In movies and series it’s not unusual for a doctor to be dictating notes using an analogue recorder. In the early 2000s, one would expect to see a tape recorder dictaphone in use, enabling the doctor to fast-forward and rewind recordings and transfer tapes across to pedal transcription kit systems. This analogue process had the benefit of being able to work with physical tapes that will hold the information as long as you need them even if the drawbacks include: having a magnet corrupt the tape, the tape breaking or losing the tape together.
That’s probably why it’s been so easy for the jump from analogue to digital, enabling digital recorders to capture not only one tape but hundreds on portable storage SD cards. Starting with as little as 32MB, the digital storage capacity of devices has grown exponentially as the price of storage facilities has become cheaper and the versatility of managing digital files has become much more commonplace with cloud drives enabling even more options.
The beauty of using a digital recorder is that you can transfer the files much more easily, whether through a cradle connected to the computer or even via a Wi-Fi connection. This ease of transfer makes it so much more efficient to record digital files for transcription, able to email, copy or delete. While the top end digital recorders now come with a variety of options when it comes to sharing the files that have been recorded, much of what you can do on them is also available on your smartphone.
While having a digital recorder makes it easier to separate work from your personal life, it’s quite reassuring to know that you can record some transcription readily using your smart phone. Nowadays people will almost always have this microphone on standby, whether waiting for a meeting or standing in a queue. While it might not be the best time to dictate something when you are in a noisy environment standing with people in front of and behind you, there are a number of opportune moments where creating a quick note will make complete sense. Maximising your time, reporting more accurately after a meeting, or using a hands-free kit and getting some work done in bumper-to-bumper traffic, that’s the beauty of being able to use your smart phone as a backup digital recorder.
Most phones will have a built-in voice recorder option, but there are various alternatives on your play or app store. Just make sure that you have an app that records in the right format for transcription (MP3, M4A, DSS, DS2) and that the device is capable of high quality recording. Most smartphone microphones are more than adequate, probably include some level of noise cancelling technology and capture the audio clearly enough for transcription to take place.
If for some reason you don’t record in the right format, there’s always the backup option of actually using your smartphone’s speakerphone and simply putting the device next to the headset for direct transcription. Doing the transcription digitally will go much faster, but if all else fails it’s good to know that you won’t necessarily lose all the valuable time committed to dictating in the first place.