Voice writing is a transcription method used for

court reporting A court reporter, court stenographer, or shorthand reporter is a person whose occupation is to capture the live testimony in proceedings using a stenographic machine or a stenomask, thereby transforming the proceedings into an official certifi ...

medical transcription Medical transcription, also known as MT, is an allied health profession dealing with the process of transcribing voice-recorded medical reports that are dictated by physicians, nurses and other healthcare practitioners. Medical reports can be v ...

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

, and

closed captioning Closed captioning (CC) is the process of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information, where the viewer is given the choice of whether the text is displayed. Closed cap ...

. Using voice writing, a court reporter speaks directly into a

stenomask A stenomask is a hand-held microphone built into a padded, soundproof enclosure that fits over the speaker's mouth or nose and mouth. Some lightweight versions may be fitted with an elastic neck strap to hold them in place while freeing the user' ...

or speech silencer, a hand-held mask containing one or two microphones, and voice-dampening materials. As the reporter repeats the testimony into the recorder, the mask prevents the reporter from being heard during the testimony.

Purpose and function

Voice writers can be used to record speeches by judges, witnesses, attorneys, and other parties to a proceeding, including gestures and emotional reactions, and either provide a real-time feed or prepare transcripts afterward. In medical transcription, some transcriptionists use voice writing instead of typing. They receive audio files and use a voice recognition program to translate voice to text.

Method

The method of court reporting known as voice writing, formerly called "stenomask," was developed by Horace Webb in the World War II era. Before inventing voice writing, Webb was a

Gregg shorthand Gregg shorthand is a system of shorthand developed by John Robert Gregg in 1888. Distinguished by its phonemic basis, the system prioritizes the sounds of speech over traditional English spelling, enabling rapid writing by employing elliptical f ...

writer. Court reporting using Gregg shorthand is a multi-level process in which the reporter records the proceedings using shorthand and then dictates from his notes into a tape recorder. After the testimony is transferred to audio tape, a transcriptionist types out official documentation of the proceedings. A voice writing system consists of a stenomask, an external sound digitizer, and

speech recognition Speech recognition is an interdisciplinary subfield of computer science and computational linguistics that develops methodologies and technologies that enable the recognition and translation of spoken language into text by computers. It is also ...

software. A foot pedal can plug into a computer's USB port. A real-time voice writer's words go through the mask's cable to an external USB digital signal processor. From there, the words go into the computer's speech recognition engine for conversion into streaming text. Voice writers write repeated words stated by the parties to a proceeding (verbatim transcription). They punctuate the text and, in some cases, mark exhibits. Voice writers produce the same products as using stenotypes, including transcripts in electronic and printed formats. Real-time reporters connect their laptops to captioning equipment and real-time viewer programs and provide attorneys or other clients with computer files at the end of the sessions. Speech recognition CAT systems affords a download in ASCII format for distribution immediately following a proceeding.

References

{{Reflist Court reporting Transcription (linguistics)