In today’s tech-powered society, people consistently find new and innovative ways to share information with their communities. Business leaders and educators alike have recognized the value of multimodal teaching, training and advertising approaches. That’s why so many professionals use audio and video to communicate more effectively with their target audiences.
Even with these new and exciting tools and technologies, many individuals still prefer traditional ways of receiving and internalizing information. In fact, according to estimates, roughly 65% of the population learns visually and retain information more readily in a readable format. Rather than communicating via audio, video or text, professionals can combine these different approaches by offering written transcripts of their audio and video content. In this article, we’ll cover some video transcription basics and ways to make messaging more inclusive and engaging for all audience members. We’ll also discuss some of the transcription tools available to modern professionals.
Understanding transcription basics
Transcription is the process of converting audio information to a readable format. It’s possible to transcribe recordings as well as live communications like calls, meetings, interviews and lectures.
The two primary styles of transcription are verbatim and non-verbatim. Verbatim transcripts offer a highly accurate account of all audio elements of a recording. True verbatim transcripts include spoken dialogue and non-speech audio components like pauses, sound effects, music cues, repeated words, and stammers.
Conversely, non-verbatim transcripts undergo editing to present and streamline the messaging of an audio or video recording. Non-verbatim transcripts are useful in educational settings because they can function as easy-to-read summaries of lectures, seminars and courses.
What is a video transcriber?
Many different solutions and services can support individuals seeking to convert audio to text with transcription. The term “video transcriber” may refer to a digital transcription tool like speech-to-text software or to a human transcriber who specializes in transcribing the audio of video recordings. Professionals looking to invest in a video transcription solution must carefully consider which kind of video transcriber would best support the needs of their community members.
Why is video transcription important?
It’s hard to overstate the importance of video transcription as an accessibility tool. Converting audio to text is one of the best ways of supporting audience members who are Deaf or hard of hearing. Video transcription can also offer more equitable experiences to those with neurodivergent conditions, ADHD and other specific learning needs. However, it’s important to understand that transcripts can only function as an accessibility tool if they achieve extremely high levels of accuracy. Inaccurate transcripts don’t offer equitable experiences to those with disabilities and can negatively impact comprehension in the long run.
In addition to boosting accessibility, transcription has been shown to improve overall audience engagement and even boost productivity in the workplace. Sharing information in multiple ways can support learners with a wide range of learning styles and help eliminate delays that miscommunications or misunderstandings may otherwise cause. A professional-grade transcription solution can further streamline the transcription process to help businesses save time and conserve valuable resources.
Benefits of using a video transcriber
Rather than tasking in-house employees or co-workers with transcribing video content, business leaders and educators can benefit significantly from working with a professional video transcriber. Below are some of the significant advantages of offering accurate, professional transcripts of media and communications:
Greater accessibility
Offering written transcripts of audio and video content is one of the best ways of supporting individuals who are Deaf or hard of hearing, as well as those with other physical and intellectual disabilities.
Improved search engine optimization
Search engines cannot “crawl” video content for SEO purposes because search engines only factor written text into their algorithms. Search engines can, however, crawl the text of a video’s transcript, and professionals can take advantage of this workaround to boost their SEO rankings. For example, a professor could use a professional video transcriber to create a written record of an academic lecture and post the transcript in the video’s description. The text of the transcript would then become discoverable by major search engines, helping the site’s SEO.
Enhanced user experience
With transcripts, viewer engagement soars. By offering audience members alternative means of receiving information, transcripts make it possible for all viewers to engage more fully with a video’s messaging. Advanced transcription formats like searchable transcripts further improve user experience by making it easy for viewers to navigate a recording and locate specific talking points, speakers and keywords.
Boosted productivity
Video transcription can be a valuable time-saving tool for professionals across nearly every industry. Offering written transcripts can help to support the needs of remote and hybrid workers more effectively by ensuring accurate messaging even if an employee is tuning in for a video call from a noisy or distracting environment. Video transcripts can also serve as convenient, easily accessible meeting notes. With a transcript, participants can engage more fully during a meeting rather than focusing on tedious note-taking processes.
