A Comparison of Accuracy and Rate of Transcription by Adults with Learning Disabilities Using a Continuous Speech Recognition System and a Traditional Computer Keyboard

A single-subject, alternating-treatments design was implemented for three adults with learning disabilities to compare the transcription of college-level texts using a speech recognition system and a traditional keyboard. The accuracy and rate of transcribing after editing was calculated for each transcribed passage. The results provide evidence that the accuracy of transcription using the speech recognition system was slightly lower than the accuracy of transcription using the traditional keyboard for all of the participants. The rate of transcription using the speech recognition system was very similar to the keyboard for two of the participants. For the third participant, the transcription rate using the keyboard exceeded the rate using the speech recognition system for all four sessions. Following the fourth and final session, 1 participant indicated that she preferred the speech recognition system, and the others participants stated that they had no preference between the speech recognition system and the keyboard. Educational implications and directions for future research are discussed. (Contains 1 table, 3 figures, and 1 endnote.)