TechLawyerBlog

Chip Westbrook's Voice Comments

The following is a recent post to the MS Bar’s technology listserve on the topic of voice recognition by legal technologist Chip Westbrook, which I thought would benefit others interested in this topic:

Dragon Naturally Speaking Professional Version 9  and the VXI  BlueParrott wireless Bluetooth microphone.

I've recently upgraded to this latest and best version of Nuance's top-of-the-line voice-recognition software, Dragon Naturally Speaking Professional (Version 9) and aVXI  BlueParrott wireless Bluetooth microphone. In my opinion, both products are the best yet in their respective categories, although there are several things you should consider carefully before deciding whether to adopt them.

Version 9 of Dragon Naturally Speaking Professional incorporates all of the previous features of the top of the line version of the software, including the ability to instantly transcribe real-time dictation or digitally prerecorded dictation, full voice control of your computer, the ability to create and record voice macros and custom commands, and the ability to read back selected text aloud. Features new to this version are the ability to move a single user's vocabulary from computer to computer using thumb drive, a new transcription window function (which works with virtually every Windows application), slightly increased accuracy, and little or no training required (for basic conversational transcription). After about a month of use, I'm well satisfied with the program's unprecedented ability to transcribe dictation almost instantly with a high degree of accuracy. Normally, my accuracy rate is about 95 -- 98% when dictating in a quiet office environment. The software is like its predecessors in that it requires a very fast computer, lots of hard drive storage space and RAM, and a high quality microphone. The steep learning curve is still there for  new users, particularly if you wish to take advantage of more advanced features, but overall, the product is more user friendly than ever. The newest version comes with only a basic "quick start" printed instructions, but the CD contains full video tutorials for basic and a few advanced functions. The main disadvantages are price (around $900 suggested retail for a single user license; upgrades are available for considerably less) and extremely limited free customer support from Nuance. You get one free technical support call. All other sessions after that must be charged to a credit card and are expensive. The professional version of the software is available only from selected retailers, or directly from Nuance. If you don't need full voice control of your computer, voice macros, and multimachine user capability, the Preferred version of this product is available for about $200 at Best Buy, OfficeMax and Office Depot. Preferred will give you acceptable accuracy for basic dictation, and is what I would recommend if you want to try out this kind of software without a huge investment. Dragon isn't going to replace a legal secretary, but it can be superior substitute for a traditional dictation system, if you're willing to make the investment in the necessary hardware, software and time to learn how to use the program to its best advantage.

Critical requirements for accurate force recognition are consistent placement of the headset microphone and recalibration of the microphone whenever it is removed and then put back on again by the user.  As a result, the wired standard headsets supplied with Dragon and other force recognition products have a built-in disadvantage because you must repeat these steps each time you must return to your computer, in order to maintain the highest degree of accuracy. Until recently, almost all wireless microphones on the market were minor variations of wireless microphone systems used by musicians and entertainers. The VXI Blue Parrott wireless Bluetooth microphone is the first high quality Bluetooth wireless microphones specifically designed for voice recognition systems. It consists of a charger/base unit and an over the head microphone and monural ear speaker, with an proprietary internal rechargeable battery. My experience with this unit goes back about two months. The quality of the transcription is virtually identical to VXI's and Andrea's comparable wired commercial microphones. The VXI Bluetooth product adds the security of encryption (which means that third parties can't easily monitor your dictation). The microphone "pairs" with the base station just like a Bluetooth wireless cellular telephone headset. I'm told that this headset can be used with a Bluetooth enabled cellular phone, but I haven't tried this. The main disadvantage of the VXI product is limited battery life of about five-six hours per charge.  This means that unless you buy a second headset and an independent charger, you will probably run out of battery well before the end of a normal workday.  The battery is is nonremovable and can only be recharged through the VXI base unit or a separate charger.  The base unit and one headset costs around $200.  An extra headset and charger will run you another $170, or so.  The VXI Blue Parrott is relatively expensive compared to its wired counterparts, but for heavy users of this type of software, the ability to freely move around your office without being tethered to your computer is a welcome improvement.

William V. "Chip" Westbrook, III
Bryant Dukes & Blakeslee, PLLC

1639 E. Pass Rd.

P.O. Box

10

Gulfport

,

Mississippi

39507

(physical)/39502

Ofc.

Main

: 228-8636101
Direct 228-867-0854
Cell:  228-861-1122 and

chip@bryantdukes.com

How I Use Voice Recognition

I thought I would use this post to share how I use voice recognition in my practice.  I have attempted to use voice recognition often since the late 1990’s, with little success and much frustration.  I have previously used earlier versions of IBM ViaVoice, and early editions of Lernout & Haupie’s Dragon Naturally Speaking, but every attempt left me more frustrated and a less efficient.  It was not until Scansoft’s Dragon Naturally Speaking version 6 that I became proficient enough, or possibly that the technology became effective enough, to make automated speech useful in my law practice.  I can identify three things that made a significant difference in my effective use of voice software.  First, I obtained a box that would handle, and added 1 Gig of RAM.  Second, I inquired of a high-quality microphone made by Sennheiser.  And third, I purchased approximately 2 hours of online coaching and training with an expert.  (I have sense lost his information, but recall he was from California and had a set of teaching videos).  With these additions, and the purchase of the Law version of DNS 6, I was able to effectively train the software and actually use it in my practice.

