Which device to use for speech to text and dictation?
20 March 2023
The recognition accuracy depends on many factors, such as the environment. A noisy environment by itself, or even some background noise, can have a negative effect on the recognition quality. This means that not only human typists, but also automatic speech recognition systems, can reach their limits. Mumbling, unclear speech, dialect, a missing structure - a good recognition rate also depends on the speaker.
What is often forgotten is the hardware, meaning the input device for speech recognition (or speech to text) and digital dictation.
Smartphone apps are not suitable for heavy users
Many people use dictation and speech-to-text with smartphone apps, such as Philips SpeechLive or apps from other manufacturers. The advantages are obvious: working on the go from anywhere, following up on meetings straight away, quickly sending another email from home or jotting down thoughts after work? With a smartphone, innovative voice technology is always at hand.
However, there are a few shortcomings that can get in the way of heavy users in particular. For example, recordings get interrupted when a call comes in, which can become annoying when you are in the middle of a recording. The microphones of a smartphone are not designed for dictation and speech recognition, and the storage space quickly reaches its limits as well. Last but not least, the ergonomics (handling of the device) are not ideal either, since you have to keep the record button pressed all the time.
This is why using special devices for speech recognition and digital dictation is so important.
Best microphones for speech to text
Specialized microphones for speech recognition and dictation, for example the SpeechMike series from market leader Philips, have been specifically developed for this purpose. The microphone is decoupled from the device housing, which means that background or operating noises get suppressed. A built-in motion sensor mutes the microphone when not in use, to avoid unnecessary recording and speech recognition that would then need to be manually edited out of a transcript.
The Philips SpeechMike microphones are natively integrated into Philips SpeechLive, allowing them to work seamlessly without any additional configuration. So if you want to use speech recognition with SpeechLive, for example, directly in different applications or in the web browser, Philips SpeechMike is the ideal tool.
Dictation and transcription devices
As described above, smartphone apps are not ideal for high-volume dictation or speech to text. However, if you still want to use speech recognition and digital dictation remotely and on the go, Philips Digital PocketMemos can come in handy. These robust, portable dictation devices come with microphones that are designed to accurately recognize recordings from multiple sound sources, such as conferences, but also from individual speakers, for example, for speech recognition purposes. A particularly popular feature is the slide switch, which allows you to control recordings in a convenient way. Recordings can be encrypted in real time using Advanced Encryption Standard and the device can be protected from unauthorized access using a PIN code.
For transcription staff who already have a dictation workflow in place, there are also foot pedals and headphones available that work seamlessly with Philips SpeechLive.
Philips SpeechLive is vendor independent
Overall, a speech-to-text solution like Philips SpeechLive, combined with streamlined speech recognition, dictation and transcription hardware, gives you the perfect tools to efficiently turn speech into text.
Although we would recommend our customers to use hardware from the market leader Philips, SpeechLive is also compatible with dictation and transcription hardware from other manufacturers. So, if you are already using other devices and want to switch to Philips SpeechLive, you will be able to use your existing devices as usual.
Professional speech to text, digital dictation and transcription devices significantly improve the user experience and help organizations achieve increased productivity.
