There are a large variety of voice activated tools in use today, with many different industries benefiting from their use. This is particularly the case with the medical and healthcare industries, where they have long-term needs for communicating with patients in remote locations. There are many different applications for these tools, including communication with emergency services, paramedics, and patients in recovery. But, what are the advantages and disadvantages of these technologies?
Voice activation is the process of asking a patient’s name or identifying information, then speaking directly to them using the software. The system is capable of identifying voice patterns, much like a telephone, and then matching those patterns with a medical transcriptionist who can transcribe the information into text. These systems allow for uninterrupted communication between medical professionals and their patients.
Pro
The biggest advantage of these systems is that they can be used in the operating room setting. It is impossible for a team of doctors to efficiently and accurately treat patients if they are all talking at the same time. An interrupted conversation could cause misdiagnosis or delay the treatment until more extensive testing has been done. When the testing is complete, it could mean the difference between life and death for a patient. By using a voice recognition software program, the doctor can quickly go over the diagnosis and treatment options and make an informed decision about the course of treatment.
The most common use for voice-activated tools is for medical professionals. Hearing aids are not cheap, and hearing loss is, unfortunately, one of the fastest-growing causes of disability. While cheap hearing aids can be worn like regular glasses, there is nothing like a voice command to help someone with a hearing problem to maintain a full grasp of the conversation. This means that doctors can actually listen to patients as they talk, which helps them diagnose the problem faster and can lead to a quicker recovery.
Of course, doctors do more than just listen to patients talk. They need to be able to hear who is on the other end of the line as well. In many cases, it is impossible to know who is on the other end without looking at a monitor or dialing a number directly. However, when a doctor has a voice recognition tool on their belt, they can instantly know whether or not they are speaking to the right person. For those patients who simply want to be kept in the loop, this feature is definitely a huge advantage.
Voice-activated tools are also useful for parents who are worried about unknown numbers showing up on their child’s cell phone. Parents can use a tool to determine which of their children has gotten a call and, in turn, which of those numbers is important. This way, a parent can make sure their child is not getting into any danger and can get help much more quickly. The best part is, the technology doesn’t stop there: besides finding unknown callers, a doctor’s voice-activation software tool can also tell you whether or not your child is safe or not and keep a closer eye on things at all times.
Cons
But, voice-activated tools have also shown their drawbacks. One of the biggest problems is that there is no way to know who is on the line when the phone rings, or when the call comes in. Because the technology is simply picking up on patterns that the ear naturally produces, background noise can easily overpower the voice. For this reason, many patients have been forced to decline or hang up on calls that their medical team has placed on hold due to their own medical conditions or concerns. In some cases, patients have even been fired from their jobs because they couldn’t stand the anxiety-inducing background noise that these voice-activated tools create.
Fortunately, there are companies that are working to overcome this problem. They have developed technology that uses a set of special headphones to filter out background noises so that only the person on the line will hear the voice that is trying to reach them. The software used in these programs works by taking speech recognition technology and amplifying it tenfold. By using specially designed microphones and speakers, these voice-activated tools can pick up any sort of sound in a room and automatically play it back louder than anyone else could.