Transcription Rate per Minute: Work With Agency
Working with a transcription agency is a smart choice when you have to prepare a minute after a meeting is over.
When you deal with a transcription agency, you may be required to choose between human vs. machine transcription services.
What does matter with these choices? Of course, your choice will matter most.
Whether you choose human or machine transcription service will determine the transcription rate per minute, that you have to pay and the quality of transcription you get.
The digital era comes with sophisticated technologies, which benefit the transcription agencies.
Now, they are supported by technologies like smart speakers and Artificial Intelligence (AI) that assist in transcribing the audio or video files.
Some agencies even replace human transcriptionists with a machine, which is able to understand what human beings say. However, is that a correct choice?
Transcription Rate per Minute: What Does it Matter?
On the one hand, machine tools have indeed been getting smarter now. They can understand human dialects and work faster in transcribing audio.
With the help of sophisticated technology, the transcription agencies are able to offer cheaper transcription rate per audio minute compared to those that rely solely upon human transcriptionists.
However, many people still question whether machine transcription may completely replace human transcriptionists.
Transcription agencies, which decide to use human transcription service, certainly do it with reasons.
Similarly, customers have specific reasons when they have audio or video files transcribed by human beings.
Human transcription and machine transcription have their advantages and disadvantages.
The following are some aspects that may influence your choice as well as the transcription rate per minute you have to pay:
- Speed
When speed is more important than accuracy, machine-based transcription can be your choice.
You can get the benefit from online or app-based transcription services. They work much faster than human transcriptionists do.
They convert the speech into text within minutes or even seconds. The transcription app can convert a 2-hour video into text within fewer than 30 minutes.
How can human transcriptionists do it? When it comes to speed, machine transcription is the choice; but remember that you will lose accuracy in the transcription text.
- Intricacies of Human Speech
Every individual has a unique way of communicating and expresses his/her feelings.
Even the smarter or most sophisticated machine will fail to understand human speech accurately. Such intricacies are made worse by background noise.
If your projects involve technical terms, relying upon a machine transcription can be a wrong decision.
If you insist on using the machine, you have to be prepared for losing some substances of the audio materials.
- Number of speakers
Those who do field works, like journalists, interviewers, or reporters, may work with different speakers.
Their works may involve three or more speakers in a session and three or more sessions in a recording.
Do you expect the machine transcription to work smoothly in this situation? No machine can accurately differentiate different vocals, accents, and personal communication styles.
If you want to get accurate transcription, human transcription service is the choice.
- Recording Setting
As mentioned above, the settings of the recording may vary widely. At one time, you may interview someone in a vacuum or sealed room.
At another time, you may have to interview your subjects in an outdoor setting, where background noise will make the transcription works much more challenging.
- Budget vs. Accuracy
There may be some instances, in which budget matters the most for you. If you have a very tight budget, you may opt for machine transcription.
The average transcription rate per audio minute is much cheaper. You can even choose a free online transcription app.
However, if accuracy is more important than any other things, human transcription is the answer.
Transcription Rate per Minute: The Bottom Line
Some aspects that determine the transcription rate per minute above need to be considered carefully before making a decision.
You cannot say that you only need human transcription, as there may be cases in which machine transcription is enough to solve your problems.
The following is the summary of human vs. machine transcription:
Human transcription service is the choice for a highly accurate result.
Studies show that the average error rate of human transcription is only 4%, but highly experienced transcriptionists can work with an error rate of under 1%.
The service is highly dependent on human quality, but the services can be customized according to the customers’ requests.
In addition, human transcription is the answer when the audio or video files involve diverse dialects and accents.
On the other hand, the average error rate of machine transcription is 12%, but the accuracy still depends on the technology supporting the agency.
Sometimes, human insights are still necessary to ensure better accuracy. However, this is a great choice when speed matters the most, and when the required transcription rate per minute is very low.
