because the number of its employees has been reduced.
One of the features offered by American Airlines to all its clients is “Remember Me”. When a customer has signed up as part of the airline’s frequent flier program, the system will not only greet them by their own name, but will also recognize their telephone number/s. Each customer is permitted three telephone numbers from which to contact the airline that the system will remember.
American Airlines has said that information such as gate and flight information will even be provided to customers on the day they will be flying without the customer having to actually request the info.
Tellme is the company purchased by Microsoft in 2008 and this is the company that supplies speech recognition technology.
With the global economy in the state it is many companies are looking for ways to cut costs. Because training employees for their call centers represents a large portion of their costs, this technology is beneficial in that way, too, as it saves the airline from having to train staff.
Tellme speech recognition technology has also been sold to other companies besides American Airlines. One other company that has purchased it is Domino’s Pizza.
Of course, as of now this technology is not able to help people to secure a seat on a flight that is already fully booked.
A central London Healthcare facility, the HCA International, has launched a speech recognition -based radiology reporting on 12 sites. This advancement has lowered the average report creation times from the previous 12 hours to only 2:40 minutes. Acceptance level on radiologist has exceeded the 60% goal by the end of the project. And with the two-thirds on the launch completed, over 96 percent of total dictations are already being processed through speech recognition.
Imaging Informatics Manager of HCA International Kaye Bonython said in a case study made by speech recognition provider Nuance Communications Inc., that the high adoption levels indicates that the profiles are excellent , reports are coming on faster and that integration is optimal.
However, HCA International had to deal with certain issues and concerns at the beginning. Kaye Bonython admitted that people had negative experience with speech recognition before and thought that it would only use too much time and that it would only add to their reporting schedule. Bonython also added that the first negative thought just disappeared soon as radiologist recognized the technology and had evolved to a state where it could enhance timing.
HCA puts much importance on affording patients with timely reports. According to Kay Bonython, many patients come to get an imaging procedure before their meeting with an outpatient consultant. They of course want to have the image done immediately, get the report and leave. There is no reservation on the improved service due to the speech recognition, and they are aware that their consultant can base decision using both the right image and the right report. HCA gives their patience a higher level of confidence.
Yearly, HCA International conducts about 330,000 radiology exam. Their 160 radiologist serve about 5,000 referring physicians. For faultless system launching, the HCA included the senior physicians to lobby for speech recognition. Essential resources were provided to trainings as well as a champion at very site for top of the line support. One-to-one training sessions of three hours each where made for every user, to lessen their early reluctance and eventually build confidence as users need not only had to be used to speech recognition but on a new digital recording hardware as well.
HCA International opted for the SpeechMagic, Nuance’s speech recognition technology after the six-week long pilots of three products which had been completely included into the organization picture archiving and communications systems (PACS) to direct possible implementation issues before the actual launching.
*We are conducting a work shop nearby to demonstrate our products
Workshop Date: 27th January
Timing: from 9 am to 6 pm
Location: Dubai – UAE
Venue: Palm 9 - Fairmont Hotel /Sheikh Zayed Road
*In case you would like to visit the Exhibition (we’re not participating in Exhibition)
Exhibition Date: 26th – 29th January
Show Timings:Monday 26th January 10:30 am to 6:00 pm
Tuesday 27th January 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Wednesday 28th January 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Thursday 29th January 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Location: Dubai – UAE
Venue: Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Center
The CEO of Emerging Technologies, Sassine Mazraani, explains how his company’s Simply Speak approach to voice recognition technology can help businesses overcome the challenges of this global economic meltdown.
ith the minimum amount of hassle are over. You can now use speech recognition software and digital voice recorders to not only dictate but transcribe. There are thousands of people who make use of these tools on a daily basis to make business that much easier.
Tags: 
