Converting audio to text is called transcription. This is a very laborious process. The transcriber needs to memorize parts of the recording step by step, pause playback and type the text in a text editor. This is a rather monotonous work that requires maximum concentration of attention from a person. Especially if the quality of the audio source is not high.
To simplify the task, you can use the online transcriber or the functionality of Windows 10. Below we will tell you about the tricks in Windows 10 that you can use to transcribe your audio to text.
Windows 10 Opportunities for Audio Transcription
The functionality of Windows 10 is quite extensive. The developers offer users a number of unique opportunities. There are several ways to transcribe audio using Windows 10, two of them are described in detail below.
Transcribing Via Stereo Mixer Setting
To properly transcribe audio, it is necessary to deceive the human speech recognition tool and substitute the sound of the audio recording instead of the sound from the microphone – that is, the system sound that we hear from the speakers of our computer. This can be done quickly and easily using a stereo mixer. To do this, on the volume icon in the Windows 10 task area, call the context menu and select “Recording devices”.
Next, call the context menu on the microphone and turn it off. Turn on the stereo mixer and click “OK” at the bottom of the window.
What to Do If There Is No Stereo Mixer?
Situations often arise when there is no stereo mixer among the recording devices of the system. Then you need to reinstall the audio driver. With the automatic installation of drivers, Windows 10 often provides only basic sound functions. Updating or reinstalling the audio driver using the system device manager usually does not fix the problem. Therefore, you must first uninstall the audio driver, then go to the site of the motherboard, laptop, or discrete audio card, download the audio driver installer, and follow the step-by-step installation.
The solution to the problem is also possible by using the universal utility High Definition Audio Codecs developed by Realtek. In this case, go to the site, find the utility, agree that you understand that you are not downloading an audio driver specifically for your computer but a universal utility for various devices. Click “Next”, select the 32 or 64-bit version of the utility and load it. After installing the utility in the system, restart your computer.
Audio Transcription Process
So, in the system sound settings of your computer, the stereo mixer is enabled, and the microphone is disabled. Next, start downloading a speech recognition tool, for example, “Voice Notebook,” and click on the “Enable Recording” button.
Then start playback recorded in any player. At this stage, you can assume that the process of transcription has begun. You will observe the finished text in the resulting form. Playback should be stopped from time to time in order to timely correct individual blocks of the recognized text.
Use of Word to Decrypt Audio Files
Microsoft recently launched a new audio transcription feature in the online version of the Word application called Transcribe. Thanks to this function, users can easily and quickly record conversations, as well as download the recorded audio files to perform automatic transcription.
Files can be downloaded in any format, including mp3, mp4, m4a, and wav. The uniqueness of the function is that the resulting text can be immediately edited and improved by the user. Anyone can use the function at any time.
Instead of downloading an audio file, you can immediately dictate speech into the microphone. To do this, you just need to find in the menu bar and click the “Dictate” button, and after recording, select the “Transcribe” item.
In the process of transcribing speech into text, you can quickly move from one paragraph of the received text to another, examine individual fragments of audio, and change the speed of reproduction of the source. You probably understand that automatic audio transcription contains errors in any case, so the function of checking individual text fragments is very important.
Since the transcribing function was added to the web application not so long ago, at the moment, there are a number of restrictions on its use. For example, a user cannot download and process more than five hours of audio recordings in a month.
Moreover, this restriction is not removed for a separate fee. There are also restrictions on the size of the downloaded audio file. Thus, it should not exceed 200 MB. Another limitation is that the transcribing function works only on a computer. However, in the near future, it is planned to launch it on other devices. Today, only English records are being processed, but more languages will be added soon.
So, Windows 10 provides good functionality for transcribing audio files. The main thing is to learn how to use it skillfully! We hope that you have found some valuable information for yourself in this article.