Stenomask
Encyclopedia
A stenomask is a mouth mask with a built-in microphone
. The purpose of a stenomask is to allow a person to speak without being heard by other people, and to keep background noise away from the microphone.
A stenomask is useful for speech recognition
applications, because it allows voice transcription
in noisy environments. Perhaps more importantly, a stenomask silences the user's voice so that it does not interfere with the surrounding environment such as a court or a classroom. The user can verbally identify the speaker, indicate gestures and unspoken answers, and describe activities as they take place.
An operator of a stenomask can be trained to "re-voice" everything they hear into a stenomask connected to a speech recognition system, for a real-time text transcription of everything spoken. This allows a "voice writer" to produce instant text feeds within a courtroom and distribute them in ASCII format immediately after a proceeding. The equipment can also interface with litigation management software
.
A trained operator using a stenomask connected to a pre-trained speech recognition system can exceed 180 words per minute while at the same time exceeding 95 percent accuracy. They may also modify the pronunciation of the words they are speaking in order to improve accuracy.
but sought a more accurate and faster system of transcription, as shorthand notes can become unmanageable with fast talkers or difficult terminology. Furthermore, until recently, shorthand reporters would verbally dictate transcription notes into typewritten form, resulting in about two hours dictation for every hour transcribing.
Thus, Webb thought he could "repeat it with my voice instead of with a pen". After much experimentation—first with a cigar box and then a tomato can—he arrived at a solution using a microphone inside a rubber Air Force
face mask, paired with a coffee pot filled with sound-absorbing material
. The result was eventually deemed by the U.S. Navy
to be the most accurate method of transcription among "all known systems of verbatim reporting", and was subsequently adopted for use in their court reporting.
Continuing in his father's footsteps, Stephen Webb (Talk Technologies, Inc.) is contributing major advancements to the classical "moose-mask" design. These improvements include a smaller, lightweight design, and a specially designed mask to be used for speech recognition.
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
. The purpose of a stenomask is to allow a person to speak without being heard by other people, and to keep background noise away from the microphone.
A stenomask is useful for speech recognition
Speech recognition
Speech recognition converts spoken words to text. The term "voice recognition" is sometimes used to refer to recognition systems that must be trained to a particular speaker—as is the case for most desktop recognition software...
applications, because it allows voice transcription
Transcription (linguistics)
Transcription in the linguistic sense is the systematic representation of language in written form. The source can either be utterances or preexisting text in another writing system, although some linguists only consider the former as transcription.Transcription should not be confused with...
in noisy environments. Perhaps more importantly, a stenomask silences the user's voice so that it does not interfere with the surrounding environment such as a court or a classroom. The user can verbally identify the speaker, indicate gestures and unspoken answers, and describe activities as they take place.
An operator of a stenomask can be trained to "re-voice" everything they hear into a stenomask connected to a speech recognition system, for a real-time text transcription of everything spoken. This allows a "voice writer" to produce instant text feeds within a courtroom and distribute them in ASCII format immediately after a proceeding. The equipment can also interface with litigation management software
Electronic Discovery
Electronic discovery refers to discovery in civil litigation which deals with the exchange of information in electronic format . Usually a digital forensics analysis is performed to recover evidence...
.
A trained operator using a stenomask connected to a pre-trained speech recognition system can exceed 180 words per minute while at the same time exceeding 95 percent accuracy. They may also modify the pronunciation of the words they are speaking in order to improve accuracy.
History
The stenomask was developed by Horace Webb and two colleagues in the early 1940s. He was proficient with Gregg shorthandShorthand
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...
but sought a more accurate and faster system of transcription, as shorthand notes can become unmanageable with fast talkers or difficult terminology. Furthermore, until recently, shorthand reporters would verbally dictate transcription notes into typewritten form, resulting in about two hours dictation for every hour transcribing.
Thus, Webb thought he could "repeat it with my voice instead of with a pen". After much experimentation—first with a cigar box and then a tomato can—he arrived at a solution using a microphone inside a rubber Air Force
Air force
An air force, also known in some countries as an air army, is in the broadest sense, the national military organization that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army, navy or...
face mask, paired with a coffee pot filled with sound-absorbing material
Sound baffle
A sound baffle is a construction or device which reduces the strength of airborne sound. Sound baffles are a fundamental tool of noise mitigation, the practice of minimizing noise pollution or reverberation. An important type of sound baffle is the noise barrier constructed along highways to...
. The result was eventually deemed by the U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
to be the most accurate method of transcription among "all known systems of verbatim reporting", and was subsequently adopted for use in their court reporting.
Continuing in his father's footsteps, Stephen Webb (Talk Technologies, Inc.) is contributing major advancements to the classical "moose-mask" design. These improvements include a smaller, lightweight design, and a specially designed mask to be used for speech recognition.
In fiction
- A stenomask appears and is described in Stephen KingStephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's novelNovelA novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
Bag of BonesBag of BonesBag of Bones is a 1998 novel by Stephen King. It focuses on an author who suffers severe writer's block and delusions at an isolated lake house four years after the death of his wife...
. - A stenomask is used in the deposition scene of Atom EgoyanAtom EgoyanAtom Egoyan, OC is a critically acclaimed Armenian-Canadian stage director and film director. Egoyan made his career breakthrough with Exotica...
's The Sweet HereafterThe Sweet Hereafter (film)The Sweet Hereafter is a 1997 Canadian film written and directed by Atom Egoyan. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Russell Banks.-Plot:...
.