Glossary
Stenotype
A stenotype, also called a steno machine, is a chorded keyboard that stenographers use for shorthand, pressing several keys together to produce a syllable or word. The NCRA's court reporter skills test sets a speed of 225 words per minute, and voice writing is a newer method that uses speech recognition instead.
Updated October 16, 20264 cited facts, each traced to its source
Also called steno machine, steno keyboard, shorthand machine.
A stenotype is a specialized chorded keyboard used for shorthand 1. People also call it a steno machine, a stenograph or a steno writer. The defining feature is the chord: several keys are pressed together to produce a whole syllable, word or phrase in one stroke, rather than one letter at a time.
The machine has 22 keys, and each stroke prints one row
A stenotype has 22 keys. Each chord prints one row of steno paper, with the pressed letters in 22 columns that match the keys 2. The printed key order runs S, T, K, P, W, H and R on the left, then A, O, *, E and U in the middle, then F, R, P, B, L, G, T, S, D and Z on the right.
Writing theories differ in how they represent some sounds. Each stenographer builds a personal dictionary, and the software uses it to translate the strokes into English, so the same chord can mean different things for different writers.
Court reporters must reach 225 words per minute
The speed bar for a court reporter is high. To earn the NCRA's Registered Professional Reporter credential, a writer must take a skills test at 225 words per minute for the testimony and question-and-answer sections 3. Those figures are for trained stenographers, not for everyday typists. Our guide to stenography and shorthand covers the training in more detail.
Voice writing is the newer alternative
Voice writing replaces the chorded keyboard with speech. A voice writing system consists of a stenomask, an external sound digitizer and speech recognition software 4. The reporter speaks through the mask, and the software produces the transcript. Voice writing is closer to dictation than to the traditional machine, so it is the clearest link between steno and everyday speech-to-text.
What a stenotype means for dictation
A stenotype is not a dictation tool. It is a trained input device for a specialist, and everyday dictation uses a microphone and speech recognition, with no chords to memorize. The steno and dictation methods share one idea: speaking can be a faster way to produce text than keying it in. For a comparison of the two, see our guide to speaking versus typing speed.
Related terms
- Shorthand: a writing system that abbreviates words to speed up writing.
- Dictation: speaking so that software writes your words as you say them.
- Voice writing: a method that repeats speech into a mask for recognition.
- Words per minute (WPM): the unit used to report writing speed.
Guides and questions 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.
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Related terms
- Typing Speed: Average WPM and How to Type FasterThe topic this term belongs to
- Articulation rateArticulation rate is the number of syllables a speaker produces per second, leaving out pauses. It measures how fast the speech itself comes out, so it is usually faster than the overall speaking rate that counts every pause.
- Characters per minute (CPM)Characters per minute (CPM) is the number of characters typed in one minute, counting spaces and punctuation. Words per minute is the same count divided by five, so a typist at 50 WPM enters 250 characters per minute.
- ColemakColemak is an alternative English keyboard layout, introduced in 2006 and designed for efficient, comfortable touch typing. Its supporters describe it as the third most popular layout for English touch typing, after QWERTY and Dvorak, but that ranking has no stated method.
- Dvorak Simplified KeyboardThe Dvorak Simplified Keyboard is an alternative English keyboard layout that places the most common letters on the home row. Dvorak and Dealey applied for a patent on it in 1932, but the studies that claimed it was faster than QWERTY have been criticized, and the evidence for a speed gain is weak.
- Home rowThe home row is the middle row of keys on a keyboard, where the fingers rest when you touch type. On a QWERTY keyboard it holds A, S, D, F for the left hand and J, K, L and semicolon for the right, and every other key is reached by moving a finger away from it and back.
- Hunt and peckHunt and peck is a typing method in which the typist finds each key by sight and presses it with one or two fingers, usually the index fingers. It is also called two-finger typing, and it differs from touch typing, which relies on memorized key positions and the home row.
- Keystroke dynamicsKeystroke dynamics is the identification of a person from the rhythm of their typing, using the timing between key presses as a pattern much like a handwritten signature. It is a behavioral biometric, so it supports identity checks through statistical matching rather than proving who typed.
- Keystrokes per character (KSPC)Keystrokes per character (KSPC) is the average number of keystrokes a text entry method needs to produce one character of text. A basic QWERTY keyboard scores 1, methods that need more presses score above 1, and word prediction can score below 1.
- Keystrokes per hour (KPH)Keystrokes per hour (KPH) is the number of key presses made in one hour. It is the standard unit for numeric data entry, where many jobs require 8,000 or 10,000 keystrokes per hour, and it counts keys rather than words.
- Oral reading fluency (ORF)Oral reading fluency (ORF) measures how many words a reader gets right in one minute of reading a passage aloud. Schools record the result as words correct per minute (WCPM), which subtracts the words read wrongly from the total.
- QWERTYQWERTY is the standard letter arrangement on English keyboards, named for the first six letters of the top row. Christopher Latham Sholes devised it in the early 1870s for typewriters, and it is still the layout most people type on, even though faster layouts have been proposed.
- Rollover typingRollover, or key rollover, is the number of key presses a keyboard can detect when they overlap. Two-key rollover reliably detects only two keys at once, and a matrix keyboard without diodes can register a ghost key when three keys are pressed together.
Pages that use this term
- Typing Speed: Average WPM and How to Type FasterTopic
- What Is a Good Typing Speed? WPM Levels ExplainedGuide
- Typing Speed Requirements for Jobs: WPM by RoleGuide
- Legal Transcription: The Job, Formats and PayGuide
- Speaking vs Typing Speed: What the Research ShowsGuide
- Legal Dictation for Shorthand and Steno ExamsGuide
- Writing Speed: Words per Minute by Hand and per DayGuide
- Can you type faster than you talk?Question
- Can you use stenography instead of a regular keyboard?Question
- Do you need a foot pedal for legal or medical transcription?Question
- How do you practice legal dictation for steno exams?Question
- How fast do stenographers type?Question
- How fast is shorthand writing?Question
- Is 100 WPM a fast typing speed?Question
- Is legal transcription hard?Question
- What are shorthand outlines for legal dictation?Question
- What is legal dictation?Question
- What is legal transcription?Question
- What is the fastest typing speed ever recorded?Question
- CART captioningGlossary