There is a significantly higher rate of transcription error in women compared to men when using commercial voice recognition applications, according to a recent study.
"Our residency program and department recently made the transition to speech recognition from a digital dictation system," said Syed Ali, MD, lead author of the study. "This prompted us to ask research questions about how to increase our accuracy rates and what factors adversely impacted speech recognition," said Dr. Ali.
Ten radiology residents, five male and five female, were each trained on a commercial speech recognition application. Each resident was asked to dictate a standardized set of ten radiology reports containing a total of 2,123 words. Utilizing a commercial software solution, the generated reports were then compared with the original reports and error rates were calculated. The error rate was defined as the sum of the number of word insertions and deletions divided by the total word count for a given report.
According to the study, error rates in the male population ranged from 0.025 to 0.139 while the error rates in the females ranged from 0.015 to 0.206. The results show a higher rate of recognition error in the females compared to the males.
"The immediate impact of the study for radiologists is an increased level of awareness that women may need to spend more time training on the system than their male counterparts and may have to work somewhat harder to make the system successful," said Dr. Ali. "This could include using macros or actually altering dictation style to increase recognition rates," he said.
"Any efforts to improve recognition rates will have a positive impact on physicians and patients of course by reducing error rates and improving productivity," said Dr. Ali.
The full results of this study will be presented on Monday, May 7, 2007 during the American Roentgen Ray Society’s annual meeting in Orlando, FL.
Source: American Roentgen Ray Society
Related stories:
W3C looks to improve speech recognition technology for web transactions
W3C, the standards-setting body for the Internet (World Wide Web Consortium), has completed a draft for the important VoiceXML 3.0 - technology enabling voice identification verification. While normally associated with voice commands, it has the potential to greatly speed and improve the accuracy and positive proof of online transactions.
Review: Biometrics Technologies Measure Up (Part 2/3)
(Part 2/3)
(Part 1) Biometrics technologies have come a long way from a slow start in the early 80s. Now they can be found almost anywhere and soon, almost everywhere.
Climate change target may lead to 'dangerously misguided' policies
The pledge from G8 countries to cut global emissions by 50 per cent by 2050, in an effort to cut global warming to 2ºC, could lead to ‘dangerously misguided’ climate change adaptation policies, according to new research from The University of Manchester.
Fast quantum computer building block created
(PhysOrg.com) -- The fastest quantum computer bit that exploits the main advantage of the qubit over the conventional bit has been demonstrated by researchers at University of Michigan, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and the University of California at San Diego.
Vegas 'Quantum Spookshow' Demos On-the-Fly Encryption of Streaming Video
Las Vegas shows often are on the cutting edge. Following this tradition, researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have landed gigs this week at Caesar's Palace and the Riviera Hotel and Casino to perform live demonstrations of quantum cryptography, theoretically the most secure form of encryption.
Microbes beneath sea floor genetically distinct
Tiny microbes beneath the sea floor, distinct from life on the Earth's surface, may account for one-tenth of the Earth's living biomass, according to an interdisciplinary team of researchers, but many of these minute creatures are living on a geologic timescale.
New study: Coffee drinkers have slightly lower death rates than people who do not drink coffee
A new study published today in
Annals of Internal Medicine has good news for coffee drinkers: Regular coffee drinking (up to 6 cups per day) is not associated with increased deaths in either men or women. In fact, both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee consumption is associated with a somewhat smaller rate of death from heart disease.
Driving while phoning danger as bad as drink-driving
Motorists who use cellphones while driving make as many, if not more, driving errors as clinically drunk drivers, according to educational psychologist Professor Michael Townsend. He says the proposed ban on hand-held cellphone use by drivers is long overdue.