Dictaphone typing is a form of transcription using a specialized machine to play back recorded conversations, dictation, messages and other verbal communications. Health insurance companies require dictated communications between patients and doctors to evaluate the need for medical procedures. Court cases and other legal meetings are also dictated so the information can be referred to later if needed. Although a Dictaphone is a specific brand of playback machine for transcription, the word has become a popular term for all brands of dictation machines.
Facts
- With Dictaphone typing, digital recordings and recordings from dictated tapes can be the supplied resource for the dictation for the transcription necessary. The most well known type of dictation requiring Dictaphone typing is medical transcription. Other types of Dictaphone typing include transcription of meetings, conferences, interviews for video broadcasts, closed captioning for television shows and court or hearing transcription.
Benefits
- Dictaphone typing is a career that can often be outsourced by a business to reduce operating costs. The benefits to those who have transcription skills include the ability to work from home. Outsourced positions can be found through job postings in local newspapers, company websites and other common job posting resources. Services can be promoted through advertisements in local publications and by sending promotion information to businesses that commonly use transcription services such as doctors, lawyers and television stations.
Function
- Companies that utilize Dictaphone typists create recordings that must be transcribed by a transcriptionist. The recordings may have background noise, slurred speech, incorrect pronunciations and comments that are not to be included in the final transcript. It’s common for a transcriptionist to work in one area of expertise, such as specific branches of the medical industry for transcription of patient visits, office support for transcription of meetings or conferences, or the legal industry.
Features
- The machine, a Dictaphone, allows the user hands-free start, stop, fast-forward and reverse functions with the use of a foot pedal. The transcriptionist uses a headphone or speakers to listen to the recording, then types the information that was recorded. The transcriptionist can pause the recording with the foot pedal to be able to stop the recording as needed to type what was recorded. The foot pedal also has a function for reverse so the typist has the ability to play back any information that was missed and review the accuracy of the information typed.
Future Insight
- With improvements in voice recognition and transcription software, manual Dictaphone typing may become obsolete. However, it will likely be necessary to check all documents created with voice recognition software for accuracy, especially with services related to the medical field.