Text to speech for doctors
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What are the applications of text to speech for doctors? Learn all about this technology and how it can help medical professionals.
Efficiency is key in healthcare. Providers need robust methods to improve their workflow and automate medical records. Cutting-edge apps like text to speech software offer this functionality.
What is text to speech?
Text to speech (TTS) is a form of assistive technology that reads digital texts aloud. Many people refer to it as read-aloud technology.
Developers use cutting-edge APIs and code to create these platforms, but the interface is highly intuitive. Most apps allow you to upload content with just a few clicks or taps on your iPhone or Android smartphone. Within seconds, they convert writing into audio.
The technology is incredibly beneficial for people with reading disabilities. It can help them improve their focus, writing, editing, and other literacy skills.
Another impressive feature of TTS technology is that it’s compatible with practically any digital device, including tablets, smartphones, and computers. You can command it to read any file aloud, such as Microsoft Word documents, PDF pages, and internet websites.
The benefits of text to speech in medicine
There are various medical text to speech applications and use cases.
Listening to notes as you work on a patient
Whether performing radiology testing or scanning your patients for neurological disorders, you may need to listen to clinical notes during the procedure. However, doing so simultaneously is difficult unless you integrate a TTS platform in your office.
TTS technology can read your electronic medical records (EMR) while you examine your patients. This way, you’ll obtain critical information about their medical history, comorbidities, and other crucial information. It speeds up your work and lets you go through clinical documentation faster.
Helping with research papers
Besides patient care, the healthcare industry also requires you to do high-quality research papers. This means you need to read thousands of pages to find the information you need for your study.
The reading can be incredibly time-consuming, but you can make it more manageable with TTS. It lets you convert texts into audio files, which are much easier to follow. You can listen to them from various devices to complete your research paper on time.
In addition, many TTS apps use machine learning and artificial intelligence to offer robust features that can further optimize your work. One of them is adjusting the reading speed.
You can accelerate your recordings to cover certain sections more quickly. This is especially useful if you need to take notes from books. TTS apps read the text aloud at an appropriate rate, which is ideal for medical dictations.
Reading electronic health records
Reading electronic health records (EHRs) can take a toll on your health. These documents typically include complex medical terminology and are written in barely legible fonts. All of which can strain your eyes and impair your vision.
Over time, your eyesight can deteriorate so much that you may need to wear glasses. If reading over a prolonged period becomes a problem, incorporate TTS into your routine.
Unlike conventional methods, it reads your text aloud to protect your eyes. You no longer need to stare at textbooks or computer screens. Just hook your TTS device to a home theater, soundbar, or Bluetooth speaker. The platform will do the rest.
You’ll be able to hear EHRs while doing other duties and minimize eye strain. Plus, this can help alleviate neck or back pain associated with a sedentary lifestyle.
Communicating with patients
Treating people with communication disorders can be challenging. They might not understand your advice or fail to read medication instructions accurately. This is especially true when addressing patients with dyslexia, ADHD, autism, and similar disabilities.
TTS can help solve this issue by improving your patient interaction. You can use it to convert sign language into speech. Also, you can recommend your patients use screen readers to read your notes more easily.
Used regularly, TTS can elevate your patients’ critical skills, such as reading, speaking, writing, listening, and differentiating sounds. This makes your advice and treatment more effective.
Speech to text software for doctors
TTS technology can work wonders in your profession, but the same goes for speech to text software. Also known as medical speech recognition, it enables you to dictate medical notes rather than type them. This means typing speed is no longer a factor when recording information.
You can gain a lot from speech to text technology:
- Less clicking in – Voice to text software lets you dictate notes and watch as the transcription fills boxes in the EMR. This eliminates the need to click boxes to start typing. Plus, it reduces the risk of clicking the wrong boxes and saving notes in improper storage.
- No manual transcription – Without medical speech to text solutions, you’d need to manually transcribe patient audio recordings to text. This is a lengthy, tedious, and error-prone process. Speech recognition software lets you overcome the obstacle by automating the procedure.
- Streamlined paperwork – Voice recognition is a powerful tool that can create, sign, and modify notes in one go. You can use this functionality for lab orders or electronic prescriptions.
- Fewer spelling mistakes – As your speech to text platform adjusts to your voice, it becomes more accurate at transcribing it. In this respect, it works as a real-time spell checker.
Speechify - The TTS app for medical professionals
It's important to note that while this TTS app can help doctors and medical professionals save precious time, it isn't HIPAA compliant. While you can use the extension to read your HIPAA compliant documents, taking pictures of sensitive information and storing it within the app would not be HIPAA compliant.
Give Speechify a try for free.
FAQ
What is a text to speech software?
Text to speech software is the technology that reads digital texts aloud.
What are some reasons why a doctor might want to use text to speech?
They might want to use text to speech to refine their approach to patient care and read medical records more easily than ever.
Does text to speech work with the Apple Watch?
Some text to speech apps, like Speechify, work with your Apple Watch.
Cliff Weitzman
Cliff Weitzman is a dyslexia advocate and the CEO and founder of Speechify, the #1 text-to-speech app in the world, totaling over 100,000 5-star reviews and ranking first place in the App Store for the News & Magazines category. In 2017, Weitzman was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work making the internet more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Cliff Weitzman has been featured in EdSurge, Inc., PC Mag, Entrepreneur, Mashable, among other leading outlets.