Is Automated Transcription More Popular Than Manual Transcription?

Legal firms, businesses, and educational institutional utilize audio transcription services to create readable and accessible text from audio files. With the advancements in technology, use of voice recognition or speech recognition technology is widely used to obtain transcripts at a low cost within the required turnaround time. This software understands or recognizes human voice and converts the spoken words into text format in a matter of seconds.

Reasons for the Popularity of Automated Transcription

Advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology has transformed how transcription is done, delivering unparalleled speed and cost-effectiveness. It uses speech recognition (ASR) technologies to convert spoken words into text instantly. AI technologies have the potential to speed up workflow and increase operational efficiency.

Advanced transcription eliminates elements that degrade audio quality and pinpoint challenging vocabulary in order to produce reliable transcripts. These are frequently more challenging for human transcriptionists to handle. Additionally, ASR machines are trained continuously and become more intelligent over time, yielding better results each time. Automated tools are also designed to thwart cyberattacks and security breaches, given the sensitivity and confidentiality of the data that the legal, media, and academic sectors rely on.

Automated transcription provides diverse benefits:

• High speed – Compared to the manual process which takes 2 to 3 days, automated transcription provides results in minutes. It is capable of a faster turnaround than human transcription, saving a significant amount of time.
• Cost-effective – Voice transcription is cost effective. As it generates text transcripts much faster than traditional manual methods, it is more budget-friendly.
• Save time on spell check – Using automated solutions to transcribe audio or video content can ensure accuracy in spelling, saving time that would go into spell checks.

Automatic Speech Recognition – Accuracy Concerns

Even though speech recognition software offers diverse benefits to meet today’s business workflow needs, its accuracy rate is of great concern compared to human transcription. Inaccuracies could result from challenges such as varying speaker accents and dialects, background noise and rapid speech. Compared to the manual process, voice recognition software doesn’t understand the complexities of jargon and can have a difficult time handling background noise. At the same time, human transcriptionists have a natural ability to filter through background noise.

Manual transcription

Instead of using technology, manual transcription uses highly skilled people to produce a transcript. These experts are proficient and provide precise transcripts, possessing essential skills to interpret crucial data, swiftly type and edit. They listen to audio files and transcribe each recordings into accurate text format. However, it is difficult to locate people with manual transcription skills.

These challenges have led to the development of the hybrid approach.

The Hybrid Approach

Though automated transcription services are superior in terms of speed, they can be negatively impacted by various factors, such as fast speech, a strong accent, background noise, and other disturbances. The hybrid approach involves having editors and proofreaders evaluate AI-generated transcripts. This approach leverages the speed and efficiency of automated systems while ensuring accuracy, quality control, and contextual understanding through human intervention. By combining automated transcription with human oversight and editing, digital transcription agencies offer the best of both worlds.