A speech to text software is a technology that transforms the content of audio into written words in a word processor or in another platform. We can usually find it as standalone software but it is now bundled with new operating systems. You may be familiar with Cortana, Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant–these are only a few systems that offer TTS capabilities. These offer hands-free features users generally utilize for searching for answers on the internet and for directions.
Speech to text software is a powerful tool in transcribing processes.
While that in itself is incredible, that would not be enough for the needs of a business, such as ones that need powerful transcription functions. This is where standalone speech to text programs come in. There are companies that develop these solely in-house or those who use speech to text AI engines. Some developers offer these for the use of other businesses in their own software. These are available as code snippets or can be connected with another platform using what is called an API.
When used in an effective way, standalone speech to text applications are capable of adapting to your unique workflow, of expanding their dictionaries with your custom words, and with highlighting words being transcribed for easier correction.
But you may wonder why you should invest in the software when you can avail of the services of human transcriptionists. Below, we outline some of the ways that innovative organizations use speech to text applications in their work.
- To transcribe faster
AHIMA conducted a survey of medical transcriptionists and health information management professionals. The results showed that they averaged 21-24 hours for medical reports while for discharge reports the turnaround time was from 40 to 48 hours. This is because they deal with a lot of voice data that can be difficult to process at times.
Since they are working in the medical field, accuracy is a must since a single error can have great impacts on the health of individuals involved as well as in the reputations of the health professionals.
It is similar in other industries–one mistake causes a ripple throughout a workflow that could cost a company millions to correct. That is why innovative companies, such as those in the finance sector, are turning to transcription software. It can help them put the spoken word into the written word faster and with greater accuracy. To put this in context, researchers from big tech companies like Microsoft, Google, IBM, and Baidu have been working on reducing the Word Error Rate (WER) of their automatic speech recognition engines.
Based on published papers cited on Medium, Microsoft reported that their ASR has a WER of 5.1%, IBM by Watson has 5.5%, and Google has the highest accuracy with just 4.9%. In contrast, human transcriptionists have a WER of 5.1% to 5.9%.
Google has the highest accuracy over Baidu Deep Speech, IBM Watson, and Microsoft.
By using ASR software for transcribing and complementing it with human transcriptionists, organizations can produce reports and other documents with fast turnaround time with no inaccuracies.
- To make corrections easier
One more thing that makes transcription a protracted process is because of corrections. Though automatic transcription software can transform dictated audio into written text, there would be moments when it cannot decipher terms perfectly. Transcriptionists have to be meticulous to avoid errors, which is why they have to listen again and review their transcribed data.
However, this process is something that a speech to text program can speed up. This is possible because of a word highlighting feature. This focuses on the word it is currently transcribing so you can see immediately what it is working on. In case the software makes a mistake, you can pause the audio and make corrections instantly. The audio pauses when you do and resumes only when you choose to do so.
- To meet people’s need for convenience
If your blogging policy for employees disallows them to do their job outside of your office, then you may be throttling their productivity. But if you give them access to technological innovations, your workforce can become more fruitful, creative, fulfilled, and faithful to the organization. An Aruba report also shows that this is common among companies that provide IT support for the devices employees bring to work and those that enable the use of social media and messaging platforms for communication.
When you give your employees access to leading technology like speech to text software online, you empower them to be productive wherever they are. This also streamlines workflows because mobile workers can provide information to their in-office counterparts while they are on the go. This can lead to reduced work hours and lesser overtime expenditures, too.
Your employees will not be the only ones to enjoy the benefits of mobile access to ASR software, however. You can enjoy this in your own work, too. You can provide instructions for projects like your custom CRM development to your team via voice and transform it into words before you send it as an email. This way, you do not have to disrupt your task to communicate with your organization.
- To take control of the workflow
The online Merriam-Webster dictionary defines workflow as a sequence of actions undertaken to complete a work process. Each company has its own and even teams have their specific set of steps. This applies to a transcribing team as well, which is why companies need flexible solutions in this aspect.
Fortunately, there are examples of ASR applications that have workflow engines that you can tailor to your needs. This way, you and your labor force have full control over your days and with a software that helps you rather than hinders you, you can produce top-notch outputs and accurate reports.
- To create an expanded dictionary
In some business aspects, such as in online marketing, organizations use unique terms that are not found in standard dictionaries. These can be words that make a speech to text software for transcription trip up–they can insert words incorrectly, make word substitutions, or even delete them completely.
That is something that an automatic speech recognition software can resolve, though, especially when it has a custom word capability. This means that you can expand the dictionary of the program with words that are specific to your organization, new industry terms, and contractions.
By adding terms that are not yet included in the dictionary, you can be sure that you will encounter fewer errors in the transcription. This will save your transcriptionists plenty of time during the correction procedure and you can get the data you need quickly, too.
- AI in ASR engines
Automatic speech recognition software has powerful artificial intelligence engines under the hood. This use case is widespread in different sectors such as aviation, media and e-commerce, telephone-based customer service, and toys and games. It is applicable to enterprise-grade software as well such as automatic transcription programs.
Like in other fields, it is meant to accelerate work and to make sure that transcription is as accurate as possible. Earlier, we mentioned that companies use ASR software and complement it with a human workforce. That is because when a machine and human work together, they can have a higher accuracy rate, thereby reducing the number of corrections to be made at a later point and increasing turnaround times.