Re: Voice Recognition replacing us?

None of the existing speech recognition technology (SRT) systems in
existence today are accurate enough to eliminate the need for human
editors. In most cases, SRT does increase productivity to some degree.
What this means ideally is that the same number of MTs can produce
more work in the same amount of time while maintaining at least the
same level of compensation. Of course, in the real world we often fail
to achieve the ideal. The "danger" with SRT is not that it's going to
replace you, but that it may result in a decrease in compensation for
you. Speech recognition technology is usually sold on the premise that
it will result in decreased costs for the institution. In many cases,
the sales pitch is that the institution can pay MTs less per line
because they will be producing more work in the same amount of time.
But it all depends on what formula they use to determine what the rate
of pay for editing will be compared to traditional transcription. For
instance, if the vendor says that SRT will result in a 100% increase in
productivity--that is, that the MTs will be able to produce twice as
much work in the same amount of time--then the institution may cut the
rate of compensation in half. But if in fact the SRT system fails to
result in a 100% increase in productivity, the net result is a DECREASE
in your total compensation. In my own experience and in surveying a
number of working MTs around the country who are using SRT, the average
increase in productivity is around 25%-50%, regardless of the specific
SRT platform being used.

So to summarize, it's less likely that SRT will replace you than it is
that SRT could result in a decrease in your compensation.

Jay Vance, CMT


Nell wrote:
My group of hospitals has just signed for a whole new Voice Recognition
system. They assure us that we'll be needed as editors and to
transcribe the docs the software just can't figure out. Has anyone had
this experience? What happens to all the transcriptionists once the
software has "learned" by our corrections and we're no longer needed
and how long did this take? I feel they will keep a few of us to
continuing editing by not the whole department. Thanks very much for
any information you can give me.

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