The Buzz Blog

Automated Human Transcription
August 4, 2021 Transcription Services

Choices! Automated or Human Transcription?
How to decide for you…

When your audio needs to be transcribed, there are so many choices on what type of service is really best for you and your firm at this time. Weighing out the benefits of Automation and Human can help determine the best fit for your budget, timeline, and needs.

Decision can be made easier through weighing the priorities of your project and goals. Timeline, cost, and accuracy are sometimes factoring into consideration. Fortunately, our team has broken them down to make the decision as straightforward as possible:

Faster Speed: Automated Transcription is just faster

  • Human transcription takes at least a day to turn around one hour of sound, while automated can be done in hours, or even minutes!

Accuracy: Nothing beats Humans

  • Automated accuracy can vary, and in cases of average to poor audio there can be segments that go unnoticed and are left out of the final product. Human, on the other hand, has nearly 99% accuracy, and in cases of difficult audio a trained human ear can more often discern some of the language present.

Speaker Identification: Depends, most likely Human Transcription   

  • For groups of 3 or more speakers, human is the more accurate of the two. Automated uses pauses and other factors to distinguish between speakers, while humans can see speakers on a video or more easily discern by voice. The greater number of speakers, the greater reason to go with human transcription.

Cost: Automated Transcription is always cheaper

  • High quality automation is mere cents per minute whereas human can start as low as $1.25 per minute and escalate to over twice that rate depending on many factors.

After weighing these factors for yourself, it will become much clearer which of the two is the better fit for the audio in consideration. Once you have decided between automated and human transcription, the next step is finding the best firm for whichever type you choose. Fortunately, your search can begin and end with Focus Forward, as we excel in both types! Contact us today!