My husband used to dictate translations and have them typed by a typist – sometimes me. In the “old” days there were systems that worked with cassette tapes (and then mini-cassettes) with a foot pedal as Tracy describes. We still have one kicking around, I’m sure. It’s probably what Dolores Cannon used. That’s what the digital systems are imitating. I got an app for my phone that works that way. A pedal would be nice, though. Dictation voice-recognition programs such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking are replacing the typists and getting better all the time. However, you “train” the software over time to recognize one voice speaking clearly into a mic, and it still requires careful editing/proofreading. Using it with a different client every time who may be speaking softly, interspersed with the voice of the facilitator, is a rather tall order, but the day is probably coming and I look forward to it!
Just looked a little more at the Dragon page, and it suggests this, which could work:
(https://www.nuance.com/dragon/transcription-solutions.html)Since Dragon is speaker-dependent software, it’s not designed for use with multiple speakers. Thousands of customers still successfully use Dragon to transcribe interviews or lectures using a basic technique called “voice writing” or “parroting.”
- Record a lecture using a digital recorder or mobile device and download the audio file to your PC or Mac.
- Activate your Dragon microphone, listen to the recording through your Dragon headset and repeat the recorded text as you hear it.
- Speaking the text aloud in your own voice enables Dragon to accurately transcribe the audio using the Dragon profile tuned to your voice.
- Dragon turns your voice into text as quickly as you can speak the words, so there’s no need to constantly rewind the audio while you try to type out the corresponding text.
