Speech recognition, believe it or not, has been around since the 1980s.
And over the last 40 years, thanks to some of the best speech recognition software AI like Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, IBM’s Watson etc., it has improved by leaps and bounds in recognizing human speech.
Can the best speech recognition software available today effectively replace humans in transcribing audio or video files?
And which free, paid and online voice recognition apps and services help you do that efficiently and effectively?
Let’s find out.
DISCLAIMER:
At the time of writing, while we’ve researched the best speech recognition software and listed them in this article, they work best with slow paced, clear, enunciated American accent dictation recordings by a single speaker with no background noise.
In addition, the person should be talking close to the microphone.
Even the best speech recognition software will oftentimes struggle if there’s:
- Faint voice of the speaker
- More than one speaker
- Background noise or music
- Overlapping conversation
Having said all that, advanced machine learning has made things easier over the last few years.
Below is a list of the best speech recognition software available today:
1. ScriptoSphere Speech to Text
Visit the ScriptoSphere website
Operating System
- PC
- Mac
- iOS (iPhone, iPad)
- Android (smartphones and tablets)
- Any internet browser (Chrome, Edge, Safari etc.)
Accuracy
With over 15 years of experience in human audio transcription services, working with some of the best universities, individuals and companies in the world, we’ve gathered sizeable expertise in the field.
And that is evident in our verified Trustpilot reviews.
We’ve then used that expertise to train our speech recognition AI to reach state-of-the-art accuracy levels.
To be featured in this list of best speech recognition software in 2020, we had to work hard on making it able to differentiate between fast and slow pace of speech, different accents, and catch even the most obscure technical jargons.
Customizations to Increase Accuracy
Thanks to advanced machine learning, you can provide a base vocabulary or a glossary of terms to feed our speech recognition AI to generate more accurate transcripts for your project.
Using a mix of speech models, neural networks and algorithms, it learns specific words, phrases, technical terminology or names of individuals related to your niche.
Video transcription can use the same system to add quick closed captions or subtitles.
High Confidentiality
Unlike other online tools on this list, for example the ones from Google or Facebook, our speech recognition AI doesn’t process your confidential data online.
It’s processed on a separate device, and all of your sensitive, confidential files are deleted once the job is done.
Furthermore, we can also sign a legal confidentiality agreement without loopholes to ensure your data will not be stored or shared without your permission.
How much does it cost?
$0.10 Per Audio or Video Minute
2. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 15
Operating System: Windows, Mac, iOS and Android
Nuance have improved Dragon incrementally over the years to where its AI today is very good, but still not quite there yet.
The company claims it’s 99% accurate, but that’s not entirely true across the board.
Nevertheless, it deserves its place on this list of the best speech recognition software today.
Accuracy
It’s great for single speaker dictations, especially if you’re speaking slowly close to the microphone.
This means it’s an effective solution if you like taking notes on your digital recorder in a quiet place. For example, a doctor taking medical notes, or a book author recording ideas.
However, you will need to make sure there is absolutely NO background noise.
Even the slightest background chatter or music, this speech recognition software will struggle and errors will creep in.
Similarly, it will have problems with multiple speaker interviews.
Furthermore, it’s a downloadable software, which is only as good as its latest update. And you have to install it on a PC or Mac.
How much does it cost?
$300 or £349.99
Your first thought when you see the eye-watering price of $300 or £350 (puzzling) is that for the individual version, it is expensive.
But it’s a one-time fee .
Plus, similar to some of the best speech recognition software on this list, it’s also a learning AI.
So, over time it learns to recognize and understand your voice and accent.
You can use it to open your email, dictate text, send and open projects, and launch applications on your computer.
However, if you only require speech to text conversion for one project, paying that much probably doesn’t make sense.
3. Google Docs Voice Typing
Visit Google’s help page on this topic
Operating system: Android, Chrome OS, iOS, PC and Mac
Even though this has made the list of best speech recognition software, it’s actually a voice dictation app.
Or as Google itself calls it, “voice typing”.
So, if you’ve recorded your interviews in MP3 or WAV or any other audio format, you won’t be able to run it through this as you would with ScriptoSphere or Dragon, for example.
You will need to speak into a microphone and this will convert your dictation to text.
While that is great, it is only accurate as long as you’re speaking clearly and slowly next to the microphone, like talking to a baby.
But if you’re a fast speaker, or there’s more than one person being recorded, you may have to spend time cleaning up (proofreading) the document for accuracy.
4. Braina Speech to Text
Cost: $49 for 1 Year and $139 (or $239) for the Lifetime Version
Operating System: Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP. Android and iOS App.
The company claims it allows you to accurately and easily dictate speech to text in 100 languages.
You can also use it in a way similar to Dragon to control your computer to open programs and websites.
Furthermore, they offer an Android or iOS app that can turn your smartphone into an external wireless microphone over a WiFi network. Which we have to admit, is quite cool.
While Braina have built a large vocabulary into the software, it still comes up short if your audio quality isn’t the best.
This seems to be the the stumbling block for even the best speech recognition software AI at the moment.
5. Amazon Transcribe
Cost: Comprehensive. Visit Amazon Transcribe’s pricing page here
Operating System: PC, Mac, Mobile
This service from Amazon is suitable for developers who want to add speech recognition to their apps.
