Audio transcription’s role in global businesses has evolved over the past few decades. Once a critical service for a select range of industries that cannot function without it, transcription has gone mainstream in recent years, used by companies in every industry imaginable.
In this article, we explain the new role of audio transcription and why it is becoming increasingly important in the modern world of business.
What is audio transcription?
Audio transcription is a specialist language service that converts the spoken word into written text. Or, in the words of AI transcription software provider, Trint, audio transcription is defined as the following:
“Audio transcription is the process of converting speech in an audio file into written text. That could be any recording featuring audio – an interview recording, academic research, a video clip of your great grandmother’s speech at her birthday party or a recording of a company town hall.”
While some language services are challenging to define, transcription is relatively easy to describe. If you have ever tried to transcribe a video interview or a speech into text, then you might know how long it can take to convert a few minutes of dialogue into writing.
Professional transcribers excel at typing spoken words in real-time and producing a full transcription of dialogue – a crucial service for many businesses and professions that need to document the words of others.
Who needs audio transcription services?
For some organisations and businesses, audio translation is a crucial aspect of their day-to-day running and they simply cannot operate without it. For example, journalists and news publications. For others, it is a productivity tool that makes a range of business processes more efficient, from documentation and contracts to product research, video translation and so much more.
Here is a quick review of some of the most common use cases for audio transcription and the industries and organisations that need it the most:
- Law: Anything from interviews to court cases, public statements and parliament sessions.
- Healthcare: Patient statements, medical procedures, lectures, medical meetings, international events, etc.
- Science & technology: Test logs, international meetings, conferences, etc.
- Education: Lecture notes, transcripts for videos and other materials for academic research purposes.
- Marketing: Audience research interviews, product testing, industry events, expert interviews and more.
- Journalism: Interviews, transcripts for public events, videos, statements and more.
- Entertainment: Film, TV, radio and other entertainment media require a range of transcription services.
- Research: Feedback, focus groups, interviews, etc.
- Content creators: Video transcript, podcast transcripts, interviews, quotes, etc.
- Video producers: Video transcriptions, subtitles, captions, video translation, etc.
- Podcasting: Like video production, podcasts increasingly require transcriptions to make their content more accessible and optimised for SEO.
- E-learning: Transcriptions, subtitles and notes for online courses.
In today’s environment of constant content, a wider range of organisations and professions rely on audio transcription for a growing list of purposes. Where video transcription was once a niche service, it is now fundamental for any company uploading video content to platforms, like YouTube.
This has also expanded in recent years to podcasting, too, with transcriptions proving essential for accessibility, optimising audio content for SEO and providing a text-based alternative to those who would rather read than listen, whatever their reason may be.
Organisations across industries face increasing pressure to produce more content and this coincides with a growing demand for audiovisual content, the kind that requires significant production investment. As these demands increase, efficiency becomes ever more important as does ROI.
Having the ability to quickly transcribe audiovisual content allows content producers to maximise the value of everything they create by optimising for better search rankings, maximising accessibility for all audiences, repurposing audio into text content and developing a multimedia content strategy.
Need quality audio transcription services?
With a growing demand for transcription services, it can be difficult to find the best talent for your projects. Not only are the top transcribers harder to hire now, but many specialise in niche services like video transcription or medical transcription and an expanding list of specialisms.
If you need help finding the right transcribers for your projects, you can call us on +44 (0)20 7324 0950 or fill out the form on our contact page to discuss our audio transcription service solutions.