We’ve discussed before the voice recognition software Dragon NaturallySpeaking (Medical and Preferred) and the microphone options and even announced when Dragon NaturallySpeaking Medical first came available. It’s enough to say that we’re big fans of voice recognition software and Dragon NaturallySpeaking in particular. It’s a great companion to an EMR or EHR implementation.

Today, I came across the Sony Digital Voice Recorder with Dragon NaturallySpeaking Software and I wondered if any of my readers have used this before. It seems like it could be an interesting way to replace a transcriptionist.

Basically, the doctor would record his notes on this device and then the Dragon NaturallySpeaking software would convert it to text and could be easily placed in the EMR. For $150, that seems like a bargain.

Really, the only question is how good Dragon NaturallySpeaking is at converting the recorded voice into text. I imagine it’s at least as good as doing it in real time. Does anyone have experience with it? If I hear some good reviews, then I’ll add it to my list of EMR technologies. This seems like it could be a really good solution for that doctor that doesn’t want to give up his/her transcribing ways.

I’ve always been a little bit skeptical about paying the $1000+ for the medical version of Dragon Naturally Speaking. $1000 just seems like a lot of money to be paying for what seems to amount to some medical dictionaries. However, someone who is very familiar with nuance and Dragon Naturally Speaking told me that doctors should really purchase the DNS Medical or they’ll end up dissatisfied.

Well, today I was reading the forum on Amazon for Dragon Naturally Speaking which asks if the medical version is worth it for doctors. The responses generally weren’t worth while, but someone who calls themselves “Pain Doc” suggested the following:

I have used DNS for about 7 years. I started with version 6 as I recall. I had my transcriptionist email me the text files from all my dictations for several years and then I “fed” those to DNS to learn the vocabulary. I then had a very serviceable medical DNS for my practice and an unemployed transcriptionist.

What a genius idea for anyone that’s currently doing transcription. A great way to save about $1000 on software.

Check out the following prices for the various versions of DNS on Amazon:
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred – Currently $151.49 with $50 rebate ($101.49 after rebate)
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 Preferred – Currently $92.97
I’m still looking around for the best location to buy Dragon NaturallySpeaking Medical.

Interestingly, this same person quote above also said, “I also upgraded to DNS 10.0 which is a total POS. I am back to 9.0 and wouldn’t recommend 10.0 to anyone.” I’d love to hear more people’s comments on this subject.

In a recent comment by Tom Hamilton, he gave a nice review of a wireless microphone that can be used with Dragon Naturally Speaking Medical. I figured I’d been covering enough EMR politics and implementation lately that it was about time to mingle a little bit of technical content in the middle.

I’ve been told a number of times that if you want to use Dragon Naturally Speaking medical, then finding a high quality microphone is absolutely essential to a quality voice recognition experience. Check out Tom’s review of the Samson Stage 5 Wireless microphone. Wireless is definitely the future.

Samson Stage 5 Wireless Microphone With Dragon NaturallySpeaking Review:<iframe src=”http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=crashutah-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B0002ORQ56&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr” style=”width:120px;height:240px;” scrolling=”no” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ frameborder=”0″></iframe> 

We’ve just completed Phase 3 testing of the new Samson Stage 5 wireless microphone [$99 on Amazon] and you can read our complete review by clicking Samson Stage 5 Review but the short version is that the new Samson Stage 5 wireless VHF microphone combo includes both a lapel microphone and a headset microphone, costs $99-$105 and is as accurate as our best (starting at $115) theBoom “O” [$149.99 on Amazon] and $145 Sennheiser ME3 wired microphones [$135.83 on Amazon] which cost more and are not wireless. The Stage 5 even includes a three-year warranty. With the exception of end users who require extreme portability, we can’t imagine why anyone would want to pay extra for a wired microphone with a one or two-year warranty. Now everyone can afford to cut the cord!

KnowBrainer, Inc. Support Staff – Tom Hamilton
A Nuance Gold Certified Endorsed Vendor
ALWAYS Ask If Your Speech Recognition Vendor Is Nuance Certified

Thanks Tom for the review.

Check out the following prices for the various versions of DNS on Amazon:


I’m still looking around for the best location to buy Dragon NaturallySpeaking Medical.

NaturallySpeaking (Medical) Version 10 is now available. Have any of the EMR and HIPAA readers used DNS 10? I’d be interested to know people’s reviews of DNS 10 as compared to 9. Luckily the upgrade is relatively inexpensive to go from one version to the next, but I’d be interested to hear people’s experience with DNS 10.

One of my blog readers already did their KnowBrainer 7 page pictorial preliminary review of DNS 10. Too bad the pictorial review is a pdf file. Also, that review is pretty technical, so if you’ve never used DNS before, then I wouldn’t suggest reading that review.

Check out the following prices for the various versions of DNS on Amazon:
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred – Currently $151.49 with $50 rebate ($101.49 after rebate)
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 Preferred – Currently $92.97
I’m still looking around for the best location to buy Dragon NaturallySpeaking Medical.