Integrating automatic speech recognition into remote healthcare interpreting: A pilot study of its impact on interpreting quality

TL;DR

This pilot study explores how automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology can enhance interpreting quality in remote healthcare settings, showing promising results but emphasizing the need for further research.

Contribution

It introduces a novel methodology for evaluating ASR's impact on healthcare interpreting quality and compares different types of ASR outputs in a simulated environment.

Findings

ASR support improved interpreting accuracy

Full transcripts were preferred by interpreters

Different ASR outputs affected error distribution

Abstract

This paper reports on the results from a pilot study investigating the impact of automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology on interpreting quality in remote healthcare interpreting settings. Employing a within-subjects experiment design with four randomised conditions, this study utilises scripted medical consultations to simulate dialogue interpreting tasks. It involves four trainee interpreters with a language combination of Chinese and English. It also gathers participants' experience and perceptions of ASR support through cued retrospective reports and semi-structured interviews. Preliminary data suggest that the availability of ASR, specifically the access to full ASR transcripts and to ChatGPT-generated summaries based on ASR, effectively improved interpreting quality. Varying types of ASR output had different impacts on the distribution of interpreting error types. Participants reported similar interactive experiences with the technology, expressing their preference for full ASR transcripts. This pilot study shows encouraging results of applying ASR to dialogue-based healthcare interpreting and offers insights into the optimal ways to present ASR output to enhance interpreter experience and performance. However, it should be emphasised that the main purpose of this study was to validate the methodology and that further research with a larger sample size is necessary to confirm these findings.