What factors increase the length of time it takes to transcribe a recording?
Quality of recording – this can be affected by recording equipment, recording volume, type of microphone and quality of cassette used. Clarity of voices – clarity of voice can be affected by distance from the microphone or by speaking too low or fast. Recording environment – background noise can affect recording quality – microphones pick up many background noises. Number of people speaking – recordings involving multiple speakers often take longer to transcribe due to interruptions and overlaps, or identification problems if speakers sound similar. Other factors which may influence transcribing times may be regional/foreign accents, specialist/technical terminology and speed of speech. We will always endeavour to transcribe poor quality recordings, however it should be noted that time, and consequently cost, will be affected by the factors outlined above. Click here to see our tips for producing high quality dictation, which will in turn reduce transcription time.
