What is Audio Transcription: Definition and Use Cases

Understanding Audio Transcription

Let’s start simple and look at the definition of audio transcription and how it works.

Audio Transcribing Definition

“The process of converting speech from a digital audio file into text”

Seems simple enough? This is self-explanatory but the aim is to turn speech from an audio file like an MP3 or WAV into a written document such as a Word file, PDF, or Notepad document for example. This then provides a written record of the thing that included the speech (such as a meeting or interview) that can be further dissected, analyzed, or referred back to.

The Process of Transcription

With a simple definition, we can delve a little deeper into the process and an audio transcription service usually involves the following steps:

1. A session takes place where people speak (a meeting, interview, or appointment for example).
2. This session is recorded using an audio device.
3. An audio output file is created from the session.
4. Transcription software is used to detect speech from the audio file.
5. The service then converts this speech into a text document.

The key point here is that there must be some type of audio recording device involved capable of capturing speech and creating an audio file that can be analyzed.

The transcription software then does the hard work and uses that audio file to create a readable text document that you can download.

Types of Audio Transcription

There are two main categories of audio transcription and both have their pros and cons:

• Automated audio transcription
• Manual audio transcription

Automated audio transcription has minimal human input and the text is detected and converted using advanced speech recognition software. The benefits are the speed, cost, and versatility as you can easily transcribe different audio formats, and from multiple platforms.

Manual audio transcription is where a transcriber manually listens to the audio footage and writes the relevant text by hand. This process is more time-consuming but can be more accurate as a person can generally distinguish between different voices and understand accents better.

Use Cases for Audio Transcription

You may be wondering how your business can benefit from audio transcription but it’s becoming increasingly popular and has many real-world applications including:

• Note-taking from media and journalism interviews.
• Creating subtitles for video content and podcasts.
• Note-taking for research such as focus groups and customer interviews.
• Appointment transcriptions for doctors and surgeons.
• Session transcriptions for legal meetings and court hearings
• Note-taking for students after classes and lectures.

It essentially reduces the need to manually write notes and thus allows individuals and businesses to focus more on the act in process such as a meeting, appointment, or focus group. The involved persons can concentrate fully on what’s happening, knowing that the session can be transcribed afterward.

For example, perhaps you are a doctor and have daily appointments with patients. Manually taking notes while trying to listen to their ailments and give sound advice can be tricky. By recording the sessions (with permission) and using a transcription service, you can concentrate fully on the patient and give them the care and attention they need.

Similarly, in media and journalism, interviews are often fast-paced and there is simply no time to manually write notes. This is why you see many interviewers using handheld audio recorders - they could then use an audio transcriber to compile notes from which they can craft a news article from.

Challenges and Accuracy

There are areas where automatic audio transcription can fall short and face challenges including:

• Distinguishing between different people speaking.
• Clear audio quality to easily identify speech.
• Understanding accents.

These are all things that a human transcribing the audio file would be able to easily understand but software might not. This is becoming less and less an issue though as AI technology is used and transcription services become increasingly intelligent and advanced.

For example, Transkriptor’s audio transcription services are capable of detecting multiple speakers and separating their speech in the text file.

Audio Transcription Can Improve Your Efficiency

I hope you have a clear understanding of the question, what is transcribing audio, and that you can see the benefits. Whether you are a student looking to take notes during study sessions, a doctor needing to transcribe patient meetings, or a business wanting a written record of video calls, an audio transcription service can be especially useful.