Download Digital Dictation - Is it Right for Your Firm?

Digital Dictation – Is it Right for Your Firm?
by Britt Lorish Knuttgen, President, Automated Horizons, Inc.
Introduction Last month we talked about how far speech
recognition software has come, and its
capabilities. This month, join us as we go
over the differences between Voice
Recognition and Digital Dictation, and how
to determine which is the best for your
office, or whether the two should be used in
tandem.
We will also showcase the
equipment you’ll need to incorporate digital
dictation into your office, and what hardware
our experts recommend.
What is Digital Dictation and Transcription? Traditionally, microcassette recorders were the most commonly used devices by
attorneys for dictation. These analog machines had many limitations and problems,
however.
Digital dictation and transcription is a step up from analog dictation that allows for
increased workflow efficiency, better quality audio and improved functionality. Speech
is recorded digitally onto a device, without the need for tapes. Instead, the sound is
converted immediately to a digital file format that may be transmitted electronically.
These file formats may include .WAV, .MP3, or the industry standard format of .DSS.
Unlike speech or speech recognition, however, someone must still be responsible for
transcribing the audio. Digital dictation is one side of the equation, while digital
transcription is the other. That aspect of the process has not changed from analog to
digital use – only the method of recording and specific features have changed. The
workflow procedure is still quite similar.
Why Go Digital? There are a myriad of advantages to adopting a digital dictation and transcription
system, particularly when compared to traditional analog system. Some of these
advantages include:
1. Stability and Integrity of Audio Files. Tapes can be lost, mangled and wear
out. In contrast, digital files are stable and can be backed up on any computer.
2. Phase Out of Analog Equipment. Most of the companies that used to provide
analog dictation equipment are phasing out the hardware. If you have recently
tried to acquire a replacement unit for analog units by providers such as Lanier or
Dictaphone, you know that it is difficult, if not impossible. These costly
proprietary hardware items have gone the way of the dinosaur. Digital is the new
king!
3. Versatility - Better and Faster Access to Audio. Tapes must be physically
transported from the attorney to the transcriptionist for processing. Digital files
are transmitted electronically, thus allowing much quicker turnaround time.
If the attorney has dictated something while out of the office, the file can be sent
by email to the transcriptionist, rather than waiting until the attorney is back in the
office to hand the tape to his or her secretary. Likewise, files can be transmitted
over the firm’s network from attorney to transcriptionist. And like any digital file,
the audio can also be uploaded to and downloaded from websites.
4. Insert/Overwrite Capability. Analog tapes only allow attorneys to dictate in a
linear fashion. In other words, if the attorney dictates Paragraph 1 onto a tape,
then Paragraph 2, but later decides that additional verbiage should be added to
the end of Paragraph 1, it is impossible to go back and add that audio at the
appropriate point. Instead the attorney would have to append the taped audio,
with instructions to the transcriptionist as to where they want that audio inserted.
Digital files allow an attorney to insert or overwrite within the audio, thus making
for a much more versatile dictation process. With digital dictation and the
scenario above, the attorney could easily hit rewind, return to the end of
Paragraph 1 and then insert the audio desired. Paragraph 2 would automatically
be moved forward within the audio file.
5. Bookmarks. Bookmarks can be made within a digital audio file to allow for
users to return to a particular location instantaneously. The marker can indicate
a place you wish to insert more information, or simply a location you need to refer
back to.
6. Workflow. When sending files to a transcriptionist for completion, it is possible
to attach priority information to the file. So if the transcriptionist has 10 files in
her queue to be transcribed, she is automatically alerted as to which file has the
highest priority and needs to be done first. The audio files are organized in her
queue according to priority, regardless of the order in which they were dictated.
Attorneys may easily check the status of their dictation, recall dictation, and reroute their dictation to other transcriptionists. If their normal transcriptionist is out
sick or on vacation, sending it to another secretary is as simple as one or two
clicks.