While Amazon claims their software uses “deep learning process”, it is fairly similar to other speech to text solutions featured here.
What that means is it recognizes speech and does a good job of transcription as long as the audio quality is top notch.
The software helps you to automate transcription of customer service calls, closed captioning and subtitling.
In our testing, you get best results if your audio or video has a single speaker speaking clearly at a slow pace.
Anything worse and you can expect annoying or hilarious errors.
6. IBM Watson Speech to Text
Cost: Visit Watson Speech to Text pricing page here
Operating System: PC, Mac, Mobile
IBM claim their software can transcribe even bad quality audio with high accuracy.
While that is great marketing material, again, reality is similar to other software featured in this article.
In fact, Watson is fairly similar to Dragon, in that you have to spend time training the software.
Accuracy is similar to Dragon too, but can vary depending on audio quality and type.
Example of a Speech Recognition Transcript
Now that we’ve listed some of the best speech recognition software on the planet in this article, let’s see how speech to text AI actually performs.
Below is an example of how a speech recognition AI understands two people talking.
This is a quick automated transcription of a small clip from the incredibly popular Joe Rogan Experience Podcast Series.
So, when we talked about a “rough transcript” earlier, this is what we meant.
The machine transcript is below the video.
Ways to Save Time and Money with Speech Recognition
As you can see in the example above, even the best speech recognition software works best with slow, clear speech with single speakers.
So, are you doomed if you want your 2-speaker interviews transcribed?
Not really, no.
By taking some precautions beforehand, you can dramatically increase the accuracy of automated speech to text or human transcription.
Precautions you can take beforehand
We’ve published several in-depth guides on our website that give you unbiased, factual insider tips and tricks to save time and money on transcription.
These guides rely on experience and extensive, painstaking research to bring you condensed, useful information.
By following the steps in these guides, you can improve the quality of your audio or video recordings.
And as a result improve accuracy tenfold using any of the 6 best speech recognition software listed in this article.
Click on any of the links below to read the guides in full:
- How to Record Audio for Best Sound Quality
- How to Record an Interview From Home in 2020
- How to Conduct an Interview for Research – Complete Guide
- Interview Transcription Definitive Guide, How to Transcribe an Interview
- How to Increase Productivity Using Technology and Transcription
- 5 Ways to Record Better Focus Group Interviews
- 5 Ways to Save Time and Money on Academic Transcription
- 5 Ways to Pay Lesser for Interview Transcription Services
If you don’t have the time or the energy to click on the links above or read those posts in their entirety, or even skim through, below is a quick list of to-dos:
- Record in a quiet place.
- Pay attention to recording quality.
- Avoid multiple speakers in one interview (if you can)
- Install a voice recording app for your smartphone
- Invest in a high quality digital recorder (if you do this often)
- Plan ahead to avoid paying extra.
- Communicate your needs clearly to the participants.
When you’ve already Recorded your Interviews
And they are bad.
If you’ve already tried speech to text software with abysmal results due to the quality of your recording.
Do not fret.
You may have to transcribe them yourself, or hire a transcription service.
Continuing on in the DIY (do-it-yourself) vein, if you’ve decided to have a go at it yourself during these tough times to save money, the following posts can help:
Or if you think that requires too much time that you don’t have, let our team of human transcribers help.
Can the Best Speech Recognition Software Replace Humans?
Yes and no.
They do well on specific files, but not for all types of content.
No matter what the marketing department of a company says, automated transcription isn’t 100% accurate.
We wouldn’t dare to claim 100% accuracy about our own product.
Our Own Experience
As a transcription service company, we’ve used speech recognition software for a while now.
Our own software has evolved through several different iterations and versions trying to find the holy grail of speech to text accuracy.
That would save us the hassle of searching for, testing, hiring transcribers, and paying their salaries.
The search continues.
Furthermore, all the best speech recognition software makers on this planet claim to catch words accurately.
But as we’ve demonstrated in this article, that’s only true if you speak slowly, like speaking to a child.
And in a quiet environment.
And as close to the microphone as possible.
Current Stumbling Blocks for Voice AI
Some of the biggest stumbling blocks for even the best speech recognition software are:
- Understanding fast speech.
- Differentiating between multiple speakers.
- Ignoring background noise.
- Deciphering foreign accents.
- Overlapping conversation
Oftentimes they may even struggle with slow pace of talking.
But there is considerable progress and things have evolved nicely over the last few years.
Best Speech Recognition Software and MoneySaving Math
Sure, transcribing a 60 minute file is going to cost you only about $6 at $0.10 per minute.
But as you can see in the sample transcript earlier in the article, factoring in spelling, grammar, formatting, labeling speakers, time stamping etc. it will take you some time to clean that up.
Now, time = money. And editing a rough speech to text transcript of a one hour interview can take you anywhere between 6-8 hours.
Depending on how much you earn per hour, let’s assume it’s $15 per hour, you’ll lose around 8 x 15 = $120 by doing it yourself, maybe.
So, you have to factor that in before making your decision.
Conclusion
Speech to text AI has come a long way in the last few years.
However, make your decision wisely, and ask for free trial transcripts.
We hope this complete guide with the 6 best speech recognition software available in 2020 was able to help you make a better decision.
Please share it with your friends if you found it useful, and leave a comment if you liked it.
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