How Good Are Your Listening Skills?

One of the most important skills for a medical transcriptionist is listening. It's easy to see why. You'll be called on often to listen to spoken audio recordings and transcribe them into usable medical documents. But that's more challenging than you might think.

What are some of the obstacles that you might encounter as you try to listen to doctors speaking into an audio recording for you to make your notes?

• Some doctors are soft spoken. If you get a doctor who doesn't speak very loudly or who doesn't put the microphone close enough to her mouth when speaking then you could have volume issues or difficulty understanding the audio.
• Thick accents. Let's face it. There are many foreign doctors that may be good doctors but who have thick accents when they talk. The audio recording will make that thick accent even more difficult to understand.
• Background noise. Background noise can often get in the way of a good audio recording. If the background noise is too loud, too close to the microphone or very well pronounced then you might have a difficult challenge.
• Static. Sometimes there's nothing wrong with the speaker. Bad or old equipment could lead to static in the recording.
• Scratchy recording. If it isn't static then it could just be a scratching sound caused by a bad tape or outdated equipment.
• Weather conditions. Put it in the category of background noise, but if the weather conditions at the time of a doctor's recording are poor then that could come through loud and clear as you are trying to listen.
• Your own health. If you are ill or suffering from diminished hearing while attempting to listen to an audio recording then you could have some challenges.

Any one of these obstacles is enough, but what if you have two or more at the same time. Now you can see just how difficult it can be to listen to a doctor's audio recording and get a good transcription from it. That's why medical transcriptionists are in great demand and why doctors are willing to pay good money for a great transcription.

Learn more about how you can become a medical transcriptionist today.