Digital Dictation and Speech Recognition software are everywhere! Just listen.

Digital dictation (WinScribe) allows authors (people who dictate) to dictate from anywhere in the world using virtually any input device (PC, PDA, digital recorder, the Internet, even their cell phones) and have their dictation automatically routed to the appropriate secretary or transcriptionist for immediate transcription. It’s all done digitally, which makes for very clean recordings. Going digital also provides complete tracking of a dictation job from start to finish.

Speech recognition (Dragon NaturallySpeaking) software is another form of digital dictation. It captures the spoken word, digitally, and transcribes dictation into text in a Windows application, such as Word or Outlook. It has become amazingly accurate, particularly for healthcare, with its preinstalled, highly specialized medical vocabularies.

Combining both technologies allows your dictation to be easily captured digitally and either edited by you or transcribed first by the speech recognition software, then routed to a secretary/typist for editing and finalization. Your work gets done more efficiently; your productivity increases and your reports are ready sooner.
These state-of-the-art technologies can reduce or eliminate the cost of transcription, provide complete control of the dictation workflow (HIPPA) and dramatically decrease turnaround time on reports. Many hospitals, clinics and medical practices are upgrading to digital/speech dictation or replacing their outdated or failing dictation systems with these solutions.

Several key elements must be considered prior to establishing which solution is best for your particular organization or enterprise:

• Workflow: How is your current dictation and transcription moving through your office?
• Equipment: Do your systems need to be upgraded?
• Applications: What software will you be using with the solution?
• Input Device: What input devices will work best for your users?
• Integration: Given the size of your organization, how will the solution be implemented?
• Training:Who will be working with the solution?

Workflow
Think about how you currently get your reports or documents completed. Do you dictate to a tape recorder, send the tape to a transcription company, then have them courier those documents back to you for review and signature?
Understanding your workflow helps you to better define and understand your needs. This will ultimately lead to appropriate recommendations for software, equipment, training, maintenance and a budget. It takes dedication, time and money to implement and make a speech recognition or digital dictation solution work well, but once set up, it will save you both time and money.

Equipment
For optimum performance of NaturallySpeaking software, a Pentium 4/2 GHz with a minimum of 1 GB RAM is a must.  Windows XP (SP2), 1 GB free disk space and Internet connection (to activate the license). A SoundBlaster (or compatible) sound card is required or a USB input device that can bypass lower quality sound systems can be substituted.

For WinScribe digital dictation, the system requirements for the dictation and the transcription stations are significantly lower (P3 or higher, 256 MB RAM, sound card) than those required for speech recognition software. However, digital dictation will require a dedicated server and if using Dragon, the client computers will have to meet the system requirements of Dragon.

Operating Systems and Applications
Dragon NaturallySpeaking operates best with Windows XP and is designed to work with Microsoft Office XP and 2003 applications such as Word, Outlook and Excel (the patch coming in March will add compatibility with Vista and Office 2007). You may also utilize custom software in your organization such as electronic medical record software, case law management or contact management software. This will require some customization and integration of the Dragon software with those applications.

WinScribe Digital dictation client software can be installed on Windows 2000 or XP. Its server software requires a Windows 2000 or 2003 Server.

Input Devices
For best results, an excellent microphone is crucial to both digital dictation and particularly for speech recognition software. Professional Solution speech recognition software ships with a high quality headset/microphone, but there are many other options available.

Handheld microphones, like the Philips SpeechMike, work well with both types of software. Along with a built in microphone, there is a track ball for moving the mouse as well as four buttons to control mouse clicks (Plus models only).

For those individuals who have to work “wire free” due to mobility requirements, wireless headset microphones are available. Wireless mics have been used in Pathology labs, allowing the pathologist to work on tissue samples with both hands while dictating a narrative directly to the computer.

So far, success is somewhat limited for PDAs and speech recognition however, they are acceptable for digital dictation. These devices rarely have “Microphone In” jacks for hooking up an external mic for good, clear recording. We do not recommend the use of PDAs with speech recognition at this time, even though the manufacturers indicate otherwise.

Tablet PCs have come a long way over the last several years and are now suitable for use with both the digital dictation and speech recognition software. Zephyr-TEC recommends the Motion Computing line of tablet PCs (#1 in the US) including the 8.1 inch LS800 weighing just 2.2 pounds and the 12.1 inch LE1600 weighing just 4.4 pounds with an extended battery.

Integration
Careful planning and coordination are needed to integrate either, or both, of these solutions into the workflow to minimize learning curve and disruptions. Both Dragon and WinScribe digital dictation software are customizable and programmable to allow tight integration with applications used. Installations of digital dictation solutions are more complex and involved than installation of desktop speech recognition. IT/Networking support are essential for digital dictation deployment but not be necessary for desktop speech.

