New voices at patients’ bedsides: Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Apple

At first it was a novelty: Hospitals began using voice assistants to allow patients to order lunch, check medication regimens, and get on-demand medical advice at home. But these devices, manufactured by Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and others, are now making deeper inroads into patient care.

 Our phones can now detect health problems from Parkinson’s to depression. Is that a good thing?

Digital phenotyping, which can detect patterns from text messages, movements, and even our speech, could transform health care. But is our personal information at stake?

 The future of voice tech in medicine is here. Can reality live up to the promise?

Microsoft’s high-profile of acquisition of Nuance Communications is a seeming win for patients and providers. The voice recognition company, which sells artificial intelligence solutions that can listen to clinical conversations and auto-populate electronic health records, has the potential to dramatically improve care by removing frequent sources of digital friction.

 When AI Can Transcribe Everything

Tech companies are rapidly developing tools to save people from the drudgery of typing out conversations—and the impact could be profound.

Can A.I.-Driven Voice Analysis Help Identify Mental Disorders?

Early tests have been promising, but issues involving bias, privacy and mistrust of “black box” algorithms are possible pitfalls.

From Your Mouth to Your Screen, Transcribing Takes the Next Step

Improvements in automatic speech transcription are beginning to have a significant impact on the workplace.

Hear That? It’s Your Voice Being Taken for Profit

If you’ve ever dialed an 800 number to ask or complain about something you bought or to make an inquiry about something you’re thinking of buying, there is a decent chance you were profiled — by the arrangement of your words and the tone of your voice — without knowing it.

How is Voice Recognition Technology used in Healthcare?

Voice recognition software may sound like something out of a science fiction movie, yet it is already in use by many individuals throughout the world, including speech therapists.

How Speech Recognition Technology Can Help Providers Achieve the Quadruple Aim

Now, the Triple Aim has evolved into the Quadruple Aim. The new focus is on the well-being of care teams in response to the growing challenge of clinician burnout exacerbated by increasing patient volumes and staffing shortages.

Microsoft’s Nuance Gambit Shows Healthcare Is Shaping Up as Next Tech Battleground

Microsoft is spending $16 billion to kick-start growth in the next big thing for tech: healthcare.

Send in the clones: Using artificial intelligence to digitally replicate human voices

The science behind making machines talk just like humans is very complex, because our speech patterns are so nuanced.

Study Shows Software Can Predict Psychosis Better Than Psychiatrists

Mental health issues manifest in a number of ways, and they’re not all behavioral. Increasingly, scientists are using speech analysis software to detect subtle changes in voice acoustics and patterns to detect or even predict potentially problematic conditions.

Voice Recognition in Healthcare: Challenges and Possibilities

Voice recognition in healthcare is one of the industry's fastest growing trends, but the technology's inability to be perfect is slowing down its adoption.

Voice recognition: is it really as secure as it sounds?

One leading futurologist reckons it won’t be too long before the technology takes over from contactless when it comes to making payments. Also known as “voice biometrics,” it confirms your identity by analysing your voice’s unique characteristics. Companies say it makes accessing your account fast and easy – plus it reduces fraud. But how secure is it?

Why voice recognition is the new competitive battleground in healthcare's digital transformation

As ambient technologies improve, additional use cases to leverage voice will emerge – that leaves us with the question of how patients and physicians are responding to voice-enabled tools in their healthcare encounters.

‘Wired into the walls’: Voice-recognition system promises to automate data entry during office visits

Now, amid an intensifying race to develop voice technologies for health care, a Boston-based company is preparing to release one of the first products designed to fully automate this process, by embedding artificially intelligent software into exam rooms.