I now do all of my dictation using Dragon naturally speaking version 8.1.  I have resisted the urge to upgrade to version 9 of the software, although I do understand it is an improvement.  The two microphones I have found to be most effective are the Sennheiser ME3, which I always carry in my laptop bag for dictation while travelling, and the Plantronics CS 50 wireless microphone, which I use daily in the office as both my Dragon headset and my telephone headset.  I would also note that my colleague and long-time speech recognition user, Chip Westbrook, has implemented a VXI  BlueParrott wireless Bluetooth microphone, with excellent results.  In fact, Chip recently posted and very thoughtful summary of his voice recognition experience to our borrowers technology list served, which I will re-post here as a separate entry as well.

In order to make speech recognition effective, the user must be committed to training of the software by correcting words using the software's correction dialogue wizard.  In the short term, this type of correction takes longer than simply over typing the wrong word, but long term it actually trains the software to understand the way that the user speaks, and significantly increases the accuracy.  Another big time saver is the use of phrases in the software, which can and entire paragraphs of text by simply speaking a couple of words.

All of my correspondence and all longer legal pleadings and briefs are dictated using Dragon.  However, before using the software in this manner, I would caution any user to have a good proofreader follow behind looking for word errors.  The software, while accurate, frequently places the wrong word or tense on the page, although it does not make spelling errors.  As such, is often difficult for the speaker to recognise his own errors when proofreading his own work.

I believe Dragon to be a time saver in my practice and worth the additional effort to learn and train.  In a future segments I will post some additional time saving products that make speech recognition more pleasant and deficient.

Guard the Stool Softener

Ok, this isn’t really law related, but it is technology.  I was at the Walgreens tonight getting some pre-thanksgiving antacids when I observed a door over some of the medications.  When you lift the door for over 5 seconds an alert tells you of the presense of the theft prevention device, and an alarm sounds, presumably to draw attention to you if you are lifting the door frequently to stuff drugs in your jacket.  I had seen such devices on cigarettes before at the grocery store, so the technology was not the surprise, but rather what they chose to guard.  Of the hundreds of products on the Walgreens aisles, the only items protected by this theft deterrent was stool softeners.  Is this the most highly shop lifted product, and if so by whom?  All I can envision is constipated little old ladies stealthily knocking the stool softeners into their handbags with their canes.  Thank goodness Walgreens has put a stop to such rampant crime, to control the price of stool softeners for the rest of us.

Calculations

One of the most useful calculation programs I have used in my practice through the years is an old DOS based calculator called PerSense.  When I originally acquired this program, it was marketed by the publisher of Timeslips under the name Percent Edge, and as I recall sold for around $100.  I got my copy from my father, a CPA, long before I was even a lawyer, and have moved it from computer to computer as I have upgraded machines over the years.  It will produce present value calculations, amortization tables, compute pre– and post– judgment interest, and even tell you whether it is better lease or buy.  Thankfully, windows has allowed me to continue to use this DOS program, however printing has become something of a challenge, requiring me to save a printout in a .txt format, then retrieve it in a word processor, and try to make the spacing print properly.  Recently I was happy to discovery that the author of the program has written a Windows based version of the program.  What’s more, the program is available for free at http://www.persense.org/.  The free version has full functionality except printing and saving files, which can be unlocked for the purchase price of $70.  In my experience this is a solid program, and I was happy to pay the $70 purchase price just so I could enjoy Windows based printing. 

BlogJet

I have just learned about a program called BlogJet which simplifies blog posting.  The program provides a small text window on your PC which links with most major blogging  services. It seems to be fairly easy to use, although it does have some limitations such as in the placement of images, and limits on posting controls.  Still, it represents a simple method of basic blog posting when you have a few spare minutes. It is available as a 30 day free trial, which I am using now.  My initial impression is that it is worth looking at. 

Star Trek Technology for Lawyers

    My 10 year old twins have finally discovered Star Trek.  Apparently TV Land is running a Star Trek marathon over the weekend and the excited 4th Graders couldn't wait to tell me all about it.  Looking back on the 1960's show it still amazes me how much vision Gene Roddenberry had for the future state of technology.  Who could have imagined then computer data cards the size of credit cards holding untold megabits of data, or a wireless communicator that fit into the palm of the hand that could contact anyone else with such a device simply by saying their name, or the ever-useful tri-corder capable of mathematical computations, navigation, and acquiring medical data, among other things.  Yet only 40 years later we have data cards and memory sticks the size of our small finger that hold Gigabytes of data, everyone has a palm sized cellular telephone (many of which accept voice dialing commands), and our PDA's can perform complex computations, GPS navigation, and keep up with our contacts and schedules effortlessly.  Who  can imagine practicing law without these tools today.
    My favorite StarTrek technology for law practice is, of course, voice recognition.  I remember the scene in Star Trek III where Scottie picked up the mouse of the Macintosh computer and began to speak to it, and the theater errupted with laugheter.  And yet today, a mere 15 years later, I strap a cordless microphone over my ear each morning and dictate to my computer on a daily  basis. In my next post, I will go into detail on my successes and failures with voice recognition in the law office.  Until then, live long and prosper.