Transcription service fees are usually calculated per minute of the original recording. The following factors can affect the cost: recording quality, speech rate, accent, and enunciation.
Factors affecting transcription service fees
Quality of Recording
The audio quality plays a big part in the transcription service costs. In particular, for recordings created using a hidden camera or sound recorder, the volume, phone signal, and background noise can all affect the time spent on transcription.
Speed
If the speaker talks fast, more words would be spoken in the same amount of time, which drives the per minute rate higher.
Accent
A strong accent makes transcription more challenging and more time consuming. It may also result in unclean transcripts with numerous comments like “unintelligible due to heavy accent.” As a result, the meaning of the original messages may not be completely captured.
Enunciation
If the words are slurred or mumbled, or the speaker cannot enunciate certain sounds clearly, it will slow down the transcription process and increase the cost.
Unclear enunciation may also cause ambiguity, which may be open to interpretation by the users of the transcript.
To obtain a quote, you may contact us and send in some sample recordings. Upon preview, we can provide you with a cost estimate.