Kevin Seals (San Francisco, USA) and Andrew Taylor (San Francisco, USA) talk to Interventional News at SIR 2019 about the current and future use of smart speaker technology in the angiosuite, which allows interventional radiologists to access critical digital information almost instantly. Smart speakers, such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home, offer a conversational voice interface that allows interventional radiology (IR) physicians to ask questions and retrieve information needed for their patient treatments without breaking sterile scrub.
Seals, who believes the technology is “a really excellent fit” for doctors performing procedures in a sterile environment, looks at the benefits of the technology and some of the pitfalls as well. One particular issue Seals delves into is that the current speakers available are not HIPAAA compliant and that “working through those issues is absolutely critical” prior to these tools being used clinically.
Taylor, meanwhile, talks about the current working prototypes the team are developing and touches on the importance of voice recognition and how it can work in conjunction with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies. Combined, the technology offers the ability to “interact, listen and gather information without having to look away from what you’re doing”, says Taylor.
