Comparing Voice Recognition Programs For Use In Legal Environments

James A. Eidelman

THERE ARE three leading speech recognition software packages used in the United States: IBM's ViaVoice (For more information enter no. 278), Dragon NaturallySpeaking, and Lernout & Hauspie's VoiceXpress (For more information enter no. 277). The latest versions of each of these packages are all significantly improved, and I can recommend each of them as "good enough."

Dragon used to stand out as the clear best choice for most users, and it is probably still the leader. But which one will work best in your office will depend on the personal preferences of your lawyers and staff, what kind of hardware you use, how you implement them, and how you use them.

The software does work, and can improve the efficiency of the secretary, and sometimes even the lawyer. However, with Dragon, IBM or L&H, there are dozens of complicating factors involving personal taste, skill, practice, patience, and the right combination of compatible hardware and software. These are not just preferences. If everything isn't working together properly (including the user), frustration rather than creativity will result.

Here are some guidelines:

1 Assuming your hardware will support it, be sure to use a recent version. IBM's Millennium Edition of ViaVoice is far better than the '98 version, and Dragon and L&H have each improved their products as well. There are improvements in three areas: (1) accuracy, (2) reduced time from setup through training to production, and (3) improved user-friendliness.

2 If an attorney is doing his or her own proofreading and correction of errors, he or she will lose in correction time any efficiency gained. It is very important to let your secretary or someone else correct the dictation unless you have no choice. IBM is the only package that lets you save the speech files with the automatically converted text for "deferred correction." (You need to have plenty of disk space, and turn on this option.)

With Dragon, if the attorney is using NaturallySpeaking interactively, the secretary cannot hear the speech when she corrects the work. With Dragon, the attorney should capture the speech first, and then have the secretary do the automated transcription and correction.

3 If an attorney is speaking directly to the PC, hardware is of paramount importance. First, speed. You must have a very fast PC. Both accuracy and usability improve with speed. You should have at least a 400 MHz Pentium II, Celeron or K6-II, and you should get a Pentium III for Dragon to use the BestMatch III technology--a significant enhancement in NaturallySpeaking 4.0.

Be sure that you have enough memory. You should allow at least 128 MB of RAM just for the speech recognition software, which means 256 MB total if you will be running Microsoft or Corel Office suites with lots of windows open at a time.

Unless you use a USB mike, make sure you have a high quality sound card that is compatible with the software and the mike. Some experimentation may be required.

4 The general rule is that if you work with multiple machines, you need to "enroll" (train the machine) and maintain separate voice files for each machine. You can avoid this problem if you use a USB (Universal Serial Bus) mike, which bypasses the sound card. This is a new development.

5 When speaking to the computer, some lawyers prefer a headset, while others prefer a hand-held mike that is similar to that used with a traditional dictating machine. The Philips (For more information click no. 273) SpeechMike Pro is the most popular with Dragon and IBM, and Dictaphone markets its own Boomerang (For more information click no. 276) hand-held mike.

If you use a telephone headset, which I do recommend for those who spend lots of time on the phone, a headset from Andrea or VXI will work very well. A high-quality, noise-canceling headset is a must in order to achieve excellent results.

6 If a lawyer is used to using a dictating machine, an excellent way to benefit from the technology is to have the lawyer continue to use a dictating machine, and have the secretary be the one who is automated with speech recognition software. Dragon and L&H each market a mobile version that uses a digital voice recorder, and Dictaphone and Olympus (For more information circle no. 275) each market their dictating machines with a special version of IBM ViaVoice. (Note that both of them currently support only ViaVoice 98, but they are expected to release ViaVoice Millennium versions soon.)

Norcom's (For more information click no. 274) tape-based recorders are not as convenient, but are the most accurate. And new digital recorders are being released from Panasonic, Sony and Grundig. The Grundig looks the best on paper, and has a traditional thumb slide control.

The Olympus D1000 recorder comes with a removable memory card that can be read by a laptop or desktop computer's optional memory card reader. This makes it even easier to transfer voice files to a secretary by email or "sneaker net," without having to mess with downloading through a cable.

An external microphone of high quality will significantly improve the accuracy when dictating to a digital dictating machine. You can either use a headset or a "lollipop mike" that plugs into the hand-held recorder. None of the digital recorders are good enough on there own without the external mike!

Dictaphone, Philips and Olympus each market optional transcription units for a secretary that let her use a foot pedal to move forward and back through the text. She can follow the voice in her ears as she sees the cursor move through the text on the screen. This is a great feature. I wish Dragon had it.

If Dictaphone successfully integrates with the IBM ViaVoice Millennium edition this year, then the Dictaphone Boomerang products for lawyer and secretary may offer the solution that most easily lets attorneys and secretaries benefit from the technology while continuing to work the way they have always worked in the past.

I am a big believer in the idea that this technology is useful, but does more to improve the effectiveness of secretaries than it does for attorneys.

7 Integration. L&H clearly has the best integration with Microsoft Office. If you want to use the software interactively with Word and use voice commands to operate the system, L&H is for you. L&H is also the best in handling languages other than English.

8 Pricing. Dragon's legal and professional versions ($1,000 and $700 respectively) are significantly more expensive than IBM and L&H. This is because they are marketed through value-added resellers.

There are fancy voice macros you can create with the Dragon Pro and Legal editions, but you don't need to spend the extra money unless you plan to use those features. For litigation, the legal editions come in handy in correctly formatting case citations. For non-litigators, the legal edition doesn't add much. You are more likely to have the system miss on a client's name than res ipsa loquitor.

9 Accuracy. In the latest tests, Dragon was just behind IBM's lead in accuracy, and Dragon was considered the easiest to use overall, given the process of training, teaching the PC new words, and making corrections.

To improve accuracy, all of the packages offer a "vocabulary builder." You can feed the software a whole directory of your documents. The software does two things as part of this process:

First, it identifies words that are in your documents but not in its dictionary, and gives you the opportunity to add them.

Second, it learns about the phrases and patterns that you use. It will use this information to make fewer mistakes as it interprets what you say. This will make a difference, whether you are working interactively or in "mobile mode."

A computer-literate lawyer who has a very fast computer and takes the time to learn how to use the software can become very quick in dictating not only word processing documents, but also time entries, case notes in a case management or litigation support system, calendar entriesand emails.

In this setting, I like Dragon's Professional version the best, working with macros created to speed time entry. With all of them, stored paragraphs and macros can significantly improve the productivity of any lawyer or staff member.

Surf the 'Net

I strongly recommend that you visit the various discussion groups on the Internet to see what users are saying about the specific hardware and software you are considering.

Most people are very generous with their advice. See Dragon's forum. Obviously, all of this can be confusing, and trial and error will be required.Be patient, start with a pilot group composed of people who are tolerant, and try both deferred dictation with a hand-held recorder and speaking directly to the PC.

If you want to try this technology without having to buy software or train anyone, you can use CyberSecretaries. (For more information circle no. 272)

The most efficient way to work with them is to dictate using a voice recorder, or use a mike to save your dictation on your PC. Then email your voice files to them.

An army of home-based transcriptionists is available to clean up the automatically transcribed dictation, or to type your words if they need to, and they will turn your work around in about an hour.

Finally, get training and support from a specialist. Those who work regularly with these products can help get your firm off to a good start. For additional information, visit www.lawtech.com.

Jame A. Eidelman is president of Eidelman Associates, technology consultants to the legal profession, based in Ann Arbor, Mich.