How it works
Simultaneous transcription is a verbatim, real-time record of what is being said — produced by a person, delivered over the internet.
What simultaneous transcription is
Simultaneous transcription of speech is a verbatim, real-time transcript produced by listening in. Its purpose is to give a person with hearing loss access, in text form, to a conversation between two or more people. It is used at lectures and conferences, in court hearings, at public offices, at the doctor's, and at cultural and social events.
A professional transcriber converts the spoken word into text using a keyboard and a computer, at a speed of more than 500 keystrokes per minute. The text can be shown on an ordinary screen for a single reader, or projected onto a large screen for a bigger audience.
Traditionally this required booking a transcriber to travel to the venue, which meant planning events well in advance.
Why we built an online service
But what if you need transcription unexpectedly? Where do you find a transcriber at short notice? That is the question Transkript online was founded to answer. We developed software that carries both audio and text over the internet in real time, so that anyone can reach a transcriber and request the service immediately, wherever they are.
The transcriber works remotely
Online transcription is based on a transcriber connecting remotely, over the internet, to an application called eScribe. The transcriber does not need to be physically present at the venue — they can be in an office or at home at an internet-connected computer. This removes travel, which is often slow and expensive, and the need to set up equipment on site. As a result, one transcriber can serve many more clients than if they had to attend every event in person.
The speaker's voice reaches the transcriber's headphones from the microphone of the client's device, either through an internet call (using eScribe) or through a regular phone call. The text they type appears in the eScribe application, which the client opens on any internet-connected device — a laptop, a desktop computer, a smartphone or a tablet.
Read it anywhere
The way the text is displayed is therefore very flexible, both in size and in mobility. You can follow a transcript on a mobile phone on a train, from anywhere in the world. A deaf person is not tied to a place and can communicate wherever an internet connection is available.
One practical note: carrying the voice puts far higher demands on the quality of the internet connection than carrying the text. Where the signal is weak, a regular phone call for the audio and the internet for the text is often the more reliable combination.
Automatic speech recognition
Alongside human transcribers we also use automatic speech recognition. It is instant and available without limits, and it works well for clear speech in good conditions. A human transcriber still handles what machines struggle with: crosstalk, background noise, names, numbers and specialist terminology — and takes responsibility for the result being accurate.
Languages
Transcription is currently provided in Czech, Slovak and Ukrainian. If you need another language, talk to us about what is possible.
Want to see it in practice?
Tell us about your situation and we will suggest how transcription can be set up.