Five places to check in an automatic transcript.

A focused review process for names, numbers, meaning, timing, and readability.

Names and specialist terms

Start with people, places, product names, and vocabulary specific to your subject. These are easy places for a plausible-sounding transcription error to hide. Listen to each unclear term and verify its spelling from the source material.

Numbers and qualifiers

A missing “not,” an incorrect date, or a changed unit can reverse the meaning of a sentence. Check numbers together with their units and any words that qualify the claim. Keep uncertainty when the speaker expresses uncertainty.

Overlapping voices

When speakers interrupt each other, a transcript can join fragments that do not belong together. Review those moments in the audio. Avoid assigning a statement to a speaker when the recording does not make the attribution clear.

Cue boundaries and readable text

Play the beginning and end of several segments to check that the text follows the speech. Then read the transcript without the audio. Correct punctuation and obvious filler while preserving the speaker’s meaning. For publication, make one final pass in the actual destination: a caption player, document, or article.

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