Ever since I started using voice dictation I’ve been curious as to whether the process of using voice recognition software to write impacts a person’s writing style. My general sense is that the answer is yes; I think speaking my writing forces me to think through what I’m going to say/write a little better. Interestingly, there was a British study on this exact topic. The results?

The results showed that, although there were large differences between the methods and experience of writing with the two technologies, there were no significant differences between the average letter lengths, numbers of paragraphs written and number of sentences used in each group of letters. Nor were there any significant differences in terms of readability, or typographical and grammatical errors. However, the dictated letters did have significantly shorter sentences, significantly fewer particularly long sentences (ie, those containing more than 50 words), and used the first-person pronoun more frequently.

I’m curious as to whether my sentences have become shorter since using voice dictation, but not so curious as to actually put any effort into finding out.

Of course, it’s not a matter of how long, it’s a matter of how you use it, right fellas!? HaHaHaHaHaHa!

And here’s an interesting article noting that voice recognition is superior than traditional dictation methods in the realm of medical transcription.

In spite of its birth pangs, as digital technology has advanced over the years, voice recognition technology (VR), by all accounts, has now surpassed traditional transcription methods for saving time and increasing accuracy in radiological reporting. For some, it has now become a “must.”

How effective is the tool? John Floyd, MD, who led a sizeable study comparing voice recognition with traditional dictation, said radiologists in one office increased their 1-hour completion rate to 82% from just 6%.

According to Dictaphone, a leading supplier of speech recognition (SR) equipment, and other VR suppliers, interpreting physicians can now turn around reports within seconds, instead of days.

Recently, I installed a free third-party tool called Vocola which works in conjunction with my Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software. Essentially Vocola allows you to create macros which can be accessed with spoken commands. So, for instance, I can say “launch acid logic” and it will pop open a browser and go to the www.acidlogic.com webpage. It’s really quite handy time-saving.