Another option is to use digital dictation in conjunction with speech recognition,
which we will discuss later in this article.
How to Switch to a Digital Environment – Getting Started The first thing you will want to do is evaluate the various digital dictation systems
available to determine which suits your firm best both from a feature standpoint and a
budget standpoint. All of the products on the market should have the features listed
above, but some will have additional “bells & whistles” that may or may not be important
to your firm. Sample features include:
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Integration with other software, such as a document management system or
speech recognition
The ability to call in dictation
Embedding text, graphics and other files into dictation (Quikscribe only)
Integration with or use of PDAs to record audio files
Reporting (e.g. the ability to see how much time each attorney and
transcriptionist is spending on dictation, average typing speed of
transcriptionists, volume of files being processed daily, etc.)
Scalability to accommodate firm growth, including SQL server required
products
Ask for demonstrations of the products to make sure you understand how they work.
Be sure that the product is user-friendly.
Change can be intimidating, so be sure to
invest in some training for the attorneys and staff to make the transition as painless as
possible.
Determine what type of recorders you will use, and find out what hardware options are
available with the system you are evaluating. Will you want PC-based recorders that
connect via USB, wireless/Bluetooth devices or will you want mobile recorders?
Perhaps a combination of several different devices is preferable. When selecting
mobile recorders, be aware that the cheaper models will be limited in their options (e.g.
some do not have insert/overwrite functionality). The more expensive models (typically
$300 and up) will have a more robust feature set. Part 3 of our Speech Solutions series
will detail what equipment is necessary, and what is recommended.
System Requirements Once you have narrowed down the possible contenders for your digital dictation system,
pay close attention to the system requirements. There are some software products that
require their own SQL server, which will significantly inflate the cost of the installation.
For larger firms, this may be more ideal, but for smaller firms this is typically overkill.
There are several smaller firm products which require little from a server perspective, as
the workstations are performing the bulk of the work. It will be important to know the
difference and make sure that your computer system is capable of the additional load
on the workstation and/or server side.
The most common upgrades needed are for memory and hard drive space. Audio files
can be quite large, even when compressed, therefore if your firm is going to process a
large volume of audio files every day, and they will be stored and backed up at the
server level, it is important to make sure there is plenty of free space both on your
server hard drives, as well as on your backup media. Sound cards and speakers may
also need to be upgraded or purchased for workstations, to allow for better sound
quality on playback.
To better understand the basic digital dictation/transcription workflow,
below is a diagram that explains the flow of the audio:
Speech file recorded on
a wired, wireless or
handheld device
Attorney
Computer
Transcriptionist assigned by default or by
Attorney selection
Server
Software As mentioned above, there are a variety of software applications that will perform all of
the basic features that are fundamental to a digital dictation system. There are also
some that provide extras which may prove beneficial to your firm. Be sure to ask for a
feature list, and see if the software vendor has a comparison chart as to how their
product stacks up to other industry leaders.
Some of the industry leaders in digital dictation include:
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Quikscribe (www.quikscribe.com)
Winscribe (www.winscribe.com)
BigHand (www.bighand.com)
Start-Stop (www.startstop.com)
Dictaphone (http://tinyurl.com/dkkux8)
Crescendo (www.crescendo.com)
Verdatum (www.verdatumsys.com)
For the purposes of this material, we are going to focus on Quikscribe, as it has some
unique features that none of the others have, and it also happens to be the product that
Affinity Consulting Group regularly recommends. The process of transmitting a file from
the attorney to the transcriptionist varies slightly from product to product, therefore the
process described below also refers specifically to workflow within Quikscribe.
Workflow Procedure
The first step in the process of transmitting a file from the attorney to the support staff is
creating the dictation itself, either using a wired microphone (such as a Philips USB
SpeechMike), a Bluetooth wireless device, or a mobile recorder. If using a direct
connect device, rather than a mobile recorder, the attorney will create the audio file and
dictate directly onto his or her computer. If the attorney is using a mobile recorder, an
additional step is required to transfer the file from the digital recorder to the attorney’s
computer. Most mobile recorders include the option to automatically transfer files from
the recorder to the computer as soon as connection is detected via a cable or cradle.
