Continuous speech recognition in MR imaging reporting: Advantages, disadvantages, and impact

OBJECTIVE. Our objective was to describe our experience with a commercially available continuous speech recognition system, highlighting the advantage s, disadvantages, and costs compared with those of conventional transcripti on for MR imaging reports. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Data from 5072 reports generated in our MR imaging s ection during a 9-month period after the implementation of a commercial con tinuous speech recognition system were compared with 4552 reports produced during the same period 1 year earlier. Information pertaining to the use of continuous speech recognition, report turnaround time, word recognition ra te, report appearance, and equipment costs was collected. RESULTS. After its system installation, continuous speech recognition was u sed to dictate 81.8% of all reports. The mean report turnaround time decrea sed from 87.8 to 43.6 hr, and report availability at 24 hr increased from 1 0.5% to 62.5%. The system was found to have an average word recognition acc uracy of 92.7% for spontaneous dictation. Mean report length declined from 95 to 60 words, with an increase in spacing errors from 0.3 to 8.0 per 1000 words and a decrease in spelling errors from 3.0 to 0.8 per 1000 words. In itial hardware and software costs were approximately $10,000, compared with a yearly cost of $12,000 for human transcription. CONCLUSION. Although the technology is still evolving and was evaluated in its earliest implementation stages, continuous speech recognition nonethele ss markedly improved report turnaround time and proved cost-effective.