Why voice assistants are gaining traction in healthcare

Voice-enabled personal assistants seem to be headed for ubiquity in the consumer world. Market research firm Gartner predicts consumer demand for voice devices such as Amazon Echo and Google Home will generate $3.5 billion by 2021. But they are not confined to living rooms, telling you the day's weather or reading out news briefings. Intelligent voice assistants are slowly but steadily being adopted in healthcare. Several hospitals, such as Boston Children's Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, are experimenting with voice assistants and conversational artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to provide relevant information and answer queries of patients and medical staff.