TALKING INTO A CONE . . . When Tony of Parenthetical Statement went to a Senate hearing in Washington last week, he was intrigued by something other than the senators: "In between the testifying panel and the Senators sits a person hard at work -- but with some sort of cone-like item to his or her face."

In his post, Tony even included a photo of this unique creature. As he deduced, the cone is an "archaic dictaphone [designed] to create transcripts of the hearings." Every word that is spoken is re-spoken into the mask, which includes a microphone.

As someone who still sees such cone-faced court reporters at depositions from time to time, I can appreciate Tony's shock. The cone, I believe, is called a "stenomask" and the method of reporting is called "voice writing." When such a person is sitting next to you in a deposition, repeating every word you say, the effect can be a little disconcerting, even when the reporter's mumbling is muffled by the cone.

Comments

[Ray]

Reminds me of a deposition I took of the fire chief in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana several years ago. The court reporter was a real stenographer -- she took down the testimony with a steno pad and a pencil. A bit more low-tech than I was used to seeing, but the transcript turned out fine. (She also used a cassette tape recorder as backup.)

[Eh Nonymous]

But is it a cone of silence?

[Dave]

Down here in the beautiful state of South Carolina the steno mask is the preferred method of dictation. It threw me for a bit, but they have tape back ups and the transcripts seem to be fine.

I've also seen the ole paper and pen handwritten stenography too, but that is less frequently used. In 12 years of lawyering, I've only seen a court reporter with a steno machine once.

I gotta tell you, I love the Beach.