Bitter Pills to Swallow. ASR and TTS have Drug Problems

Abstract

In an emerging application of speech technology, physicians speak prescription orders into wireless handheld devices that record the order using automatic speech recognition (ASR). Orders are recognized using ASR, then displayed on the screen for verification and, after checking, are relayed to the pharmacy for filling. Given the frequent opportunities for mistakes, this scenario provokes chills in many of us. Many physicians do not speak English as a native language, or they have a strongly accented variety of English.