Ever since the world has gone digital, transcription services have become one of the busiest industries. Everyone, from students to professionals, is using professional transcription services. It’s a simple process of recording your video call, then sharing it with a professional transcription services company who can transcribe it for you. But what happens if the recordings aren’t of good quality? How can you transcribe a bad quality dictation? What is considered a bad quality dictation? And what can you do when you receive a poor quality recording? As a professional, you can’t simply return it, so what are we supposed to do in this situation?
What is a bad quality recording?
A bad quality recording could contain any of the following:
- Unnecessary background noise
- Overlapping conversations
- Muffled voices
- Different volumes
- Lagged conversations
- All of the above in one recording
A poor quality audio recording may contain too many inaudible parts to get a usable transcript.
How do poor quality recordings affect transcription?
Transcription is a complicated procedure, and this is why there are professionals for this task. Also, any recording with substandard quality audio can make the transcription work harder than usual as transcriptionists might struggle to hear what is being said and transcribe it accurately. This could even lead to difficulty in creating a good-quality transcription as critical parts of the recordings could be missed out in those inaudible voices.
Ideally, recordings should be done in a quiet place to ensure clear audio. However, this doesn’t happen often, or people end up putting the microphone at the wrong place, which leads to inaudible voices.
Also Read:Digital Tools for Transcribing Audio Interviews
What to do when you receive a poor quality recording?
Here are a few methods to help you understand an unsatisfactory quality recording better and transcribe it precisely in case you ever receive one.
- Use good quality earphones or headset:Good quality headsets are a savior. They help you hear sounds much more clearly, which makes it easier to transcribe accurately. Get yourself a pair of good quality headsets or earphones to make your life as a transcriptionist easier.
- Slow down or speed up the recording:Modifying the audio speed can help you understand the words clearly in some cases. Slowing down the speed often enhances the clarity of words.
- Use a sound editor to enhance audio:Sound editors can delete background noises entirely and can help to understand the sounds much better.
- Use software to clean up the audio:A cleanup software or app works similarly to a sound recorder that can help remove the background noises.
What to do with inaudible words?
In case a few words or sentences are hard to comprehend, you can try to understand the context of that particular part of the recording. However, it is not advisable to guess because a professional transcriptionist’s job is to give an accurate transcript of the recording and not indulge in guesswork.
When you cannot understand the audio at all, instead of guessing, you can mention [inaudible] or [unintelligible] in the transcriptions to indicate that part of the recording wasn’t clear to transcribe. You could use symbols like ‘-’ or ‘....’ or write [several inaudible words] to indicate unclear sounds.
You can even choose to add timestamps, which would make it much easier for anyone to figure out which part of the recording you are talking about. You can put that part of the recording and timestamp in brackets in the format “[inaudible at 00:16:52]” to indicate a portion of the inaudible recording.
What do you do if the audio is still poor quality?
If you have tried all the solutions listed above and still you cannot make sense of the recording, you should communicate it clearly to your client. It’s good to let the client know what is causing difficulties in the transcription process and how much extra time will be required. Of course, the extra time would mean additional charges. Discuss this with your client as well. Inform your client that the audio file quality affects the quality of the transcript, as well as the cost and effort needed to transcribe.
To avoid poor quality recording, you can give some sound recording advice to your client. For example, sit in a quiet place with microphones close enough to everyone, which will ensure that the audio file is recorded correctly. These tips can help save a lot of time and effort for both your client and you. For more information on transcriptions of bad quality recordings and excellent professional audio transcription services, contact us today.
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FAQs
When you cannot understand the audio at all, instead of guessing, you can mention [inaudible] or [unintelligible] in the transcriptions to indicate that part of the recording wasn't clear to transcribe. You could use symbols like '-' or '....' or write [several inaudible words] to indicate unclear sounds.
How do you mark unintelligible in transcription? ›
When speech is unintelligible, you can make an educated guess and add two question marks in parenthesis, for example: Maryville (??) or Mayfield (??) [00:38:16]. If you cannot understand, type (unintelligible – 00:59:31). HIGHLIGHT in yellow + include the TIMESTAMP so that someone else can follow up.
What is the difference between unintelligible and inaudible transcription? ›
Use [inaudible 00:00:00] when speech cannot be heard due to poor recording or noise (keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + K). Use [unintelligible 00:00:00] when speech can be heard but it cannot be understood due to the speaker's manner of speech, accent, et cetera (Ctrl + I).
