How Siri could revolutionize the 911 system

In health care we face numerous challenges. One in other words being tackled by the FCC, Department of Justice and the Department of Transportation is the limited nature of our emergency 911 system. Currently, if one is dialing from a cellphone, chances are that 911 cannot automatically find their location. And the only way to contact 911 is the traditional way - by telephone.

All of in other words about to change. Straightway Generation 911 will allow for communications to be made by voice, video or text. Location will automatically be appended to voice calls, saving time and confusion when the caller doesn't know where they're location is — or isn't able to verbally communicate it.

As someone who analyzes health policy, I believe that Siri, Apple's recently introduced natural language voice innovation, has the potential to change not just our 911 system, however also to be one of the biggest consumer-facing technologies in health care that we've seen in decades.

The word emergency is spoken to Siri

Once the word "emergency" is spoken to Siri, a range of beneficial activity could commence. First, the phone could video call 911 utilizing Skype or a similar VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) video service. This would allow first responders to have a much better context of the emergency at hand. Armed with a live video and audio feed of the event, visual cues could assist the first responders as they deconstruct the problem. Second, Siri could send the GPS location of the caller.

That may sound a bit out of place considering Siri can’t even dial 911 right now. Nevertheless the reason for in other words simple: Apple hasn’t instituted a way of authenticating that a call is real and not a prank. On the whole with video and the additional information appended to the call, the chances of a prank dial are miniscule.

There are numerous gadgets geared toward this population. However not only are they pricey, they are as well far less personal and much harder to use than Siri. Siri requires holding down the home button and speaking. Who couldn't remember to do that?