Alphabet is a leading UK transcription company with over 28 years of experience. There are many reasons a company might want to consider utilising audio transcription. We have decided to put together this article to teach you everything you need to know about audio transcription.
What is audio transcription?
Audio transcription is where audio and video recordings are taken and turned into a text format. This process is especially important in professional and technical settings, where there is likely to be complex specialist terminology that is difficult to fully understand in written form. A great example of this complexity could be in both a medical or legal context. The conversion process for an audio file into written text is different. By using an experienced and professional transcriptionist, with industry expertise, you can convert audio into text accurately, regardless of its complexity.
What are the different types of audio transcription?
There are a few different types of audio transcription options, each with its own merits and uses:
Verbatim audio transcription
This is where every single word and sound spoken, including any false starts, repetitions, pauses, words used as fillers, and any non-verbal communication, is included in the transcript. Typically, this also includes any ambient background noise. This form of transcription tends to be required for the highest level of accuracy, as expected within the legal and medical fields.
Full verbatim
These transcripts also include pauses, hesitations, laughter, and contextual notes such as tone of voice and gestures. Where there is a need to highlight emotions and the subtlety of nuance, such as in psychological analysis, full verbatim is important and must be recorded accurately.
Non-verbatim
Non-verbatim transcripts will omit any filler words, stutters and pauses, as they do not add meaning or significance to the audio-to-text content. Instead, there is light editing undertaken during the transcription process. This is best used within education or writing up a speech, where there is a formal need for a simple-to-read transcript.
Detailed notes
There are times when our clients may require word-for-word accuracy for some of the key sentences and passages, but any information that is deemed redundant or not relevant is removed from the finished transcript. Within journalism and market research, you often see this type of audio transcription.
What are the key benefits of audio transcription?
There are a few key benefits of audio transcription, for a variety of businesses and industries. These include:
Accessibility
By providing transcriptions of your video and audio content, you make everything more accessible to a wider range of audiences, including those who have hearing difficulties and those who are not native English speakers.
Easier to digest
Providing a transcript after an event allows people to have a greater comprehension of the information in text form.
Scanning purposes
A text transcript of a video or a speech is much easier to quickly scan through to find the information that you are looking for than it is to scroll through a video or audio recording.
Summarise easily
If you wish to provide succinct and relevant summaries for a topic, a transcript is an easier way to find the information and collate it accurately for your desired purpose.
Content repurposing
If you wish to turn video and audio content into blog posts or onsite content of any kind, or maybe for email marketing campaigns, a transcript is an easy way to transfer the information over.
Referencing
A text transcript allows you to quote and reference content with ease, allowing others to do so without the risk of them getting some detail wrong or reposting incorrect information accidentally.
SEO
Transcription services are used by companies to boost their SEO, allowing search engines to easily index and rank audio and visual content online.
Translation
Audio transcription services are also often used to translate videos and audio content into other languages to effectively reach a wider audience.
Sound-sensitive approach
Sometimes, the person you are aiming the content at is watching or listening in a place where it is not suitable to play audio out loud due to a quiet environment or where it is too loud for them to hear. Transcription allows these people to read along instead.
Better analysis of content
This allows for a much deeper analysis of spoken content, giving time to analyse the language and review the material to provide valuable insights into what the speakers are saying, along with digesting their attitudes and opinions.
Who can benefit from audio transcription?
There are many industries that can benefit from audio transcription. Some of Alphabet Transcription Specialists’ clients, over the last 28 years, have included:
Legal
The legal industry depends on audio-to-text transcription services to provide accurate information. This includes the transcription of meeting notes and dictation, interviews for court proceedings, and a whole host of other day-to-day tasks within the legal industry, from solicitors to courtroom tasks.
Medical
The pharmaceutical research field is big business. It is imperative that patient-reported outcomes are captured as accurately as possible. Patient notes and correspondence are also a day-to-day requirement for transcription.
Education
Adding captions and text to audio and visual content within the education sector allows for greater effectiveness of videos that are aimed at providing educational topics for consumption. Transcription makes it easier for students to access notes from classes and other material provided by teachers.
Podcasters
Reaching a whole new audience is important for any podcast. By transcribing the audio or video podcast it can help reach a whole new type of listener. It also means that you have a better way of being indexed on search engines and found within the plethora of podcasts that are present within many different topic types.
Video production
Transcription is required within video production, especially if you consider the big hitters of the media streaming world, such as Netflix, Amazon, etc., where there is a need to provide subtitles in multiple languages for every film and TV show that you can find on your favourite streaming service.
Media and journalism
Information is key within media industries, and accuracy helps to elevate copy into what it needs to be in any given situation. Audio-to-text transcription takes notes, dictation, and interviews and helps to transform them into a written article or piece of content that is found on radio and TV.
Do you need a quality transcription service?
With the rise of AI, there are many softwares that can provide cheap transcription. This is fine if your needs are simple. However, that being said, it is important to understand AI and transcription software will not give you the highest quality result.To help determine if you need a quality transcription service, the first question we would ask you is, “How important is accuracy?”
If accuracy and confidentiality are both highly important to you then we recommend hiring a transcription company like us. Our team are industry experts who understand complex terminology. Our team is UK-based and highly trained with a “right first time” ethos. Rest assured when working with transcription specialists like Alphabet, your audio transcription will be completed accurately and on time, giving you maximum confidence in the finished transcripts.