How do you write background noise on a transcript? ›
Background sounds should not be transcribed, or if the transcriber feels it is necessary for the caption reader to read to understand, then these noises should be transcribed using square brackets to set them off. Example: Speaker: Let's pause so you can discuss among yourselves.
How do you transcribe quietly? ›
/kwIEUHtlEE/phonetic spelling.
What is transcription for the hearing impaired? ›
Free. Live Transcribe by Google is one of the most popular apps for real-time speech-to-text transcription. With Live Transcribe, those with hearing loss can quickly and reliably read what the other person in the conversation is saying, as they say it.
How do you show interruption on transcripts? ›
A hyphen after a word or part of a word indicates a cut-off or self- interruption, often done with a glottal or dental stop.
How do you transcribing illegible words? ›
Three ellipsis dots in square brackets indicate illegible and unknown words or letters. Three ellipsis dots in parentheses indicate a blank space in the original (for example, a space for a name that was never filled in).
What is the basic rule in transcribing? ›
Transcripts should be at least 99% accurate. Grammar and punctuation are important for providing maximum clarity. Speaker identification helps users identify who is speaking. Essential to communicate non-speech sounds.
Which are the two types of inaudible sound? ›
Inaudible Sound
As a result, the frequencies below 20 Hz and above 20 kHz fall into the inaudible frequency range. Infrasonic sounds are low-frequency sounds that the human ear is unable to perceive or detect. Ultrasonic sound refers to inaudible frequencies in the upper range.
She spoke in an almost inaudible whisper. The whistle was inaudible to the human ear. His voice was almost inaudible. The sound is inaudible to the human ear.
What are examples of inaudible things? ›
She spoke so quietly that she was almost inaudible. The sound is inaudible to humans but can be heard by dogs.
How do you transcribe a noisy audio? ›
Slow down or speed up the recording: Modifying the audio speed can help you understand the words clearly in some cases. Slowing down the speed often enhances the clarity of words. Use a sound editor to enhance audio: Sound editors can delete background noises entirely and can help to understand the sounds much better.
What is an example sentence for background noise? ›
The recording wasn't very good, there was too much background noise. We're picking up a lot of background noise which makes it difficult to hear what they're saying.
How do you say sorry for background noise? ›
Sentence examples for sorry for the noise from inspiring English sources. "Sorry for the noise," he said. Also, sorry for the background noise in the video, I think I forgot to turn on the background noise reduction mode in my camera. Too bad?" "Yeah, listen, I'm sorry about the noise.
How do you transcribe audio to text accurately? ›
How to Transcribe Audio to Text
- Upload Your Audio File. ...
- Choose Custom Transcription Options. ...
- Receive & Download Your Text File. ...
- Set Up. ...
- Find Your Shorthand. ...
- Write What You Hear. ...
- Edit Your Text File. ...
- Export the Correct File.
fear
- [ˈfɪr]IPA.
- /fIR/phonetic spelling.
- [ˈfɪə]IPA.
- /fIUH/phonetic spelling.
Let's have a look at these tips to get a faster transcription.
- Make use of an Autocorrect Tool.
- Practice Typing to perfection.
- Making use of High-Quality and noise cancellation headset.
- A comfortable and quiet environment.
- Type Smartly.
- Get your hands on a good transcribing software.
- Take Breaks.
Auditory processing disorder (APD) is where you have difficulty understanding sounds, including spoken words.
What is visual phonics for hearing impaired? ›
Visual phonics was designed to visually rep- resent phonemes in spoken language. Originally conceived by a parent of a deaf child to aid in reading acquisition, it is a system of 45 hand and symbol cues that provides visual and kinesthetic information asso- ciated with the way a sound is produced verbally.
The types of transcription are mainly categorized into three types – verbatim, edited and intelligent transcription. All these transcriptions can be used for audio or video files only the process could be different, depending upon the requirements and resource availability.
How do you show intonation in a transcript? ›
A question mark signals gradual rising intonation. (11) . A full stop is used to show gradual falling intonation. (12) , Fall-rise intonation is signalled by a comma.
What is clean verbatim transcription? ›
Clean verbatim on the other hand captures words exactly as stated, but editing is conducted. Clean verbatim corrects for filler words, repeated words and stutters. It essentially transcribes words exactly, but for improved readability. Preferences for verbatim transcripts can vary.
What should you do with curse words in transcribing? ›
The answer is b) Transcribe it word by word.
If a curse word is present in the audio, while transcription, we must transcribe it word by word.
