In our ongoing efforts to help you make the most of AI, we’ve noticed a recurring topic in our conversations and industry commentary: note-taking apps.
One crucial factor when evaluating note-taking tools is their transcription capabilities. While functionality, ease of use, and security are all important, how well the tool understands and transcribes your voice is often a key consideration.
If you’re evaluating transcription tools, whether as part of a filenote platform or standalone, it’s essential to test their accuracy with your own voice. It’s not just about general accuracy; it’s about how well the tool transcribes your unique speech patterns and terminology.
To help you with this, we’ve put together a step-by-step guide to effectively test transcription tools. Follow these steps to ensure you choose the tool that best suits your needs.
Step-by-Step Guide to Testing Transcription Tools
1. Prepare Your Test Content (Create a Script)
To begin, it’s important to prepare a script that closely resembles the type of content you typically need to transcribe. Here are a few tips for preparing your test content:
- Grab or create content that is representative of your usual transcription needs. This could be a segment of a presentation, a client meeting, or any other relevant material.
- Include industry-specific terms such as financial planning and insurance jargon. This will help you assess how well the transcription tool handles specialized vocabulary.
- Ensure the content is several minutes long for a thorough test. Aim for 2-3 pages of text to provide a substantial sample for evaluation.
2. Record Yourself Reading the Document (Create an Audio File)
The next step is to create an audio recording of yourself reading the prepared script. This recording will be used to test the transcription tools. Here’s how you can do it:
- Use Teams or your preferred meeting platform to record a solo meeting, or use the voice recorder on your computer. If the platform you’re recording on offers transcription services (e.g., Teams), you can include this in your comparison to evaluate its built-in capabilities.
- Alternatively, use your phone to make a voice note and transfer the audio file to your desktop for easier access.
3. Upload and Transcribe (Transcribe Your Audio File)
With your audio file ready, it’s time to test the transcription tools. Follow these steps:
- Log in to your shortlisted transcription tools such as Otter.ai and Fireflies.ai.
- Upload the recorded voice file to each platform and initiate the transcription process.
4. Download the Transcribed Text Files (The Text Files for Comparison)
Once the transcription is complete, you’ll need to download the text files for comparison. Here’s how:
- Download the transcribed text files from each system you tested.
- Name them clearly to avoid any confusion later on. Label each file with the name of the transcription tool used.
5. Compare Accuracy
Finally, to determine which transcription tool is the most accurate, you’ll need to compare the transcriptions. Here’s a method to do so:
- Use ChatGPT or a similar AI platform to assist with the comparison.
- Upload the original text file and the transcribed versions from each tool.
- Ask the AI tool to perform an accuracy check by comparing your original file with the transcriptions. This will help highlight discrepancies and give you a clear understanding of each tool’s accuracy.
Conclusion
By following these steps, you’ll be able to determine which transcription tool works best for your voice and specific needs. This will allow you to make a more informed decision, ensuring that you choose the most suitable tool for your note-taking and transcription tasks.
Remember, this is just one of the many considerations when choosing a note-taking platform, but it’s an important one!
This article is part of the preparation for our upcoming program on AI tools, which will soon be available on Risk Hub. Stay tuned for more content on leveraging AI to enhance your productivity and streamline your workflows!
Update: Head to the Risk Hub Directory for details on filenote services from Claras.ai (https://riskhub.com.au/directory/claras-ai/) and filenote.ai (https://riskhub.com.au/directory/filenote-ai/).