Beth Worthy
10/3/2011
Imagine that a business has just conducted an important interview with someone, and the ability to remember everything that was said is extremely important. Everyone has listened to lectures, whether it was in school or at a business meeting, but studies show that people typically remember about five minutes' worth of an hour's material. However, when people are able to read things, they remember a substantially greater amount, and they can also go back through the document and read it again.
When people have the ability to read a transcript of what the person in the audio interview said, they will remember the majority of the context. There is one problem, though, and that is the fact that no one will be able to type or write as fast as the other person is speaking, so how can audio be converted to text? Well, this used to be a major problem, but Transcription companies entered the market and changed the whole game.
Transcription will help the majority of people remember more details more easily, and it is also excellent for reviewing detailed data. For example, if a marketing company was interviewing people in a certain area, they would want to be able to quickly recall data, such as age or gender, which would be difficult to do using just audio. However, this technology can also assist people who are deaf. Educational institutes could use these, and the deaf student could sit in the class and read what the teacher is saying.
People can find software on the Internet that will transcribe audio interviews, some of which is free and others of which are a little more advanced and will require a small fee. Essentially all the software does is slow down the audio and automatically record the text. Some companies even make audio recorders that will actually transcribe simultaneously.
