Transcription, at first glance, is a simple process. Listen to a recording, type what you hear on a keyboard, and voila. In my opinion, this is why some people underestimate general transcription services. What could you possibly gain from having audio or video files turned into written text? Surprisingly, the answer is a lot. Transcription is a deep, nuanced process that requires real consideration. So, let’s talk about it.
In this article, you’ll learn how:
- Transcription services convert recorded audio into text. General audio transcription has considerable applications in different industries and offers many benefits.
- The field of transcription can be nuanced. It’s important to consider factors like price, accuracy, specialization, expertise in your field’s terminology, the transcription process, security measures and certifications, and the overall customer service experience.
- Automated transcription is not accurate enough for most applications.
The Benefits Of Outsourcing General Transcription
Did you know transcription is a multi billion-dollar industry? The transcription industry was valued at a little over $21 billion in 2022, and growth projections put the entire industry’s value at $35.8 billion by 2032—an indication of how necessary transcription is for many types of businesses. And after you’ve read through the many benefits of transcription, you’ll see why. So let’s start with:
Cost Savings
The best argument for outsourcing transcription — or practically any business process — is that it saves time and money.
In-house transcription is time-consuming and costly. The business would have to spend money finding and hiring competent transcriptionists, providing a decent salary and benefits package, supplying them with the necessary equipment, and providing continuous training and development so their skills do not stagnate. Outsourcing transcription can help you avoid all that.
Quality and affordable providers like Ditto Transcripts offer different pricing levels that suit various budgets, including requirements for fast turnaround times.
Time Savings And Efficiency
Transcribing may sound easy. However, it can be tedious, as an hour of audio usually takes a non-transcriptionist nine to ten times as long to transcribe. Transcription providers can take that burden off your workflow, allowing you to focus on more critical tasks.
Additionally, many specialized industries use recorded content to make workflow more efficient. Think of training videos, client meetings, or employee reviews for businesses. Or witness interviews or body cam footage for law enforcement. Transcription improves efficiency by making content digitally searchable, meaning they’re much easier to peruse than continuously pausing and playing video or audio recordings.
Improved Communication
Transcription can permanently unlock the values of essential conversations by preserving such instances in written format. This can be used to promote learning or increase communication and work efficiency throughout the organization.
And remember, a high-quality one-hour conference call video file can eat up 1.2 to 1.4 gigabytes of storage space. It would not fit in an email, and uploading it to a video content site will take time. Transcribing the same recording uses a fraction of that space, making it far easier to share the transcript with everyone who needs it.
Improved Accessibility
Transcription provides a written record of spoken words, making it easier to document recorded information from audio or video files. This documentation can be stored digitally and serve as a future reference, helping organizations like law firms, police departments, hospitals, corporations, and universities easily search for what was said.
Furthermore, transcripts can make content accessible for those with hearing disabilities. Spoken words shouldn’t barricade information from those who are deaf or hard of hearing. Transcriptions knock down those barriers, as captions display dialog alongside the video, while full transcripts present multimedia narratives in searchable or scannable text. This makes your content accessible to more people.
SEO Boost
Aside from titles and descriptions, video content creators have very little metadata real estate to attract search engine crawlers, and Google takes points away for keyword stuffing. Since search engines only crawl text, transcripts offer an alternative SEO boost by allowing search engines to index everything said in the video, allowing them to access your content better.
Furthermore, transcription fuses the power of engaging multimedia with the search visibility of written keywords. Video captions can help keep viewers engaged. At the same time, search engines can crawl transcripts for keywords, resulting in more visibility and higher ranking in searches.
Multi-industry Appeal
While the process is often linked to business, legal, and medical transcription, everyone can benefit from the service. Academic institutions can have their lectures and research meetings transcribed for faster access. Law enforcement can have body cam or vehicle footage transcribed for court use. Content creators can put captions on their videos or podcasts to improve audience engagement and search rankings. There are endless possibilities when using the right transcription services.
What Are The 2 Types Of General Transcription?
| Benefits of Verbatim Transcription | Benefits of Intelligent Verbatim Transcription |
| Complete Record | Condenses Content for Clarity |
| Detailed Analysis | Efficient and Time-Saving |
| Non-Verbal Cues | Enhanced Readability |
| Legal and Medical Accuracy | Focuses on Essential Information |
| Authenticity | Ideal for Broad Audience Communication |
| Facilitates Training and Quality Control | Cost-Effective |
| Reference Material | Easier for Translation and Subtitling |
| Improves Accessibility | Maintains Professional Tone |
Verbatim Transcription
Verbatim transcription is the process of transcribing audio or video content by capturing every spoken word and non-verbal communication exactly as it is heard or seen in the video or audio file.
