Speechmatics’ Custom Dictionary Helps Live Broadcasters 

Speechmatics announced the launch of Custom Dictionary, a new feature for the company’s current speech-to-text transcription offering. Live broadcast subtitling has a recognized problem when it comes to names and place names. Custom Dictionary (CD) lets users add context-specific words in real-time such as footballer names or breaking news locations, increasing the accuracy.

Traditionally, transcription providers would have to train each specific model for a customer to include special words. However, setting up a new model has typically been very time-consuming, usually requiring an overnight rebuild. Custom Dictionary streamlines the entire process by putting the customer in control and allowing them to add new words in plain-text to “teach” the model, regardless of use case or language context.

CD enables users to define the context of a conversation in advance, and input those difficult terms into the dictionary so that when they do come up they are transcribed without error. For example, sports subtitling is improved with the prior input of player names, venues, and club names.