Since then, however, speech recognition technology has undergone some dramatic advances. Today, when Dr. Kaicher dictates directly into his computer, he can speak at speeds of up to 160 words per minute, without having to insert pauses. For speech recognition technology, this ability to speak naturally, known as continuous speech, is a major advance. Continuous speech is so critical that its availability is expected to help sell one million voice recognition packages this year, up from the 300,000 sold last year. To date, however, most physicians have not taken advantage of advances in speech recognition technology.
Many physicians think that speech recognition technology remains too difficult to learn and use.
Instead of jumping on the voice recognition bandwagon now, they are waiting until the technology can produce significant savings or additional revenue. According to some physicians who are experienced users of the technology, that may not be a bad plan. The biggest obstacle faced by physicians who use speech recognition technology is the time they must spend to become comfortable with the software. When Dr. Kaicher began using voice recognition software, for example, he had to spend an extra hour each day just working through the quirks of the program and inputting new patient names, medications and medical terms. Dr. Kaicher became so interested in beefing up his software's medical vocabulary that he created and now sells several vocabulary packages that physicians can use with their speech recognition software.