With significant advancements in speech recognition software, business transcriptionists still offer the most accurate services. Speech recognition software which is commercially available usually has an error rate of close to 12% when transcribing over the telephone in comparison to human transcription 4% error rate and a transcriptionist rate of 1%. If you require accurate and expert quality services, avoid the risk and use 100% human transcription rather than automated business transcription services.
Human Transcription vs Automated Transcription Services
Transcription services normally convert speech to the actual text. They are prepared using humans who will transcribe the audio manually or there are tools that make use of technology to transcribe the content. Technology is faster, which turns the process into a fast one.
Humans in today’s world type faster than ever before. In the 1990s, the average typist could type 35 words in a minute. In 2015, that increased by 50-60 words and with tools for transcribing available, audio could be automated in a matter of seconds.
Transcription services are not as complex as they appear when it comes to managing them. The majority of providers of these services will offer a similar kind of package to everyone. Others may present two or three levels of subscription based on what is required as a company and the demand level needed.
Now that you know what transcription services are, it is important to address who would be using them. Not every individual or business would require these services but the advantages could turn them more valuable. If you have thought of transcribing services, this is a new zone of a work procedure that is made simpler for your employees and you. Transcribing can save a huge amount of time when automated, so you can take advantage of it. Many businesses will find the advantage of a transcription service but those who access these services are those in the legal sector or for corporate jobs, high-level meetings can be in their masses every month or every week.
The biggest and most adept artificial intelligence companies like IBM, Google, and Microsoft have been working for many years on enhancing automated transcription but only get an accuracy of 88%. Human transcription offers 99-100% accuracy by taking the help of transcriptionists.
How well do Human Transcriptionists fare over Automated Counterparts?
Given below are a few reasons why human transcriptionists offer better quality transcripts than automated transcription services:
1. Manage Background Noise and Disruptions
The greatest benefit human transcriptionists have over automated services is their spontaneous ability to filter noise in the background or any disruptions. Offering a clear high-quality audio file is the best option. But humans can filter through disruptions and background noise and present an accurate transcript. Automated transcription services have a hard time managing background noise. The result is incorrect transcripts or also a total rejection of the file.
2. Comprehend Different Dialects and Accents
Another barrier to automated software is dialects and accents. When the accents vary, or even if there is a dialect the software is unable to recognize, speech recognition software has a struggling time. But humans are consistently exposed to different dialects and accents. Such exposure combined with the transcriptionist’s ability to fit in gives an edge to humans – regardless of the speaker’s accent. Human transcriptionists offer high-level transcription services on audio with differing accents.
3. Differentiate between Homophones
One of the fastest ways to know if a transcript was done in a machinated way, is to spot errors in homophones. Homophones are words that have the same pronunciation and varying origins, meanings, or spelling. Speech recognition software depends on sentence structure to know the most likely word to use. This may result in mistakes.
4. Humans are Able to Identify Any Number of Speakers
Automated transcription software usually cannot find in-person speakers and offer accurate transcripts if there are more than 2 speakers there. This is very worrisome for someone who has to transcribe with more than three speakers, say for a business meeting. Humans can comprehend and identify many speakers, even when the speakers sound the same. Automated transcription software will have a hard time identifying multiple speakers and it also cannot correctly track the speakers all throughout the audio file.
5. Automated Services Need a Hybrid Model to Get 99% Accuracy
With these problems, and much more than automated transcription software encounters, a lot of services have included a hybrid model of transcription. This process needs a human to proofread and edit a transcript after passing it through speech recognition software. This business model reduces lead time. The results may be less accurate as the transcript produced by the automated transcription software can differ greatly from the original audio.
6. Accurate Content after Filtering and Editing with Manual Transcription
Manual Transcription can be used as an end process of filtering and polishing the content before presenting it to the audience. Businesses and brands which require high-quality transcripts or have to stick to many compliance guidelines should opt for manual transcription. The transcription accuracy makes it the perfect method of gathering information that is used in legal, scientific, or medical papers.
7. Manual Transcription Saves Time
Reviewing automatically-transcribed content can take up a lot of time. You can save time by choosing manual transcription. When the content you are creating is consumed by a different party it is likely to impact their lives, you should choose manual transcription. This transcription is ideal for education, legal, marketing, research, media, and enterprise assignments.
Conclusion
Even with the recent advancements in technology, automated transcription services need the hybrid model of an editor proofreading the whole transcript to correct errors and mistakes and achieve 99% accuracy.
If you are looking for accurate, quality texts, manual transcription is the best choice. Human transcription service is suggested when you have big files with many speakers, audio problems like fast talkers, background noises, and speakers with hard accents.
Manual or human transcriptions are safe and secure. The majority of business transcription service providers will sign an agreement of confidentiality before commencing the project.
Manual Transcriptionists include timestamps on the content so that you can easily know when a sentence is spoken or said. Timestamps are important when you have to include subtitles in the video content.
