Electronic transcription can refer to the process of converting speech to text using electronic equipment, or producing a digital copy of a printed document. It can involve simple equipment or more advanced technology, such as automatic speech recognition. Medical and court transcription require accuracy, while transcription of historical documents allows for easier access and analysis.
Electronic transcription is a term that can refer to different types of businesses. One is a process by which a human uses electronic equipment to write a document containing the words used by a speaker. This process can be fully automated using a computerized voice-to-text application. Electronic transcription can also be the process of producing a digital copy of a printed document, especially a historical document.
In its simplest form, electronic transcription is work that involves listening to speech and transforming it into text. In this context, electronics can refer to the equipment used to make the recording or to the fact that the finished product is a digital file. While sometimes the equipment may be nothing more than a cassette recorder or dictaphone and computer, more complicated electronic equipment can be involved. For example, some audiotypists use a pedal to pause and restart recording, which means they don’t have to take their hands off the keyboard.
Some forms of this electronic transcription work are more advanced. A key example is medical transcription, which requires a good understanding of medical terminology. Accuracy is especially important here to avoid errors that could lead to misdiagnosis or misdosing. Another example is in courtrooms, where a skilled typist takes a text transcript of what witnesses are saying, often using a special version of a typewriter in which the keys represent phonetic sounds rather than letters.
Fully automated electronic transcription uses special software to “listen” to audio and transform it into text, using automatic speech recognition. The main advantage is that computers can analyze the content of an electronic audio file very quickly rather than having to reproduce it in real time. The main drawback is that computers are more likely to make mistakes in identifying words, although there is wide variation in accuracy between different applications.
The phrase electronic transcription can also act as a noun. In this context it means a digital copy of a document, often a very old document owned by a museum. Transcription means that people can see the contents of the document without needing to go to a particular location to see the original copy. It also makes it much easier to find or quickly analyze documents, for example in tracking language development.
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