• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

MassDevice

The Medical Device Business Journal — Medical Device News & Articles | MassDevice

  • Latest News
  • Technologies
    • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
    • Cardiovascular
    • Orthopedics
    • Neurological
    • Diabetes
    • Surgical Robotics
  • Business & Finance
    • Wall Street Beat
    • Earnings Reports
    • Funding Roundup
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Initial Public Offering (IPO)
    • Legal News
    • Personnel Moves
    • Medtech 100 Stock Index
  • Regulatory & Compliance
    • Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
    • Recalls
    • 510(k)
    • Pre-Market Approval (PMA)
    • MDSAP
    • Clinical Trials
  • Special Content
    • Special Reports
    • In-Depth Coverage
    • DeviceTalks
  • Podcasts
    • MassDevice Fast Five
    • DeviceTalks Weekly
    • OEM Talks
      • AbbottTalks
      • Boston ScientificTalks
      • DeviceTalks AI
      • IntuitiveTalks
      • MedtechWOMEN Talks
      • MedtronicTalks
      • Neuro Innovation Talks
      • Ortho Innovation Talks
      • Structural Heart Talks
      • StrykerTalks
  • Resources
    • About MassDevice
    • DeviceTalks
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Leadership in Medtech
    • Manufacturers & Suppliers Search
    • MedTech100 Index
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
Home » Putting some brains behind the software

Putting some brains behind the software

July 25, 2011 By Arezu Sarvestani

Nuance Dragon Software

If Nuance Communications (NSDQ:NUAN) had its way, medical transcription would be a two-way conversation between man and machine.

The company is looking to transform the transcription process into a back-and-forth between the physician and an intelligent software program that prompts for details and suggests potential courses of treatment based on a more holistic view of the patient story.

Nuance Healthcare develops advanced voice recognition technologies to capture, translate and code speech, most notably with its Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition platform. Medical transcription makes up its largest sector, but the company dabbles in voice-controlled entertainment systems, vehicular functions and mobile devices.

Carina Edwards

The company announced in February that its medical speech recognition software would move to the cloud, providing users with new capabilities for speech-driven clinical documentation, voice navigation and automatic clinical fact extraction. Later that month Nuance partnered with IBM to explore ways that the Jeopardy-winning supercomputer Watson’s advanced analytic abilities could support the health care industry.

"We’re their bridge to health care," Carina Edwards, VP of health care solutions marketing, told MassDevice. "There’s so much potential for Watson, we just need to bring physicians together with engineers to think up hypotheses and use cases and then say ‘can watson answer that?’"

The plan is to commercialize a Watson-driven health care product within 18 months, Edwards told us. Though she couldn’t divulge any additional details regarding the IBM collaboration, she did outline Nuance’s plans to shift their focus from speech recognition to speech "understanding" technology. The comany’s pilot program of a new clinical speech understanding software at Banner Health is posting accuracy upwards of 90 percent, and the company hopes to bring a new product to market through a software developmen kit in October.

Last month the Dearborn, Mich.-based company announced that it partnered with Ford to develop more accurate voice-command technology to interpret intentions behind driver commands to help new users who aren’t familiar with exact speech codes acclimate to voice controls. In February the company announced a partnership with 3M Health Information Systems, the health care IT division of 3M Healthcare (NYSE:MMM), to develop a suite of next-generation clinical documentation and coding technologies to prepare companies for ICD-10, the latest medical classification coding system required for all HIPAA entities, which will go into effect October 1, 2013.

The company has also managed to snap up some interesting acquisitions this year, most recently with the announcement that they bought Webmedx, and Atlanta-based transcription and editing service which also runs an online medical speech editing and transcription school, for an undisclosed amount. In May, Nuance paid $157 in cash for Fla.-based Equitrac Corp., and in June nabbed Mass.-based SVOX AG for an undisclosed amount.

Filed Under: Health Information Technology, News Well Tagged With: MassDevice Q&A, Nuance Communications Inc.

More recent news

  • Real-world data backs Route 92 reperfusion system
  • LivsMed unveils new surgical robot with telesurgery capabilities
  • JenaValve enrolls first patient in TAVR for AR study
  • HistoSonics expands insurance coverage for histotripsy treatment
  • Johnson & Johnson MedTech gets updated FDA nod for Varipulse PFA

Primary Sidebar

“md
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest med device regulatory, business and technology news.

DeviceTalks Weekly

See More >

MEDTECH 100 Stock INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
MDO ad

Footer

MASSDEVICE MEDICAL NETWORK

DeviceTalks
Drug Delivery Business News
Medical Design & Outsourcing
Medical Tubing + Extrusion
Drug Discovery & Development
Pharmaceutical Processing World
MedTech 100 Index
R&D World
Medical Design Sourcing

DeviceTalks Webinars, Podcasts, & Discussions

Attend our Monthly Webinars
Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

MASSDEVICE

Subscribe to MassDevice E-Newsletter
Advertise with us
About
Contact us

Copyright © 2025 · WTWH Media LLC and its licensors. All rights reserved.
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media.

Privacy Policy