Additional advantages of video transcribers
Professional-grade video transcriber tools offer users enhanced functionality and features that can further streamline communications and improve the quality of their transcripts. For example, Verbit is a professional provider of transcription solutions that specializes in harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to make the transcription process more seamless and efficient. Using Verbit’s transcription platform means access to several software integrations with various popular media hosting and virtual communication platforms. Verbit offers a variety of export options so users can easily download their final transcripts in a format compatible with their desired video hosting site or social media platform.
Unlike other automatic transcription solutions, Verbit’s transcription process doesn’t rely solely on the power of artificial intelligence. When a video is uploaded to Verbit’s platform, it is initially transcribed by proprietary AI software. However, once this initial transcript has been generated, it is passed on to one of Verbit’s professionally trained human transcribers for review and editing. This dual approach helps to ensure maximum accuracy of all final transcripts, even if a video recording features multiple speakers with diverse accents, dialects and speech patterns. Verbit’s process allows professionals to offer transcripts in multiple languages.
Considerations for choosing a video transcriber
With so many different video transcription solutions on the market, professionals must carefully consider which tool, product or service would best meet the needs of their transcription project. Here are some key factors to keep in mind:
- Accuracy and reliability: To provide equitable experiences to all audience members and support critical accessibility guidelines, transcripts must be extremely accurate and easy to read.
- Pricing and subscription options: Human video transcribers can be expensive to hire and tend to encounter bandwidth issues that can impact the scalability of a business’s transcription offerings. AI transcription tools, while seemingly less cost-prohibitive, tend to deliver less accurate final transcripts that require additional time and labor to review and edit manually.
- Compatibility: When investing in a transcription solution, it is important to ensure that all final transcripts will be formatted to make them sharable and compatible across multiple devices and platforms.
- Additional features and customization options: Professional transcription services like Verbit offer advanced functionality and additional solutions that are tailored to specific industries like the medical field, legal sector and higher education. Verbit also offers additional assistive technology tools like captioning, translation and audio description, so professionals can request multiple different kinds of support through one easy-to-use platform.
What are some possible use cases for a video transcriber?
Video is currently being used for a wide variety of purposes across several different industries, and transcription can be implemented anywhere video content is found. In the academic sector, transcription can offer more accessible learning experiences for students of all backgrounds and abilities. Students can use transcripts of lectures and seminars as reference and study tools, regardless of whether they attended an event virtually or in person.
Content creators can also take advantage of transcription services to help them expand their audience and boost engagement of their videos, podcasts and more. Creators can further maximize the value of their transcription efforts by converting transcripts to captions or subtitles. Captioning content like movies, TV shows and online videos is a great way to support viewers from all walks of life, and accurate transcripts can easily become accurate captions capable of delivering more equitable and engaging viewing experiences.
In corporate settings, employers and employees benefit significantly from the availability of transcription technology. Transcripts can be created from a wide range of communications like interviews, conference calls and training sessions. Companies can also file transcripts away for a company’s internal records or incorporate them into external communications like investor calls, video advertisements and social media posts. Also, business leaders can offer live transcription of their meetings and conferences to reduce the need for manual note-taking and boost real-time engagement for all attendees.
Partnering with a professional transcriber
Partnering with a professional video transcriber can help professionals across nearly every industry communicate more effectively and efficiently with diverse communities. Offering information originally presented via video in a readable format can help boost information retention and increase audience engagement across the board.
Verbit’s dual approach to transcription produces transcripts with exceptionally high accuracy rates. Business leaders, educators and content creators use these to support accessibility guidelines and foster inclusivity. Verbit’s platform offers a wide range of assistive technology solutions that professionals can choose from to support their video production efforts at scale. Additional benefits of partnering with Verbit include: advanced transcription formats and features; multi-language transcription and captioning capabilities; and seamless software integrations with popular platforms like YouTube and Zoom.
To explore all of the ways Verbit’s video transcription technology can help you maximize the value of your content and communications, reach out to Verbit today.
To explore all of the ways Verbit’s video transcription technology can help you maximize the value of your content and communications, reach out today to speak to a member of our team.