Does speech recognition work in loud environments?

Speech recognition software has come a remarkably long way in recent years, and more organisations than ever before are relying on the tech for their daily operations.

This is particularly true for the legal and healthcare sector, both of which are industries synonymous with piles of paperwork that speech recognition can drastically cut down on.

But with all the advancements this technology has made… does speech recognition work in loud environments?

In today’s blog, we’ll be looking into how speech recognition platforms deal with background noise, the importance of a quality microphone if you’re using speech recognition in a loud environment, and some tips for getting the best transcriptions when you can’t get any peace and quiet.

How does speech recognition deal with background noise?

Modern speech recognition platforms like Philips SpeechLive cope with background noise surprisingly well. Sophisticated algorithms and machine learning are able to accurately distinguish the speaker’s voice (the target for the transcription) from ambient sounds, and filter out those ambient sounds. That’s how speech recognition works, at the end of the day: identifying the patterns and frequencies that are most characteristic of human speech, and instantaneously filtering out everything else.

In a quiet environment (which is, admittedly, where the tech most excels), this process is quite straightforward, because there won’t be much to filter out. In a loud environment, it’s a bit more complicated, but typically the software will be specifically designed to filter out background noise and hone in on the speaker.

How loud is too loud?

While speech recognition is generally adept at filtering out low-level to medium-level background noise (chatter that’s not immediately in front of the microphone, for example), it can be more of a challenge in the midst of more disruptive sounds. For example, while speech recognition is designed to transcribe meetings with several people, it would be a lot trickier if all of those people were loudly talking at the same time (which wouldn’t make for much of a meeting, but you get the point). The difficulty, obviously, would be that the software would struggle to discern whose speech it should be prioritising with its transcription.

Ultimately, the louder and more unpredictable the background noise, the harder it will be for your speech recognition platform to provide reliable transcriptions. So, if you know for a fact you’re going to be using this tech in a loud environment, we recommend investing in a high quality microphone, like the Philips SmartMike Duo or SpeechMike Premium Air wireless mic for example.

Tips for combatting background noise

There a few things you can do to try to combat background noise when using speech recognition in loud environments: 

• Use a high quality, directional microphone that will reduce ambient noise as much as possible.
• If you’re using a directional microphone, be sure to position it correctly. Make sure you’re speaking into it from a suitable distance (a few inches, usually).
• Test your setup a couple of times to see if automated transcriptions are going to be viable in your environment.
• The best advice is probably the most obvious advice: try to only use speech recognition in quiet rooms, and if you do need to use this tech in loud environments, make sure you’re extra vigilant when proofreading your transcriptions afterwards, because there may be more mistakes than you’re used to.

Conclusion: does speech recognition work in loud environments?

Speech recognition does work in loud environments, to an extent. But at a certain point you’ll need a high quality microphone that’s designed with background noise in mind. Even then, just about any speech recognition platform on the market (and any microphone, too) will struggle to provide flawless transcriptions in a very loud, crowded room.

Generally, we recommend avoiding loud environments as best you can when using speech recognition because this will guarantee you the best results, and the highest level of accuracy for your transcriptions.

We help organisations reduce the time and cost of producing correspondence via speech recognition software, information workflow apps, and digital dictation hardware & software. Think we could help your business? Book a consultation today.