Evaluation of VoiceType Dictation for Windows for the radiologist.

The accuracy of the radiology vocabulary domain of the IBM VoiceType Dictation for Windows speech recognition system for use in a clinical setting was evaluated. Six men and one woman dictated a case report under several conditions. The impact of vocabulary domain, microphone position, personal enrollment, and background noise were assessed. The dictations were exported to Microsoft Word 6.0, printed, and graded for accuracy. The data were expressed as a percentage correct. The enrollment and training processes took an average of 5 hours to complete. The accuracy of VoiceType Dictation was significantly reduced by speech volume and background noise level so that it could not be used to dictate clinical information accurately in a hospital setting. Although IBM's VoiceType Dictation with the radiology vocabulary domain has improved speech recognition, it is not a reliable dictation system for accurate and efficient clinical dictation in a hospital setting.