title: Automatic speech recognition--can it improve the man-machine interface in medical expert systems?
abstract: Computer-aided medical diagnosis has existed for two decades, but has not yet attained widespread acceptance among physicians. It is proposed that automatic speech recognition may be a significant factor in the eventual acceptance of the technology by the medical profession. The current state-of-the-art of automatic speech recognition is briefly surveyed, and problems with the technology are discussed. A potential natural language interface with DIAG, an expert system for aiding in dermatologic diagnosis, is described. A system that has been developed for accepting input of body parts in freestyle format is presented as a prototype for a natural language interface with an automatic speech recognition device.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Landau
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Norwich
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Evans
mesh_terms: D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D005103:Expert Systems; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D012984:Software; D013060:Speech; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D014831:Voice