As is indicated in no uncertain terms, verbatim transcription aims to document the entire conversation or speech. That includes, but is not limited to, all the spoken words, filler words, stutters and hesitations, false starts, background noises, and other vocal nuances.
The entire point of verbatim transcription is to provide a highly accurate and finely detailed representation of the original recording. It preserves the exact language, tone, and expressions used by the speakers, regardless of grammar issues, but without changing the meaning of a sentence. This type of transcription is often used when an exact record of spoken communication is required.
Verbatim transcripts maintain the full details of any audio content, allowing future users to examine and analyze spoken words in a glorious context, including the speaker’s emotions, pauses, and speech patterns.
Transcription, in general, requires strong attention to detail. However, verbatim transcription requires an even more meticulous transcriber. Simply put, this type of transcript can be more time-consuming to complete accurately.
Cleaned-up or Intelligent Verbatim Transcription
Meanwhile, cleaned-up transcription (sometimes known as intelligent verbatim transcription) is a version where transcriptionists proofread and edit the text to improve readability and overall coherence. A cleaned-up transcript removes unnecessary elements, improves the general document format, follows a style guide, and makes the transcript smoother and more readable.
The transcriber typically removes oral repetitions, false starts, potential spelling errors, filler words and phrases like uh, uhm, hmm, like, and you know, and other verbal and grammar elements that may affect readability. Despite that, this process retains the essential content and meaning of the original audio or video recording.
Making a cleaned-up transcript aims to produce a more reader-friendly final product, making it easier for the audience to understand the information without being distracted by unnecessary details.
Why You Shouldn’t Assign Transcription Work To Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence got a long-overdue popularity boost with the widespread appeal of ChatGPT. Companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, and Nvidia are racing to develop competing platforms.
And like anything currently popular on the internet, AI is applied in everything. Robots, self-driving cars, healthcare management, smart assistants, smart homes, social media, investing, and marketing all use AI to improve themselves.
These days, AI chatbots are being used as selling points for smartphones. (Seriously, who needs smartphones with ChatGPT integration that will undoubtedly eat up the already-limited computing power of your phone and burn through your battery like wildfire in a dry forest? But I digress).
Meanwhile, automated speech recognition, or ASR, has existed since the 1950s. With the current iteration of AI, transcription companies everywhere are racing to adopt the technology into their transcription solutions. According to most, it’s cheaper, faster, and the greatest thing since sliced bread—with an entire transcript seared and toasted on both sides!
So why haven’t companies like Ditto Transcripts adopted AI transcription? Well, the answer is simple, and it starts with the letter A.
Artisanal Sliced Brea—I mean, Accuracy Is Non-Negotiable In Transcription
The first thing that any transcriptionist or service provider highlights is the accuracy of their service. That’s to be expected since all the benefits of transcription I’ve mentioned depend on the accuracy of the finished product. Miscommunications, legal ramifications, loss of credibility, misinformation, operational errors, medical errors, negative financial consequences, damaged relationships, and time and resource waste are some potential effects of incorrect transcripts.
Unfortunately, AI transcription is inaccurate despite being a shiny new piece of technological advancement. Studies show that AI is only 86% accurate in the best of circumstances. Meanwhile, audio recordings taken in typical settings are rarely done in the best circumstances. No matter what side you look at, it’s not a good match.
Ditto Offers 99% Accurate Human Transcription Service At Affordable Prices
Ditto offers both general and specialized transcription that covers all of your needs. We have 100% human, U.S.-based transcription staff that can far outstrip any other services’ accuracy rates. On top of that, we offer affordable pricing, fast turnaround times, guaranteed security, customizable transcripts, and the best security in the industry right now.
So don’t settle for less. Choose Ditto and see the difference.
Ditto Transcripts is a leading HIPAA, CJIS, and FINRA-compliant transcription service provider in Denver, Colorado, that provides fast, accurate, and affordable transcripts for individuals and companies of all sizes. Call (720) 287-3710 today for a free quote, and ask about our free five-day trial.
