Transcription and dictation seem similar on a surface level. Both involve listening to an audio file and converting it to text. Those not involved in the industry will say that transcription and dictation are identical. Nonetheless, there are several differences between them in terms of professionalism, cost, and time. Through this article, you will discover their differences and determine which method is best for your needs.
4 Ways Transcription Varies From Dictation
Dictation is a simple process to understand. It involves listening to a speaker and recording what one says in writing. Even though secretaries used to do this monotonous task in the past, computers can automatically dictate a person’s words with high accuracy today.
On the other hand, transcription is the process by which speech is converted to text in an understandable and highly accurate way. Even though artificial intelligence is capable of transcribing recordings, automated transcription lacks accuracy. This means that human transcription is still the superior option.
Cost
One area in which transcription and dictation differ is their costs. Transcription is a much more expensive process, while dictation might occur as a free service. For instance, Microsoft Word gives users the option to dictate a document at no extra cost. On the other hand, to accurately transcribe an audio file, clients will have to pay for a service, much like gotranscript.com. There has been an increase in competition between transcription companies in the past few years, which means prices for services have dropped significantly.
Time
Transcription is much more time-consuming than dictation. Dictation produces a text format of the speaker’s spoken words with a mere few seconds of delay. On the contrary, a high-quality transcript of a five-minute audio file could take more than two hours to create. This is because transcription is complicated, as the transcriber must manually type up the audio and format it accordingly.
Furthermore, transcribers must remove unnecessary noise or filler words from the transcript to make it more understandable to the client. Also, they need to be knowledgeable in certain terms, such as the names of specific diseases. When a transcriber gets stuck on an unintelligible word, they will replay the audio a few times until they have a clear idea. On the other hand, dictation software will just assume the word or leave it blank.
Automation
Additionally, modern dictation is a fully automated process, while transcription is work that humans do better. Today, dictation software allows a person to speak into a microphone, and the sound passes through software that produces text from that speech. The text generated is often accurate to a certain degree, even though it may need some proofreading to perfect it. The quality depends drastically upon the speaker’s pronunciation and the clarity of their words.
In contrast, to accurately transcribe a recording, a human transcriber must get involved in the process. Even though machine transcription software has come a long way, the results are inferior and lack sufficient clarity. Human transcribers are undoubtedly superior to automated transcription apps because it takes years to become a professional and experienced transcriber. Transcribers must develop a keen ear for details while improving their typing speed if they want to produce high-quality transcripts.
Accuracy
Besides this, transcription is more accurate than dictation. This is because the former is not an automated process like the latter. Dictation software often produces errors in the final text, as it does not understand the context of the speech and some foreign dialects. Contrarily, a human transcriber understands dialects and will research the words as needed, using the context of the recording as their guide. On top of that, human transcribers produce a more readable and clearer transcript as they remove repetitive words and unnecessary interjections.
Final Words
All in all, transcription and dictation are as different as they are alike. Transcription heavily relies on human ability and experience, while modern dictation finds its footing in software and automation. However, both can be highly valuable depending on a person’s needs. Clients requiring high-quality results will choose transcription, while those who want a quick solution will choose dictation. In closing, what is certain is that transcription is still alive and necessary today, as computers have a long way to go before their abilities can come close to those of human transcribers.
