How to Choose a Transcription Software

Either you want a transcription for a single file or a massive project, choosing transcription software requires time and close attention to getting a maximally correct text. This article reveals the general order of machine transcription, emphasizing the most crucial points which may affect your choice. Read on to select the most suitable transcribing software for your case individually.

The Purpose of Transcription Software and Accuracy Results

It seems like following the speech and writing down the heard words is kid stuff. But in practice, this process is immensely tedious and takes plenty of time. Since the demand for this service is high, programmers and engineers work hard to make this process as less painful and short-timing as possible. Transcription programs and applications aim to transport any media file (meetings, interviews, seminars, lectures, phone calls, etc.) into a text file.

Some old versions of speech-to-text transcription software relieve the transcription job slightly. Their capacity includes uploading an audio file and typing out the heard speech in the inbuilt editor. Additionally, it offers a few control buttons to manage the work with the audio. Luckily, speech-to-text transcription technology has sustained a significant improvement in recent years. Before picking up any transcription software, pay close attention to the year of release and the capacity, which the producer offers. 

Choosing an automated transcription, expect the highest accuracy results at approximately 90 percent. Computer specialists continue developing and implementing numerous features to increase the transcription quality, e.g., background noise suppression, which significantly worsens the quality of the transcribed text. However, none program provides 100 percent results. Test out the software before uploading any media content to avoid disappointments regarding accuracy.

The output file of any program requires editing to improve the accuracy results. The purely correct text can provide human proofreading only. It is reasonable to hire professional human transcription services or do it yourself. The expenses for the professional assistance will be less compared to the ones for the entire document transcription.

Speed and Privacy of the Transcription Software

All software transcribes one hour of media files approximately for half an hour. If the system informs about a more extended period for the project, it means that this organization involves a human transcriber. The price for the project will be higher. To count the final term of the do-it-yourself transcribed project, you should include the time for editing. 

Before uploading your files to the system, convince of the privacy policy which the software provides. Focus on the following items:

• the level of human involvement in the transcription;
• the period of storing the media data in the system;
• usage of the sources for machine testing;
• permission to delete the source files individually;
• the minimization of the data stored on the server.

The most credible transcription company does its best to diminish the file’s storage period as much as possible and cleans up the database as soon as the transcription process ends. Also, they allow data controlling, permitting the removal of the transcript copies from the system by a customer without the long routine of applications to the customer support service.

The Language Issues and Dictation

The best transcription software supports all languages. However, the quality of an output file may vary. To ensure that the transcription goes well, test it for each language separately. If your source file includes the speech with a specific accent, check out the software tools. The transcription software of a decent quality allows choosing different regional accents.

Not all programs can identify the speakers and mark them in the transcript. The best programs can do it. However, they can not detect the names. You will have to do it manually, replacing «Speaker 1» with the person’s name once you get an output file during editing using the search-replace function. 

The machines include an extensive dictionary. Yet, it frequently happens when it can not catch difficult words. These are slang, narrow-specific terminology, proper names. Choose the software with the function of adding new lexis to its dictionary. It must save it without the necessity to reload for each new file.

Concern if the software provides such features as dictation. Select the needed language, speak into your microphone, and control how the words appear on the screen of our device immediately. This efficient tool allows avoiding the speech recording stage, for instance, while writing a long-read and serves as a dictaphone for the thoughts recording.

Also, a voice recorder may come in handy when a software transcription capacity is not enough to recognize outsource sound due to poor quality. When a better quality sound is absent, you can use your headset and dictate the speech into the microphone. This technique helps to enhance the quality of the sound efficiently. The same measures are applicable for lyrics transcription.

The Expenses for a Transcription Software

The transcription technologies supply a strenuous process with a package of settings included. Before paying, make sure that the program or application fits all your needs. For this purpose, all of them provide a free testing period allowing users to upload the media and get familiar with the output file. 

The testing period is limited: from a few minutes to half an hour (depending on the program plan). Most transcription programs offer online services instead of downloading and installing the transcription program permanently.

The services charge a source file per hour. Ignore the offers with an unlimited amount of hours because they come from amateurs or scammers. The pricing policy in transcription organizations must be transparent and understandable for a client. 

Add extra expenses for human proofreading if you are not happy with automatic transcription and want a purely correct text. The human transcription services for the entire file, excluding the software, is the most expensive yet superior transcription quality.