DHMC Speech Recognition Resources

Beginner's Guide to Speech Recognition Software

How can you begin using this new technology? Before taking the plunge yourself, it is highly recommended that your thoroughly review this site, follow some of the links to other sites with information about voice recognition software and its use, and speak with some of the folks at DHMC already using this technology. Finally, you or a member of your Section might consider joining the DHMC Voice Rec User's Group, which is dedicated to learning about, perfecting the use of and disseminating this new technology.

Here are the basic requirements:

Voice recognition software (Dragon NaturallySpeaking Medical Solutions)
Reasonably good computer (Stock DHMC Lenovo, possibly with RAM upgrade to 2GB)
Good quality microphone (Consider Sennheiser ME3 or Dictaphone PowerMic II)

For a quick overview of recommended equipment to get started with speech recognition software, please visit the Equipment Overview Page.

The software: Although there are three products offering voice or speech recognition software (IBM ViaVoice, Microsoft Office XP and 2003, and Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking), the latter product (Dragon) is generally regarded as superior and is highly recommended. In September of 2008 Dragon Medical 10 was released and includes many useful enhancements from prior versions, including heightened speed and accuracy.

Which version should you buy? Unless you or your clinical section has dire financial limitations that prevent you from doing so, NaturallySpeaking Medical Solutions is the recommended product. What are the differences between the available versions of Dragon

Version	Features	Cost
Standard	Ability to dictate but no capacity for building commands	$99
Preferred	Ability to create simple text and graphics commands	$200
Professional	All of above, but added ability to create "advanced scripting" commands	$749
Medical Solutions	All capabilities of Professional version with addition of medical vocabularies	$995

If the Medical Solutions seems like a lot of money, consider for a moment that it will potentially serve you for a couple of years (until an improved version is released) and will save you a year of hand typing or the cost of secretarial transcription. We strongly suggest you bite the bullet and purchase the Medical Solutions Version

Where should you purchase? Recently one of our D-H users developed a channel to purchase the software at a huge discount from usual retail price. Contact Jon Wahrenberger in Cardiology to learn more.

Computer Needs: There is little argument that this technology will perform better with higher quality and faster computers. This does not necessarily mean you cannot obtain reasonably good accuracy with an average computer. Users at DHMC are getting good results with the "stock" DHMC Lenovo laptop, but even better results with more cutting edge hardware.

Needed upgrades to the stock DHMC laptop: The only needed upgrade is memory (RAM). You should consider 1 GB the bare minimum, but better results will likely result from 2 GB. This is particularly the case if you tend to have lots of applications running at one time. How can you determine how much RAM your current machine has? Follow this quick procedure:

Right click on My Computer
Select Properties

On the "General" tab, the amount of RAM will be listed.

If you need to increase your RAM, you should contact computing services and inquire about an upgrade. Alternatively, you can easily assess your upgrade possibilities by visiting Crucial.com which offers a simple process for scanning your system and determining. Purchasing two 1GB memory chips (bringing you to a total of 2BG) will cost about $185.

Microphone: Although the Dragon software comes with a microphone, this is $15 microphone and should be considered a "starter". For serious speech recognition, and particularly in the often loud hospital environment, you should strongly consider purchasing a higher quality microphone.

DHMC users are currently getting good results with 2 microphones:

Sennheiser ME3: this is a head-mounted microphone which is absolutely the best in terms of accuracy and noise cancellation. If you will be commonly dictating in a loud environment such as an open clinic or nursing station, you should consider the Sennheiser ME3. We recommend you use this microphone along with a USB sound adapter.
Dictaphone PowerMic II: This is a unique microphone with extensive integration with Dragon 10 Medical. It is hand-held, very accurate, and includes a series of buttons which can be programmed to accomplish a variety of functions within Dragon. It's significantly more expensive than the ME3, not quite as noise canceling, but overall extremely convenient.

Our recommmned microphone is the Sennheiser ME3, used with an Andrea USB sound adapter. Using this set-up, the microphone is plugged into a small external sound adapter which, in turn, is connected to an available USB port on your computer. For an overview of other microphone possibilities, we recommend that you visit the Microphone Selection Gude at Speech Recognition Solutions. Current favorites at DHMC are the Sennheiser ME3 and the Dictaphone PowerMic II.

Sources of microphones:

Speech Recognition Solutions: This is an excellent source of speech recognition microphones at low prices, including the Sennheiser ME. Also a great source of links, free resources and read-made Dragon NaturallySpeaking commands for downloading. Additional discount is provided to Dartmouth-Hitchcock users. If you identify yourself as a DHMC user and request the discount it will be provided.
emicrophones.com
Knowbrainer.com
microphones.com

And now what? With all of this as background, are you ready to take the plunge and try voice recognition software? If the high cost of the software is an impediment you could certainly pick up the consumer version at Staples or through an internet vendor and try it out. Although it will be missing many of the bells and whistles you will enjoy in the Professional version with Medical Solutions, the speech engine is identical and you will likely be surprised by the basic medical terms contained even in the inexpensive consumer version of the software.

If you are ready to purchase the software and are reasonably sure your computer will handle the challenge, Good luck! Don't forget to visit other speech software related links. A helpful overview of the use of Dragon 10 Medical can be reached via the link below.

Other helpful resources:

CIS Set-up: If you're using version 8 or 9 with CIS, in order to get full functionality you'll need to make a small modification to a dragon file. Read this short guide to making a minor change to Dragon in order to make it fully functional within CIS.

Dragon 10 Medical Overview: Read a short review of Dragon 10 Medical, released in September of 2008, by Jon Wahrenberger.

Dragon 10 Medical User's Guide: This is a fairly lengthy guide to installing and effectively using Dragon 10 Medical and was authored by a Dartmouth-Hitchcock physician.

Backup Instructions: this is a quick overview of methods of backing up your current user file

Accuracy Guide: This is a simple guide put together by Jon Wahrenberger and summarizes steps you can take to obtain the highest levels of accuracy when using NaturallySpeaking

Medical Commands for Downloading: The Dragon 10 User's Guide referenced above contains links to a bunch of commands for use with Dragon, including some commands designed for use in D-H's CIS.

Command Building Guide: the true efficiency of Dragon results from creating simple text commands in which a single dictated word or phrase leads to the immediate placement of more extensive text, similar to CIS "Quick Inserts" but dramatically faster and easier. This guide provides simple instruction for doing this.

Return to the main DHMC Voice Recognition Software Page