Training and What It Takes
For Dragon NaturallySpeaking, even the experienced computer user should take a minimum of four hours of speech recognition training and then additional training/integration to take complete advantage of the advanced features of the Professional editions (Pro, Medical and Legal versions). Training teaches the quick development of voice macros (dictation shortcuts or "normals") to be used to increase your productivity. If a transcriptionist is going to be correcting the desktop speech recognition text output, a couple of hours of training is necessary to learn how to properly correct the mistakes made by the speech recognition software.

With WinScribe digital dictation, there is generally very little training for those who dictate (authors) since the interfaces are simple and mimic a tape recorder. The typist may require anywhere from 1-3 hours to learn the in's and out's and to program the transcription features to the individuals needs. It is the System Manager that will require the most amount of training and that usually takes about a day, depending on the complexity of the system.

Why Zephyr-TEC?
Since 1993, Zephyr-TEC has been selling, installing, training and supporting Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition and WinScribe digital dictation software. We have developed our own Learning Guides and custom macros sets for NaturallySpeaking (speech recognition) and Microsoft Office. Our Fastrack Learning Guide for NaturallySpeaking as well as our other Learning Guides (including our custom macro sets) is copyrighted and proprietary material. Our NaturallySpeaking macros add tremendous functionality to NaturallySpeaking itself.

Zephyr-TEC has won many Nuance Partnering for Excellence awards and is also a certified WinScribe partner. We work directly with the developers and application engineers of these companies and are always invited to participate in beta testing of these solutions. This keeps us on the forefront of technology to better assist our clients. Zephyr-TEC is in a unique position to successfully implement these solutions.

Learn more by downloading “Talk the Talk” our primer on digital dictation and speech recognition.

Visit our website today:  www.zephyr-tec.com

Or Call us at 1-877-493-7497

New version 3.6 announced with even more features

• Do you use Dragon NaturallySpeaking to transcribe your dictation?
• Do you use a digital recorder for your dictation?
• Do you do your own corrections?
• Would you like to have someone else correct/format your dictated documents?

If so, then you need Transcription Aid, a unique product designed for Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Transcription Aid works with Dragon as well as converts audio files from most of the brand name digital recording devices.

Transcription AID installs on the PC of the person making the corrections—we will call this person the “correctionist.” The software controls a foot pedal which plays, rewinds, or fast forwards the dictation’s audio file while highlighting the words on the screen for the correctionist. When the correctionist hears the playback play something that does not match the text Transcription Aid has displayed, the correctionist presses a pedal which launches the Dragon Spell Box. From the Spell Box, the correctionist can click the correct word or manually type it in. Once the correctionist clicks “Okay,” the text is changed in the document and the improvement is made to the Author’s voice profile in Dragon.

With a digital recorder, after completing the dictation, the dictator places the entire recorder into a cradle which hot syncs with the computer and downloads the audio file to the computer. The software can be set up to either automatically email the (encrypted) audio file to the correctionist OR save it to a networked location the correctionist monitors for new jobs.

This transcription solution is ideal for a small office with one or two authors dictating and one or two correctionists. Importantly for medical providers, it provides a HIPPA-compliant solution. Transcription AID works well for professionals who work in different locations over a network as the compressed audio file can be downloaded in one office and saved to another.

NEW IN VERSION 3.6:

• Automatic conversion and transcription of voice recordings
• Batch/group processing of multiple voice recordings for unattended multiple file transcription
• No sound drop out (protects original sound file from any changes)
• Automatic conversion and transcription of any voice recording (.wav, .mp3 or .wma format) by right-clicking
• Automatic opening of .dra files (Dragon sound files) by double-clicking and drag-and-drop
• Toggle toolbars commands for creating a larger text viewing area

If you would like to see a demonstration of NaturallySpeaking, Transcription Aid, or the Olympus DS 4000 (digital recorder), contact Zephyr-TEC for a live, online demonstration.

Talk the way you want

Did you know that you can use the Vocabulary Editor in NaturallySpeaking to have Dragon type out text that might be different than you say, like an alias?  Use the Vocabulary Editor (on the Tools Menu of the DragonBar) to specify a different Written Form for text than the Spoken form. For instance, you might want "Zephyr-TEC" typed out when you say "Zee tek."  In the Vocabulary Editor, enter "Zephyr-TEC" as the written form and "Zee tek" as the spoken form.

Or as another example, you could have Dragon type "Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious" when you say "awesome". This can be very useful with acronyms as well, for instance using "whisper" as the spoken form for "WSPR", or "D. cack" as the spoken form for "DCAC".

Finally you can do something like this:

Written Form: enter your actual email address

Spoken Form: enter insert email address

Now when you say “Insert email address” Dragon will type out your email address!

Feel free to call us if you need help with this feature: 877-493-7497