| Audio to Text conversion is useful for providing an | | | | downside is that it needs a bit of training for it to work. |
| alternative medium for target audiences that are not | | | | You still need to do manual editing afterwards, but if |
| able to ‘digest’ the recorded audio. People with | | | | you train correctly, you should get 85% accuracy or |
| hearing disabilities are the marjor users for this audio to | | | | even higher! |
| text conversion. | | | | 5. Do it manually with aids. |
| Other cases involves audience that are non-native | | | | You need a good audio player with stop, rewind and |
| speakers of the recorded medium’s language. | | | | fastforward features. I recommend using NCH’s |
| Nowadays, most users require audio to be converted | | | | express scribe. Express scribe also supports foot |
| to text for posting in their websites. This allows search | | | | pedals so you can use your feet to do the audio |
| engines to index the material and return the results in | | | | rewind, fast forward, stop and start functions! |
| search engine pages. This increases web site traffic. | | | | 6. Increase your typing speed. |
| Tips on how to convert Audio to Text: | | | | If you want to increase your typing speed, check out |
| 1. Use Good audio. | | | | Mavis Beacon Typing software! |
| If you are doing the recording, try getting it done in a | | | | 7. Review, review, review. |
| quiet space. Never do an interview in a cafe! The | | | | You need to go back and review it at least 2 times to |
| ambient sounds will kill your accuracy! If you must, do it | | | | get better accuracy. You will be surprised by the |
| inside your car with the windows up! | | | | amount of improvements you can make to the audio |
| 2. Use Digital Voice recorders. | | | | to text conversion. |
| The quality improvements are amazing! Best of all, | | | | 8. Use Software Tools! |
| most DVR now supports saving the audio in common | | | | Microsoft Word’s spelling checker tool also checks |
| formats like mp3 and WMA (windows media). I like | | | | for grammar and punctuation mistakes. Another nifty |
| using olympia recorders. You can check out digital | | | | tool is the “Find and Replace” feature. You can |
| voice recorder here. The MP3 and WMA formats use | | | | use this to remove double spaces and convert them |
| compression technology to make the file size smaller | | | | into single space. |
| compared to CD format. | | | | 9. Use a common style |
| 3. Enhancing Audio. | | | | Check out Transcription Style rules to find out the |
| Let’s face it. Not all of your audio will have clear | | | | industry standard in transcribing audio to text. |
| audio quality sounds. You may have to enhance it by | | | | 10. Use search engines! |
| processing it thru noise filters, amplifying some | | | | Some key terms need to be researched and |
| sgements, or equalizing sounds to get better auido | | | | confirmed. Use the power of the internet. Google it! (or |
| quality. In this scenario, I recommend using WavePad | | | | ) |
| sound editor from NCH. | | | | These tips are by no means all inclusive. Id love to hear |
| 4. Try audio to text software. | | | | from you. If you have tips of your own, please share |
| Try Dragon Speaking naturally from Nuance. The | | | | them and the community will thank you for it! |