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Is it my ears, or the audio software? - Hard2Understand

Posted: Aug 11, 2012

I'm new to having to work for an MTSO. The sound quality is atrocious on 80% of their dictators. The good dictators are perfectly clear. I will stop and adjust the speed/volume playing something mumbled over and over and not be able to understand it, then go back to re-listen when finished transcribing and it is perfectly clear on the first listen. Has anyone else experienced this with the sound quality, or have I developed some sort of hearing deficit? Thanks.

Odd - indigocarmine

[ In Reply To ..]
If you didn't change anything, it's hard to figure why it sounds different. Is it the actual quality of the recording that changes? From fuzzy to clear? Did you shift in your seat and change your headphone connection?

Dictattion quality - trina

[ In Reply To ..]
this ALSO may be due to the fact that the doctors are not dictating from one single location, i.e., a hospital setting.Often, many radiologists now work from home in different states so this can also limit voice quality and be the reason why some doctors come in "loud and clear" and others don't. It would be worth your time to ask the company you work for.

No, it's not your ears. - roseinbloom

[ In Reply To ..]
I transcribe for a medium sized hospital so I get the same doctors over and over. The bad ones stay bad and the good ones are always good. It has to be their method of dictating. Using cell phones, holding the phone/recorder right up to their mouth so there is a lot of noise. Laying the phone on the desk and dictating producing low volume, mumbly dictation. Dictating at home with squalling kids, dictating in the car with horribe road noise. It goes on and on. When the doctors had to sit down at a hospital dictation station the quality was much much better. Now with cell phones, hand-held recorders, the doctors dictate anywhere and everywhere producing less than ideal dictation. I just hate it. I know it cannot be good for our hearing either.

Thanks all. Not sure why same recording changes quality after "rewinding" (sm) - Hard2Understand

[ In Reply To ..]
Roseinbloom - The general sound quality is so bad with the most common problem being the docs holding the mics right up to their mouths so all you hear is popping and breath sounds. I have another who is so soft I have to turn my windows volume and audio volume all the way up and press the earbuds into my ears, playing every phrase over and over. All the MTSO have to do is inform the doctor of the problem, but they refuse to do anything.

Sound quality - just me

[ In Reply To ..]
Issues can be from what they are using to dictate (land line, cell, VOIP, digital recorder) to dictation systems to the actual phone lines and other equipment as well as dictating methods (yes, speaking too close to the phone causes issues). I miss the good old days before cell phones and VOIP but am extremely lucky my clients dictate on a land line for me (99.999%). Cell or VOIP to land line do not record well.

It may not be a "hearing" issue at all. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
On my teams, I've trained people to make a couple of attempts on blanks and then move on, coming back to them after completing the report.

The reason for this is that you might hear the same word or phrase again, pronounced more clearly, and also because the more you know about the patient the easier it is to narrow down what the dictator might have been saying.

When you go back and listen to a blank and "hear it perfectly" the second time around, it's not really because you're hearing it any better, but because now you know more than you did when you first encountered that indistinct word or phrase.

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