Once the digital audio file is located on the computer, the attorney can make corrections
or additions as appropriate, or if no changes are needed, send it directly to the
transcriptionist. Once the dictation file is complete, the file can be sent to the
appropriate support staff or transcription pool, which may be selected from a predefined list. While connected to the firm’s network, it is typical that the file will be sent
over the network to the transcriptionist’s typing queue. However, if the attorney is out of
the office and using a laptop, then they may send it via email or upload it to a website or
FTP address. When sending the file, the attorney has the option to assign a priority to
the file, as well as provide additional pertinent instructions.
Once the file is sent, the transcriptionist will be notified, either with a flashing notification
or via an email, that there is dictation waiting. The transcriptionist will open the file and
begin transcription, using a USB connected foot pedal and headset. Alternatively, the
file may also be manipulated with on-screen buttons and keyboard shortcuts.
Quikscribe has a proprietary file format called .IAF (Intelligent Audio Format), which
enables it to show embedded text, graphics and even other files right within the audio
file. This can be particularly useful when dictating files that require reference to other
information. For instance, let’s say you are dictating a brief and are citing portions of a
case from your online or CD-based research product. With other products, you would
have to dictate the portions of the case you are citing and your transcriptionist would
have to re-transcribe it. Not so with Quikscribe. Using Quikscribe you may instead
copy the text from the case and paste it right into your audio file at the appropriate
location. When your support staff receives the audio file and begins transcribing it, he
or she will hear a pause and a chime, indicating a marker has been reached in the
audio file. They simply hit Ctrl-V to paste the marker, which holds the copied text from
your case. Instantly the text appears in the transcribed document, without any
additional effort.
Naturally, there are a number of other useful applications for this feature as well.
Graphics may be inserted using this same method, as can entire additional documents.
For instance, if you are dictating a letter to accompany another document that has
already been saved on your network or computer, you may want to link that document
to your dictation so that your secretary may print the two or email the two together. This
can be done very quickly using the insert file feature.
Digital Dictation Coupled with Speech Recognition The ability now exists within some digital dictation applications to actually couple the
best of both worlds, digital dictation and speech recognition. An attorney can dictate and
choose to use one or the other method for transcription, or merge the technology of
both.
For instance, an attorney may like the ability of having speech recognition do the bulk of
the transcription, but still want to route the file to his or her transcriptionist for review,
correction and formatting, using the workflow and priority features available in the digital
dictation system. In this scenario, the attorney dictates using his favorite microphone
and sends it to the transcription queue. That queue can feed to the speech recognition
software first, then the transcriptionist, or it can send it to the transcriptionist directly,
depending on the option selected when the file is sent.
For instance, when using Quikscribe with Dragon NaturallySpeaking, the attorney’s
workflow would be essentially the same with one exception. The file is dictated, but
before the attorney clicks Send, they select a checkbox to indicate the use of “voice
recognition”. Selecting that box is what tells the file to take a detour through Dragon
NaturallySpeaking before sending it on to the transcriptionist.
When the transcriptionist receives the file in Quikscribe, they will have a marker that
pauses and chimes, just as they do when text, graphics or files have been copied into
the audio in the earlier example. At that point they simply use the Ctrl-V function to once
again paste the inserted text into the document.
Conclusion As you can see, there are many different ways that digital dictation can not only
streamline your workflow, but also prevent data loss due to damaged equipment or
misplaced tapes. Whether used on its own or in conjunction with speech recognition
software, it is a valuable tool that can help streamline your productivity and efficiency.
Join us next month for Part 3 of our focus on Speech Solutions – Microphones and
Hardware Requirements.