The Central Remedial Clinic is being inundated with inquiries for voice recognition assessment. The DragonDictate Classic Edition is its most popular voice computing software and has the advantage of being totally hands free. Mr Ger Craddock, manager of client technical services at the clinic, explains the benefits of the advance.

"The greatest advantage is that teenagers are now on a level playing field with their peers regarding homework and reports.

"Many would previously have been producing work at the rate of five or 10 words per minute, where 30 words per minute would be the norm. Voice recognition has filled that gap," he says.

Another early Irish user of voice technology has been Belfast City Hospital's radiology department. There, IBM's VoiceType Dictation has been applied on a trial basis to deliver information from the radiology department to the ward so treatment decisions can be made more quickly. Three people are currently using the system on a fairly frequent basis.

"To date if we use VoiceType Dictation for everything - although it's accurate - we have found a 20 per cent reduction in productivity. The preamble to inputting a relatively straightforward report can be quite time consuming. For non-enthusiasts this is very deterring," says Dr John Lawson, consultant radiologist.

However, Dr Lawson is convinced the technology is advancing at such a rate that soon it will be completely practicable in the work environment. He sees advantages in being able to do reports without needing a secretary on hand to take the details. Instead material can be input directly to the system and checked and verified immediately.