speech-to-text reporter

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}{{Short description|Human occupation}}

{{about|a human occupation|computer systems|speech recognition|and|predictive text}}

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{{Globalize|article|United Kingdom|2name=the United Kingdom|date= March 2023

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A speech-to-text reporter (STTR), also known as a captioner, is a person who listens to what is being said and inputs it, word for word (verbatim), as properly written texts. Many captioners use tools (such as a shorthand keyboard, speech recognition software, or a computer-aided transcription software system), which commonly convert verbally communicated information into written words to be composed as a text.{{Cite web |title=Speech to Text Reporters |url=https://www.completecommunicationltd.com/speech-to-text-reporters-sttr/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305140150/https://www.completecommunicationltd.com/speech-to-text-reporters-sttr/ |archive-date=March 5, 2021 |access-date=2024-05-25 |website=Complete Communication |language=en-GB}} The reproduced text can then be read by deaf or hard-of-hearing people, language learners, or people with auditory processing disabilities.{{Cite web |last=Pearson |first=Orla |title=Speech-to-text reporter |url=https://www.ndcs.org.uk/information-and-support/parenting-and-family-life/families-magazine/ask-the-expert/speech-to-text-reporter/ |access-date=2024-05-25 |website=National Deaf Children's Society |language=en-gb}}{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Victoria |date=2014-04-17 |title=What does a Speech-to-Text Reporter do? |url=https://terptree.co.uk/communication-professionals/what-does-a-speech-to-text-reporter-do/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226183506/https://terptree.co.uk/communication-professionals/what-does-a-speech-to-text-reporter-do/ |archive-date=February 26, 2024 |access-date=2024-05-25 |website=terptree |at=What do they do, and how do they work? |language=en-GB}}

Methods

Real-time captioning includes stenographic, voice writing, and automatic speech recognition methods. Occasional mondegreen errors may be seen in closed-captions when the computer software fails to distinguish where a word break occurs in the syllable stream. Information such as laughter or applause is shared inside a bracket.

= Voice writing =

{{Main article|voice writing}}

Voice writers echo spoken language into a stenomask or voice silencer, which consists of a hand-held mask equipped with microphones and voice-dampening materials. This setup connects to an external sound digitizer. The words spoken by a voice writer are converted by the computer's speech recognition engine into streaming text and can be disseminated in various formats, including internet streaming, subtitling, or direct displays for end-users.

= Stenography =

{{Main article|stenography}}

== Palantype and stenotype ==

Two major chorded keyboards used in speech-to-text reporting are the palantype and stenotype systems.{{Cite journal |last=Arnott |first=J. L. |last2=Newell |first2=A. F. |last3=Downton |first3=A. C. |date=July 1979 |title=A comparison of palantype and stenograph for use in a speech transcription aid for the deaf |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/161992/ |journal=Journal of Biomedical Engineering |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=201–210 |doi=10.1016/0141-5425(79)90042-6 |issn=0141-5425 |pmid=161992 |via=National Library of Medicine}} Both systems are used in the UK.{{Cite web |title=Palantype machine |url=https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co37763/palantype-machine-palantype-machine |access-date=2024-05-25 |website=Science Museum Group Collection |language=en}}{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable (WP:NOTRS).|date=May 2024}} STTRs might also be termed palantypists or stenographers. Instead of pressing each letter individually, like on a QWERTY keyboard, these systems use chords, where multiple keys are pressed simultaneously in a "stroke" to represent syllables, words, or phrases.

== Software ==

Stenographers use specialized software to convert phonetic strokes from their keyboards into English text. Errors may arise from STTRs mishearing words or from ambiguities in the statement that are only clarified by subsequent context.

See also

References