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At some point, we’ve probably all used our phones to record a voice note, whether for a personal memo or to send. But have you ever considered using a dictation app to professionally turn your voice notes into text?
If not, now is the time to try! Providing you have a high-quality dictation app, you can save plenty of time later down the line.
Below, we’ll look at how to use your phone to dictate voice to text, and why it’s useful.
What is a Dictation App?
Simply put, dictation is the process of recording audio for later use. Transcription is the process of turning that audio file into text. Dictation certainly isn’t new, but with the rise of smartphones, there’s a growing need for dictation apps.
In the past, we’d use tape recorders, dictaphones, or people for dictation. Of course, none of these are necessary now that we have mini-computers in our pockets. Smartphones can handle every step of the dictation process, including processing and sending the files.
Why Use Dictation Apps?
There are plenty of reasons why we might want to use a dictation app in both professional and personal situations. These include:
Convenience
For most people, hitting record and speaking their thoughts is much easier than typing them. Depending on the app used, the audio will either be stored as audio or turned into a text file, which you can then send on to others.
Accessibility
Using a dictation app is convenient for everyone. However, it’s particularly useful for those with accessibility needs. For example, a blind person could benefit from dictation, as could someone with dyslexia. A dictation app that produces text files at the end would be particularly useful for people who find spelling difficult.
Functionality
Most of us carry our smartphones everywhere, meaning we’ll always have a recording device with us. It’s particularly useful for people in professional settings, such as journalists, researchers, or academics. But most jobs benefit from dictation, even if it’s as simple as recording your thoughts on the go.
All phones come with voice recording software, but that’s generally all it does. A dictation platform should come with plenty of extra functionality, such as conversion to text, editing, and more.
Using Your Phone for Dictation
How to use a dictation app will vary depending on which you download, but the process will always be similar. Here’s a brief rundown of how to use an app for dictation on your phone.
Time needed: 5 minutes.
Set Up Your Phone For Dictation
- Open the dictation app. Check you’re happy with the settings before hitting the record.
- It might be worth doing a test recording. If you’re sitting in a small room it shouldn’t matter, but recording in somewhere like a lecture hall, the acoustics might affect your file.
- Hit record and talk.
- Once you’re done, press stop.
- If your app has speech-to-text, you can set it up to begin conversion. Of course, large files will take a while.
- Once you have the text file, you should proofread it to make sure you correct any mistakes.
- Alternatively, send the audio file to a computer for the previous step and use a dedicated transcription platform (such as Transkriptor).
Using dictation to record notes is pretty easy. After all, it’s just a standard voice recording. Processing the audio file after, though, is where you should look for a high-quality platform.
Tips for the Best Audio Files
Recording an audio file on your phone is easy, but getting a good quality file is more difficult. Here are some tips:
1. Know where your mic is. On most phones, it’s on the bottom panel near the charger port.
2. Point your mic towards the person talking, and try to keep the distance as low as possible.
3. Look for noise cancellation tools. Some microphones have this built-in, but you might need a separate app.
4. If that’s not possible, try to record in the quietest space possible.
5. Turn on your phone’s Do Not Disturb function to avoid vibrations or alert tones.
What is the Text Quality Like on a Dictation App?
Again, this completely depends on the app you choose. Some won’t have any text function, meaning they’re just voice recording apps. Others will have varying degrees of quality depending on what the developers use.
For example, an AI-based platform will usually have the most success. If the AI is trained to understand language, it should do a good job of converting even difficult words into text.
That said, AI will struggle with ambiguous words. These could be words that sound the same (hear and here) or words with more than one meaning. Because of this, you should always read through the text file after it’s finished converting.
How to Avoid Mistakes?
While it’s not possible to completely avoid written mistakes when using a dictation app, there are some ways to reduce the chances. Perhaps the best is to use an audio conversion platform that’s trustworthy.
The benefit of doing this, rather than using a dictation app, is that the conversion software focuses solely on audio-to-text. It means it should have much better AI and less chance of making mistakes.
So, if you’re planning on recording dictation audio files, make sure you use Transkriptor for the next stage in the process. It uses state-of-the-art AI to ensure an accuracy rate of 80-99% depending on the audio quality.
You can then easily edit your text files and add timestamps with its online editing tool. This makes the final stage of your dictation convenient, so you can focus on other things.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, you’ve now got enough information on how to use a dictation app. The actual recording is simple, but getting a quality, useable file involves a bit more work.
Of course, if you need your audio file transcribed, look no further than Transkriptor. It’s quick, accurate, and incredibly affordable compared to the competition. The first file is free, so try it out to see how easy it is!