Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!nih-csl!lhc!ncifcrf!haven!udel!wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!olivea!oliveb!bunker!wtm
From: rudy@mtqua.att.com (Avram R Vener)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: Technophilia-induced problem at Educom?
Summary: stenography
Message-ID: <15150@bunker.UUCP>
Date: 26 Oct 90 03:13:06 GMT
References: <15124@bunker.UUCP>
Sender: wtm@bunker.UUCP
Reply-To: rudy@mtqua.att.com (Avram R Vener)
Distribution: misc
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
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Index Number: 11272

In article <15124@bunker.UUCP>, ben@hpcvlx.cv.hp.com (Benjamin Ellsworth) writes:
> Index Number: 11247
> 
> > The system must have used some kind of voice-recognition algorithm,
> > because no human typist that I know could have kept up with the
> > speaker at times.
> 
> I very strongly doubt this.  I would bet a substantial sum of money
> that there was a stenographer and not a computer capturing the words.

You would be right.  At work I use a court reporter operating a
StenoRAM (TM) which is attached to an Xscribe (TM) computer to give
me real time speech to text during meetings.  Accuracy of
translation is typically very good. Usually better than 99.5
percent.   However, this accuracy is dependant upon individualized
dictionaries which each stenographer must create through practice
while using the system.  The computer program uses the dictionaries
when converting the output of the StenoRAM into  English.  The
problem that often occurs in real time steno to English
translations is that a word or phrases is encountered which the
computer 'almos' recognizes and uses the nearest match.  This can
result in often ludicrous translations.  The trick is to have the
court reporter learn any new vocabulary before hand and incorporate
them into the dictionary.  This is not always possible in the case
of captioned news programs.  In my situation, such words only cause
trouble once, the they are incorporated into dictionaries and are
correctly translated thereafter.

Rudy Vener  AT&T BTL  MT 2D-509  uucp: att!mtqua!rudy