Ambient AI: The Silent Assistant in Healthcare

Written by Lynna Truong, PharmD 2027

February 24, 2025

Ambient AI: The Silent Assistant in Healthcare

As AI moves beyond being just a buzzword, it is actively changing healthcare, with more healthcare systems adopting new technologies like ambient AI. Ambient AI in healthcare combines machine learning, data analytics, and natural language processing to provide personalized experiences for patients and streamline clinical workflows. More than just a speech-to-text tool, this technology uses voice recognition and AI to listen to, interpret, and analyze conversations between patients and providers, automatically documenting patient encounters during natural, free-flowing conversations.1

Benefits

• Time-saving: Ambient AI can reduce clinical consultation time by up to 26.3%, allowing healthcare providers to focus more on patient care.2

• Reduced burnout: By automating documentation tasks, ambient AI helps alleviate physician burnout, which while improving, still affected 48.2% of physicians in 2023.3

• Improved accuracy: The technology ensures greater accuracy in medical notes, reducing human errors and "note bloat," or excessive, confusing documentation.2

• Enhanced patient experience: With less time spent on administrative tasks, providers can give patients their full attention, potentially improving overall patient satisfaction.2

Concerns

• Privacy: The continuous collection of large amounts of sensor data in healthcare settings raises privacy concerns. Additionally, proper handling and storage of the vast amount of data collected is crucial as it poses a risk for data breaches.

• Bias and fairness: AI algorithms must be carefully monitored to ensure fairness across diverse patient populations and prevent bias.

• Informed consent: Obtaining proper consent from patients to use ambient AI technology in their care is an important ethical consideration.4

Example of Ambient AI in Healthcare

Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX) is an AI-powered, voice-enabled solution developed by Nuance Communications, now part of Microsoft, designed to revolutionize clinical documentation in healthcare settings. DAX captures and converts patient-clinician conversations into comprehensive clinical documentation using ambient sensing technology and advanced AI. It integrates with electronic health records (EHRs) and works seamlessly with Dragon Medical One, another AI-driven documentation tool.5 This technology is already being used in large health systems including Boston Children’s Hospital, Monument Health, and WellSpan Health.6

As ambient AI evolves, it holds the potential to revolutionize healthcare by enhancing efficiency, reducing clinician workload, and fostering a balance between technological innovation and human interaction in patient care.

References:

1. Alim T. ViVE 2025: Why Ambient Intelligence Is Poised to Transform Healthcare. HealthTech. February 17, 2025.

2. American Medical Association. AI scribes for clinicians: How ambient listening in medicine works and future AI use cases [Podcast]. AMA Update. January 6, 2025.

3. Berg S. Physician burnout rate drops below 50% for first time in 4 years. American Medical Association. July 2, 2024. Accessed February 23, 2025.

4. Martinez-Martin N, Luo Z, Kaushal A, et al. Ethical issues in using ambient intelligence in health-care settings. Lancet Digit Health. 2021;3(2):e115-e123. doi:10.1016/S2589-7500(20)30275-2

5. Nuance. Improving clinician well‑being and patient experience. Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX).

6. Nuance Communications, Inc. Increased Adoption of Nuance DAX by Independent Ambulatory Clinics Leads to Improved Physician Satisfaction and Patient Experience. News release. March 24, 2021.