Background: Recently, speech and video information recognition technology (SVRT) has developed rapidly. Introducing SVRT into the emergency medical practice process may lead to improvements in health care. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the level of acceptance of SVRT among patients, caregivers and emergency medical staff.
Methods: Structured questionnaires were developed for the patient or caregiver group and the emergency medical staff group. The survey was performed in one tertiary academic hospital emergency department. Questions were optimized for each specific group, and responses were provided mostly using Likert 5-scales. Additional multivariable logistic regression analyses for the whole cohort and subgroups were conducted to calculate odds ratios (OR) and confidence intervals (CI) to examine the association between individual characteristics and SVRT acceptance.
Results: Of 264 participants, respondents demonstrated a positive attitude and acceptance toward SVRT and artificial intelligence (AI) in future; 179 (67.8%) for video recordings, and 190 (72.0%) for speech recordings. A multivariable logistic regression model revealed that several factors were associated with acceptance of SVRT in emergency medical practice: belief in health care improvement by signal analysis technology (OR, 95% CIs: 2.48 (1.15-5.42)) and AI (OR, 95% CIs: 1.70 (0.91-3.17)), reliability of AI application in emergency medicine (OR, 95% CIs: 2.36 (1.28-4.35)) and the security of personal information (OR, 95% CIs: 1.98 (1.10-3.63)).
Conclusion: A high level of acceptance toward SVRT has been shown in patients or caregivers, and it also appears to be associated with positive attitudes toward new technology, AI and security of personal information.