How do you transcribe words correctly? ›
The most popular system is to put a vertical line ( ˈ ) before the stressed syllable in the phonetic transcription of the word. For example, the transcription for become is /bɪˈkʌm/ . If a word has only one syllable (examples: pen, watch), dictionaries usually do not put the ˈ stress mark before it.
What are the do's and don'ts of transcription? ›
Do – make sure you transcribe everything verbatim, including any 'you know', 'like' and so on. Remember, false starts can be a vital clue in a legal case. Don't – correct grammar mistakes and slang, or leave out hesitations, pauses or anything else. Exactly what was said, as well as how it was said, is important.
How many mistakes are allowed in transcribing? ›
With the exception of measurements, numbers one to nine should be transcribed in letters. There should be no more than 2 mistakes for every 10 comprehensible words spoken.
What are the two types of transcribing? ›
How Many Types of Transcription Are There? There are two primary transcription types: Verbatim and non-verbatim transcription. Each of these types of transcription serves a unique purpose and suits a specific kind of project.
What are inaudible sounds also called? ›
The human ear cannot detect the frequencies below 20Hz; these frequencies are also known as infrasonic sound. Whereas the frequency above 20kHz comes in the range of inaudible frequency, it is also known as ultrasonic sound.
Which sounds are inaudible sounds? ›
The sounds having frequencies in the range of 20 Hz to 20 kHz are audible to humans. The sounds having frequencies below or above the audible range of hearing are called as inaudible sounds.
The audible range of human ear is 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Frequencies above 20 kHz and below 20 Hz is inaudible to human beings which are known as ultrasonic sound and infrasonic sound respectively. Therefore, 40 kHz frequency will be inaudible to human ears.
What is a good sentence for inaudible? ›
She spoke so quietly that she was almost inaudible. The sound is inaudible to humans but can be heard by dogs.
What is the best synonym for inaudible? ›
synonyms for inaudible
- not talkative.
- quiet.
- soundless.
- still.
- unclear.
- uncommunicative.
- voiceless.
- wordless.
A sound that cannot be heard - Inaudible.
What are the characteristics of inaudible? ›
Inaudible sounds are those with frequencies beneath 20 hertz or those which vibrate at a rate of fewer than 20 vibrations per second. The human ear is unable to perceive these sounds.
How do you write words in transcription? ›
The most popular system is to put a vertical line ( ˈ ) before the stressed syllable in the phonetic transcription of the word. For example, the transcription for become is /bɪˈkʌm/ . If a word has only one syllable (examples: pen, watch), dictionaries usually do not put the ˈ stress mark before it.
How do you transcribe mispronounced words? ›
An asterisk * is used for obviously mispronounced words (not regional or non- standard dialect pronunciation), or for words that are made up on the spot by the speaker or idiosyncratic to that speaker's usage. Annotators should transcribe using the standard spelling and should not try to represent the pro- nunciation.
How do you transcribe the word noise? ›
/nOIz/phonetic spelling.
How do you transcribe nonverbal communication? ›
Instead of typing “[pause]”, using .., or …, use a comma, which is used to indicate slight pauses in speech. Identify all nonverbal communication, such as pauses, laughter, crying, sighing, and so on. then [laugh] the next time. use proper punctuation.
How do I manually transcribe audio to text? ›
How to Transcribe Audio to Text
- Upload Your Audio File. Paste the URL of your audio media file, or upload the recorded audio file itself to our safe and secure network. ...
- Choose Custom Transcription Options. Rush My Order – Get your transcript back 5 times faster. ...
- Receive & Download Your Text File.
Keyword transcription, also referred to as keyword spotting, is a process of analyzing large quantities of voice data to identify certain specific keywords or key phrases. When a keyword is detected, a variety of actions can be triggered.
How long does it take to transcribe 1 hour of audio? ›
When it comes to individual transcribers, the average time to transcribe one hour of audio is approximately four hours. But, some transcribers quote four hours as the minimum since it can easily reach 10 hours. Transcription time by audio hour varies so much mostly because each audio file is different.
What is the phonetic transcription of trick? ›
Modern IPA: trɪ́k. Traditional IPA: trɪk. 1 syllable: "TRIK"
What are clean verbatim slang words? ›
Slang words – In a clean verbatim transcript, slang words should be written in full, proper forms (yes instead of yep, don't know instead of dunno, want instead of wanna, kind of instead of kinda, etc.), and some slang words should be avoided completely. Words such as “o*kay” should be written “o*kay” instead of “o*k”.
