A comparison of palantype and stenograph for use in a speech transcription aid for the deaf

In spite of considerable reasearch over many years in the field of automatic speech recognition (Underwood, 1977), practical devices capable of recognising unrestricted speech remain as science fiction rather than fact. Simultaneous display of speech as an aid for the deaf has however, been accomplished using manual data input devices (Newell and King, 1977; Newell, 1978; Downton and Newell; Fox et al, 1975; Hayward, 1978). In this application shorthand typing machines have been used, because only they can keep pace with speech (Seibel, 1964). Two possible machines are currently available for English Transcriptions; the Palantype (a British device) and the Stenograph (an American device). They are both based on the same fundamental principles, but differ mechanically and in the typing conventions they use. These differences suggest that one machine may be superior to the other as an input device for an aid for the deaf. This paper compares the two shorthand systems with a view to their potential use in a system providing a simultaneous transcript of speech for the deaf.