Glossary
Front-end speech recognition
Front-end speech recognition is a workflow in which the person who dictates also reviews, corrects and signs the text, instead of passing the audio to someone else. The term is most common in radiology, where it is set against back-end transcription.
Updated October 17, 20263 cited facts, each traced to its source
Also called real-time speech recognition, self-edit speech recognition.
Front-end speech recognition is a way of working in which the person who speaks also checks and corrects the text. The words appear on screen as they talk or just after, and they fix any errors before they sign. The alternative is back-end speech recognition, where someone else does the editing.
The writer does the editing
Radiology gives the clearest description. David L. Weiss, a clinical section head for imaging informatics, describes one way to use speech recognition as having radiologists dictate, edit, correct and sign their own reports 1. Between the dictation and the signature, no second person touches the text. The writer is the only editor, so the quality of the final report depends on how carefully that writer reviews it.
The term has been in vendor use since at least 2005. In October 2005, a MedQuist press release carried by BioSpace used "front-end speech recognition system" in its headline for a radiology product 2. The release does not define the term, so the workflow itself is the better guide to its meaning.
A concrete example
A radiologist dictates a chest X-ray report at a workstation. The recognizer shows the text on screen. She notices that it heard a measurement wrongly, fixes the number, adds a finding she had missed, and signs the report. The whole process stays at her desk, with no transcription queue in between.
Why it matters for dictation and typing
Front-end work moves the editing onto the writer, so the speed of dictation is only part of the saving. Editing is real work. In a 2013 hospital study, new users of speech recognition corrected 11 characters per report on average 3. A writer who dictates fast but corrects carelessly can produce a draft that is quick to create and slow to trust.
For a single author, such as a student drafting an essay or a writer working on a book, front-end is the simplest model: you speak, read the result, and fix it. The steps are the same whether the words are a clinical note or a letter. Keep the editing pass in your plan, and budget time for it.
Related terms
- Back-end speech recognition is the workflow where a transcriptionist edits the draft.
- Word error rate is the usual measure of how many words a recognizer gets wrong.
- Dictation template can cut the editing needed for repeated report structures.
Guides that cover it
Evidence
Every number on this page, with where it comes from. Open a fact to see the exact words in its source.
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
Related terms
- Dictation for Work: Doctors, Lawyers, Writers, StudentsThe topic this term belongs to
- Back-end speech recognitionBack-end speech recognition is a workflow in which the dictated audio is recognized and then edited by someone else, usually a transcriptionist, before it is signed. Its main trade-off is the cost and time of the second pass against the writer's own editing effort.
- CopytakerA copytaker was a typist in a newspaper office who took down stories that reporters dictated over the telephone. The Collins English Dictionary defines the role this way, and it predates the computer-based filing that replaced it.
- Dictation templateA dictation template is a block of text saved under a short spoken phrase, so one phrase inserts the whole block. Dragon calls these auto-texts, and Microsoft's Dragon Medical One guide documents the command that creates one from selected text.
- Electronic health record (EHR)An electronic health record (EHR) is a digital record of a patient's health information, built up over time from visits across care settings. The federal eCQI glossary also calls it an electronic medical record (EMR), and it is where dictated and typed notes end up.
- Medical scribeA medical scribe is a person, or more recently an AI tool, that records what happens in a clinical visit and writes it into the chart so the clinician can focus on the patient. The clinician remains responsible for the note and must check and sign it.
- Pajama timePajama time is the record-keeping that clinicians finish after their clinic day ends, often at home in the evening. A 2017 study of primary care clinicians measured 86 minutes of EHR work per weekday after clinic hours.
- Registered Healthcare Documentation Specialist (RHDS)The Registered Healthcare Documentation Specialist (RHDS) is a voluntary credential from AHDI for people who create healthcare documentation. It is awarded after an exam of 120 questions, and it is a prerequisite for the CHDS.
- ScopistA scopist edits the transcripts of official proceedings that court reporters create. Scopists are typically paid by the page, starting from $1.00 to $1.50 per page, and the role is also called transcript editor.
- SOAP noteA SOAP note is a structured clinical note with four parts: Subjective, Objective, Assessment and Plan. The format was developed by Larry Weed, and a StatPearls reference article describes it as a widely used documentation method for clinicians.
- Transcription line rateA transcription line is a unit of 65 characters, and the line count is the number of such units in a document. The transcription line rate is the price paid for each line, so the unit controls how transcribed work is measured.
Pages that use this term
- Dictation for Work: Doctors, Lawyers, Writers, StudentsTopic
- What Is Dictation? Voice Typing and Talk to Text ExplainedGuide
- Medical Transcription: The Job, the Pay and AIGuide
- Legal Dictation Software for Lawyers and Law FirmsGuide
- Is medical transcription being replaced by AI?Question
- What does a medical transcription editor do?Question
- What is Dragon Legal, and is it still sold?Question
- What is the best legal dictation software?Question
- Back-end speech recognitionGlossary