Human Vs Machine – Who will win in the battle of transcription?

There’s a lot of voice recognition and transcription software in the market, which claims to be the perfect transcription solution out there, but is automated software better than a human?

Find out in our post below:

1. “I am sorry, I can’t hear you!” – One of the biggest issues with audio transcription is the quality of the audio files. Maybe there was a lot of background noise, a busy office or coffee shop for example or if you have multiple people talking over each other it can be difficult for apps or transcription software to pick out the voices accurately. This can cause inaccuracies in the text. Humans however, have experience of these environments and can contextualise the situation better to decipher what the speaker is saying. 1 Point to Human
2. To, Too, Two – It is extremely unlikely that any transcription app or software would be able to identify or even understand the difference between “to, too or two” so the likelihood is it would not put the correct homonym into the text. 1 Point to Human
3. Accents – This can be another stumbling block for apps or transcription software. Different dialects, or the use of slang can confuse the machine, where as we have a broader understanding of such things and are continually learning and adapting. 1 Point to Human

And the winner is HUMAN!

Without a doubt human transcription services are miles ahead of apps and software, because these new services do not learn or adapt. Humans are continually learning and gaining new understanding enabling us to contextualise, pick out and decipher language to ensure that what we are writing is indeed correct.