Transcription Service in Singapore: Sharing The skills

Oct. 18, 2011 - PRLog -- A transcription service is a business which converts speech (either live or recorded) into a written or electronic text document. Transcription services are often provided for business, legal, or medical purposes. The most common type of transcription is from a spoken-language source into text such as a computer file suitable for printing as a document such as a report. Common examples are the proceedings of a court hearing such as a criminal trial (by a court reporter) or a physician's recorded voice notes (medical transcription). Some transcription businesses can send staff to events, speeches, or seminars, who then convert the spoken content into text. Some companies also accept recorded speech, either on cassette, CD, VHS, or as sound files. For a transcription service, various individuals and organisations have different rates and methods of pricing. That can be per line, per word, per minute, or per hour, which differs from individual to individual and industry to industry.

Transcription is one of the fastest growing legitimate jobs in the US. In the year 2006, around 14 million transcribers were working in the United States and this number is expected to grow by another 3 million before 2015. Transcription work can be a good choice for people who are retired or who want to earn extra income by utilizing their free time.

Futuregen at SG is now working closely with clients of SPD (Society for the Physically Disabled) to train vision impaired people with necessary skills to transcribe audio into microsoft word documents.

Before 1970, transcription was a difficult job, as secretaries had to write down the speech as they heard it using advanced skills, like shorthand. They also had to be at the location where the service was required. But with the introduction of tape cassettes and portable recorders in the late 1970s, the work became much easier and new possibilities emerged.

While the transcription service training project seems to be too ambitious for the visually impaired, they do have a higher level of sensitivity to sound – their listening skills are much better than normal people. Hence when SPD contacted Futuregen to share its skills in transcription service, we readily agreed to give it a try.

The initial results are heartwarming. Some of SPD’s clients were able to transcribe the audio with 94% accuracy. This is not bad for a first try where usual participants would get 70-80% accuracy on their first try.

In case you are wondering, SPD’s Clients who were visually impaired used a software called JAWS to navigate around their PC without the aid of sight. Our plan is to engage SPD’s clients in offering transcription service in Singapore.

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