Voice recognition appears to work well on desktops, laptops, and tablets alike. However, there are some additional aspects of hardware to consider when using DNS or any other voice recognition system. For example, in order to optimize accuracy and speed, it is often necessary to have an up-to-date processor and a computer with a sufficient amount of RAM, usually at least one gigabyte. It is also a good idea to have an adequate sound card and a good microphone to get the most out of your voice recognition software.
Louis Spikol, Whitehall, PA says:
"Desktop computers: the processor should be at least a Pentium 3 (or Athlon) 800 MHz or greater with ideally 512 MB on RAM. The amount of RAM is especially important for speed and accuracy. If you have a choice between some extra processing power and extra RAM, choose extra RAM. Many of the newer speech recognition versions are optimized for the Pentium 4 processor.
"Notebook Computers: again, the processor should be at least a Pentium 3 - 800 MHz or greater with ideally 512 MB of RAM. I believe notebook computers are becoming the platform of choice for physicians and speech recognition. They have greatly matured in terms of their capabilities. In addition, laptop computers can be used quite easily in the exam room.
"Sound cards: in desktop computers the sound card should be a separate sound card. Sound cards integrated into the motherboard have too much noise and are not acceptable for speech recognition. Internal sound cards of notebook computers tend to vary - some are acceptable and some are not. Recently, external USB sound cards have become available. They are approximately $50 and are worth trying if you have difficulty with recognition either on a desktop or laptop using the internal sound card."
How well voice recognition works for you may depend upon the quality and type of microphone you are using. There are many options available and the best one for you is likely a matter of personal preference. Below are some microphone choices that have worked well for other physicians using voice recognition:
Paul Spilseth, Stillwater, MN recommends:
"I use a desktop Sennheiser MD431 II on a balanced spring microphone in my office and it works well. I use a Sennheiser headset microphone in one of my exam rooms, but I prefer the desktop microphone because it is faster (you don't have to put it on your head and take it off). You just pull the boom over to your mouth and start talking".
Brian Madden, MD, Santa Monica, CA says:
"My ideal would be that the patient doesn't even notice you're doing it; you switch the mic on and off during the encounter and you could quickly add in the snippets of charting as you went along. If you walk in with a tablet and a USB microphone/headset, it's still cumbersome, obvious, and hinders the encounter (take it off to put on your stethoscope, etc.). So for this situation the recommendation is usually the handheld device - it's small, fits in your pocket and you flip it out to record."
Speech Recognition FAQs