Does Automated Transcription Still Require Human Interference
Automated transcription has received a new impetus with the introduction of voice recognition technology in the last couple of decade. This shift in the popularity of transcription towards automation can be credited to decreased costs and less delays in the delivery of outputs. However, a recent study has shown that the mean accuracy rate while using automatic transcription softwares can be as low as 90% whereas the accuracy rate is 99.6% when human transcription is used. This study paves the way for the oft repeated claim that human interference is still needed when it comes to transcribing any such service as it is accuracy which is the key factor for the success of transcription services. The idea is to use automated and human transcription together for the best possible results. The reason why human interference can’t be neglected in a transcription processes has been discussed below.
Slurred Speech Cant be picked up by Automated Transcription
Although automated transcription services have been there for around a while but when it comes to a professional transcription service, there are many issues. The reason can be attributed to the inability of automated software to filter out heavy accent words and slurred speech or those words that are garbled. The end result is that the accuracy rates are much below the standard levels required for transcription which calls for a human intervention during the whole process.
Automated Transcription Doesn’t Work Well for Some Specific Sectors
In some sectors like legal fields, the transcription process has a big say in affecting the case of the client. All the processes like court hearings, depositions, briefings, callings have to be transcribed only verbatim, hence automated softwares can’t be used at this stage of the legal work. Moreover, human interference is also required in the medical transcription industry due to rapid speech, incomprehensible medical terminology, thick accents, loud ambient noise and improper recording equipment. All these factors can only be handled well by an experienced human transcriptionist and not by any automated transcription software.
Inability to Differentiate Between Speakers during Automated Transcription
One of the biggest drawbacks of automated transcription softwares is that they are unable to make a distinction between different speakers when it comes to speaker identification. Moreover, this software will not rewind the audio string a number of times in order to identify the speaker correctly and his/her speech during transcription, which can be easily done by a human transcriptionist. This helps in eliminating the mistakes and in providing the preferred degree of accuracy.
Automated Transcription Has a Tough Time in Transcribing Variations in Dialect
Voice recognition software has been programmed to comprehend only that speech which is present in clearly spoken English because of the use of specific algorithms that filter out specific sound patterns for comparison to a database that is more like a dictionary. While, such software would provide extremely useful results in a controlled environment, it fails to pick up cultural intonations and dialect variation as perfectly as would take place with the aid of a human transcriber.
The Final Results from Automated Transcription Needs Editing
Although automated transcription saves the time but the wider picture is that after the final result from the voice recognition software has been received, the transcriptionist needs to re-check the whole transcript for the presence of errors if any. This means that instead of reducing the time, the same gets doubled but the final transcript will surely be 100% accurate for having been passed through two accuracy tests- human and automatic.
The relatively low accuracy rate of automated service might come to its disadvantage but the fact of the matter remains that it results in some potential financial savings for the client. However, since accuracy is the key driving factor in any transcription process, manual transcription can’t be avoided, but a mid way can be adopted by making use of both the services at one or the other point of time. It is the transcription company which has to decide where to use human intervention at a specific stage of the transcription process.
Slurred Speech Cant be picked up by Automated Transcription
Although automated transcription services have been there for around a while but when it comes to a professional transcription service, there are many issues. The reason can be attributed to the inability of automated software to filter out heavy accent words and slurred speech or those words that are garbled. The end result is that the accuracy rates are much below the standard levels required for transcription which calls for a human intervention during the whole process.
Automated Transcription Doesn’t Work Well for Some Specific Sectors
In some sectors like legal fields, the transcription process has a big say in affecting the case of the client. All the processes like court hearings, depositions, briefings, callings have to be transcribed only verbatim, hence automated softwares can’t be used at this stage of the legal work. Moreover, human interference is also required in the medical transcription industry due to rapid speech, incomprehensible medical terminology, thick accents, loud ambient noise and improper recording equipment. All these factors can only be handled well by an experienced human transcriptionist and not by any automated transcription software.
Inability to Differentiate Between Speakers during Automated Transcription
One of the biggest drawbacks of automated transcription softwares is that they are unable to make a distinction between different speakers when it comes to speaker identification. Moreover, this software will not rewind the audio string a number of times in order to identify the speaker correctly and his/her speech during transcription, which can be easily done by a human transcriptionist. This helps in eliminating the mistakes and in providing the preferred degree of accuracy.
Automated Transcription Has a Tough Time in Transcribing Variations in Dialect
Voice recognition software has been programmed to comprehend only that speech which is present in clearly spoken English because of the use of specific algorithms that filter out specific sound patterns for comparison to a database that is more like a dictionary. While, such software would provide extremely useful results in a controlled environment, it fails to pick up cultural intonations and dialect variation as perfectly as would take place with the aid of a human transcriber.
The Final Results from Automated Transcription Needs Editing
Although automated transcription saves the time but the wider picture is that after the final result from the voice recognition software has been received, the transcriptionist needs to re-check the whole transcript for the presence of errors if any. This means that instead of reducing the time, the same gets doubled but the final transcript will surely be 100% accurate for having been passed through two accuracy tests- human and automatic.
The relatively low accuracy rate of automated service might come to its disadvantage but the fact of the matter remains that it results in some potential financial savings for the client. However, since accuracy is the key driving factor in any transcription process, manual transcription can’t be avoided, but a mid way can be adopted by making use of both the services at one or the other point of time. It is the transcription company which has to decide where to use human intervention at a specific stage of the transcription process.