Adding a transcription can open content to a wider audience, whether it’s a podcast, video or interview recording. It includes users who require accessibility features like subtitles and captioning and those who want to share the content without plugging in their headphones. A verbatim transcript captures every word, including pauses, stutters, interjections, and background noise. This type of transcription is useful for capturing meeting notes and legal recordings.
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Journalists
Audio transcription is the go-to tool for journalists, researchers and writers who want to get a written record of their audio or video interviews. But it’s also an essential tool for any business, higher education institution or legal office that creates content and needs a way to keep records of meetings and presentations. When transcribing recordings with specialized or technical terminology, it’s important to use a human transcriber so that you can ensure that the transcribed text accurately conveys the meaning of what was said and avoids mispronunciations and contextual misunderstandings. Also, when transcribing recordings with multiple speakers, using speaker labels to identify each person speaking in the transcript is crucial.
Non-verbatim transcriptions eliminate extraneous words, stutters, and exclamations to simplify the text for readers. They also correct grammatical errors and omit short pauses or hesitations that do not add to the content of the audio file. Businesses often need transcription from audio to text for various purposes, including training videos, marketing campaigns, product launches and podcasts. Transcriptions can also provide hard captions and subtitles for videos uploaded to social media so that users with hearing impairments can access the content. Transcripts can be provided as real-time captions for live events broadcast online or in person. This service is known as communication access real-time translation, or CART.
Researchers
Whether it’s to document research interviews, provide notes to a colleague or ensure accessibility for someone with hearing or vision impairment, researchers need audio transcription. Transcribing audio into text is the best way to capture and store information and provides a useful tool when analyzing data, sharing findings or writing research papers. Transcriptions allow researchers to easily review their notes from meetings, interviews or focus groups and identify important details they may have missed while listening. They can refer to transcripts as evidence during legal cases or use them in presentations and publications. It’s also a time-saving tool when they need to re-listen to recordings or share them with others for analysis, training or collaboration. In addition, transcribed content is searchable and can be easily archived in an online repository for future reference.
Research interviews, lectures and focus groups often span hours and can be difficult to decipher without a written record. Transcription services eliminate the need to rewind and replay audio/video or write down notes so researchers can focus on their academic specialties. The type of transcription required will help determine how human transcriber, software or automated platforms should deliver it. For example, a lawyer with a case full of jargon-filled recordings may need a highly accurate transcription, while a pastor wishing to share his sermons with the wider public will likely be happier with an automatic conversion from audio to text.
Doctors and Lawyers
Whether it’s for medical records, a legal case, an educational lecture or a marketing video interview, doctors and lawyers need accurate transcripts to refer back to at any time. They also often work with jargon-filled recordings and need transcriptions to accurately reflect the subject without mistaking words or phrases. Transcriptions help professionals record, review and reference their notes and conversations efficiently and easily share this content with colleagues or clients. Transcriptions are also crucial for documenting meetings, focus groups and conferences. Different types of transcription styles may be required depending on the purpose of a recording and how quickly a summary is needed. For example, non-verbatim transcription omits filler words like stutters, false starts and side conversations; this can be beneficial for situations that require a clear, easy-to-read transcript, such as market research or journalism.
Another important consideration is how many people are on a recording and their speaking style. It can take up to 4-5 times as long to transcribe recordings that are made up of multiple speakers – especially if they have heavy accents or talk very fast. The right equipment can help make the transcription process more efficient and accurate. For example, muting microphones, turning off voice activation on digital recorders and ensuring that windows and doors are closed can all impact the quality of a recording.
Businesses
For businesses, audio transcription can be an excellent way to document important conversations and improve accessibility for people with hearing or vision impairments. Transcript excerpts can also be used for a variety of marketing purposes. Companies often require transcriptions of audio files for legal proceedings, business meetings, presentations and other daily proceedings. A record must be kept for any dispute, so transcribing these files is an ideal solution. However, it can be challenging to transcribe audio recordings that contain specialized or technical topics accurately. The best transcriptions are created by humans, who deeply understand the language and can catch nuances and slang that are hard to capture through speech-to-text software programs.
While plenty of services offer automated transcriptions, they tend to have a high error rate and can miss key details in a recording. A human transcriber can ensure accurate results for the most effective use of your business’s resources. A business’s internal sales and customer support teams can use transcripts of phone calls and meetings to identify critical information, client objections and areas for improvement. This data can be used to refine sales pitches and improve customer retention through more accurate communication with clients. Moreover, transcripts can be uploaded to CRM systems to organize and retrieve important customer information easily.
