When many people think about a court reporter, they think of an old movie with the person sitting right in front of the judge typing on this little machine with a stream of paper coming out of it. That is no longer true. Today they use a variety of different pieces of equipment to accomplish their job.
The piece of equipment that they used to use was called a stenotype, which is a specialized typewriter for court reporters. It was designed to allow shorthand typing for quick and easy transcription. It types in symbols that are phrases or words. The transcript is now translated or transcribed in real-time on computers.
Can you ever imagine anyone typing 300 words per minute? Well, a good court reporter using a stenography machine can. The speed that allows them to catch everything said in a courtroom.
Orange County court reporters now also use tape and/or digital audio recordings to back them up. Some will use what is called the Silencer. This is a hand held mask with a microphone in it and is used for voice writing.
Voice writing is one of the newer methods a court reporter uses today. A court reporter speaks directly into this mask by repeating everything they hear. The recording, as a backup, records every word that is spoken in a courtroom and will be in the transcript of the proceedings.
Last piece of equipment that every court reporter utilizes is a computer. On this computer is a CAT program that translates the shorthand that is produced by the stenography machine. A court reporter may also utilize voice recognition with voice writing as well.
