Speech to text LiveTranscribe combined with remote mic

[Mary Beth]

Today the Teachers of the Deaf met and tested an automatic speech to text app with a remote mic.  AMAZING!

We used LiveTranscribe (Android only).  Free app.  During our test it was on a Chromebook but any Android device would work.

We connected a Roger MyLink neckloop receiver to the USB port of the Chromebook. (2 very inexpensive items needed  which total US $16).

We used the Roger Select transmitter.  Tested it both ways- worn by one person and set on the tabletop for a group of 5 people.

We were connected to WiFi.

This was amazing.  A very easy way to deliver speech to text when needed.

You can also use a BT mic instead of the Roger Select & Roger MyLink. (SmartMike+ is getting great reviews for this.)

 

[Mary Beth]

[Mary Beth]

@Joan

[Joan]

@Mary Beth I have LiveTranscribe on my Android phone. I’ve used it without any connection to another device, just activated it on my phone, and have been surprised at how well it works. At a meeting with a speaker (who was using a microphone) it picked up everything he said.

[Mary Beth]

People are loving LiveTranscribe.

We tested it with the MyLink to provide the same level of accuracy even when the speaker is far away (wearing the mic).

[Mary Beth]

Many thanks to Tina Gonzales Childress for her awesome tech help.  While testing LiveTranscribe with the Roger MyLink receiver plugged into an android device via USB (need two items that total $16 US), we accidentally discovered how helpful this may be for those struggling to understand small group conversations.  We had completed our testing and demo to a school team and had removed the Roger Select transmitter and set it on the table but we had left everything on and running.  There were 5 adults seated around the outside of a kidney shaped table in a quiet room.  At one point I glanced at the Live Transcribe screen and it was accurately displaying all 5 voices speech to text.  Many Med-El CI users (especially Rondo and Rondo 2 users) already have both the Roger Select and Roger MyLink.  If you have an Android device with Live Transcribe, this is an option for you.  It is quite impressive.
 

[pdk]

I have used @voice and think it is even better. 

Peter 

[Mary Beth]

@pdk

 

Link to @voice?

[pdk]

3 hours ago, Mary Beth said:

@pdk

 

Link to @voice?

It's an android app on google play. 

You can try it on your new tablet.

@voice aloud reader apk

https://m.apkpure.com/voice-aloud-reader-tts-reader/com.hyperionics.avar

Peter 

[Mary Beth]

@pdk

My android tablet will arrive this week!

[pdk]

Made a mistake. Should have been 

https://m.apkpure.com/speechtexter-speech-to-text/com.speechtexter.speechtexter

@voice is text to speech. 

Peter 

[Mary Beth]

Tonight I set up this LiveTranscribe speech to text on my Android tablet and plugged in the Roger MyLink receiver.  I set the Roger Select transmitter in the center of an oblong dining table with 6 people seated all around.  It was a fun-loving, lively bunch of good friends so lots of conversations bouncing all around and sometimes multiple conversations going on at once.  Lots of laughter.

The tablet was in a stand between a dear friend with hearing loss and me.  She struggles to hear well with her hearing aids.  I was testing how well this set up works.

She LOVED it!  Really really LOVED it!

Live Transcribe is not perfect.  It made mistakes and also once in awhile missed something.  But this was a challenging listening setting.  People talked on top of one another and oftentimes there was laughter.  
 

Using a remote mic, rather than the tablet’s built in mic, increased the accuracy and also the range of voices it detected.

Using the Select sending the audio to the connected MyLink, gave additional benefits from the adaptive features and beamforming tech in the Select.

 

This easy to use set up greatly improved my friend’s ability to participate equally.  I lost count of how many times she told me she loved it.

 

Really amazing!

 

[pdk]

Truly great. I still think speech texter is even better for android. 

I'm so happy to see new tech ways of making life better. 

Peter 

[Mary Beth]

I will check out speech texter to see if it is as user friendly as LiveTranscribe in these situations.

[Mary Beth]

@pdk

@Joan

 

LiveTranscribe and SpeechTexter have been designed for different purposes.

LiveTranscribe has been designed for accessibility.  Real time, fast speech to text on the whole screen in an easy to use format to give access to speech for those who are unable to hear speech effectively in various situations.  It also gives access to environmental sounds.

 

SpeechTexter is designed as a tool to dictate instead of type.  The delay is longer.  The screen display is not as user friendly.

 

For my purpose, trying to give people visual access to speech when they can not access it by listening, LiveTranscribe is the appropriate app.

[pdk]

Thanks for the info. I just 

38 minutes ago, Mary Beth said:

@pdk

@Joan

 

LiveTranscribe and SpeechTexter have been designed for different purposes.

LiveTranscribe has been designed for accessibility.  Real time, fast speech to text on the whole screen in an easy to use format to give access to speech for those who are unable to hear speech effectively in various situations.  It also gives access to environmental sounds.

 

SpeechTexter is designed as a tool to dictate instead of type.  The delay is longer.  The screen display is not as user friendly.

 

For my purpose, trying to give people visual access to speech when they can not access it by listening, LiveTranscribe is the appropriate app.

thanks for the comparison, it's great to have feedback. (I remember being wrong last year sometime 😀)  I just tried them briefly by putting my phone next to a poem playback on my PC and speech tester performed much better. I'll try again sometime. My speech understanding has improved so much I have not needed speech to text. 

Peter 

[Mary Beth]

@pdk

Test them both out when you are surrounded by live voices.  Let us know what you think. 

I see live speech to text helping many people on their journeys.  Especially between surgery and activation. Or if facing the process of a reimplantation.

My CIs have given me such awesome hearing,  I am so very thankful.

But I remember very well how I felt before getting my CIs.  So frustrated.  So isolated.  I am always trying to find ways to help people who are facing that situation.  
 

Hopefully for many it is a temporary situation that can be helped by getting CIs.

For some it is a permanent situation.

And there is no right or wrong.  Smile.  We vary greatly in our personal preferences for assistive tech.  I always enjoy testing things out and reading what others report.

[Mary Beth]

LiveTranscribe has been a hit with people in my area who are in situations where it is difficult to hear well.  Today I tested LiveTranscribe paired with a BT remote mic.  The mic is so tiny.  It works great.

Using a tiny remote mic that is BT connected to an Android phone or tablet may be helpful any time you can have internet access via WiFi or cellular data and would like captions for speech.

I tested it with SmartMike+ BT mic but it would work with any BT mic that can connect to your android device.

[Mary Beth]

LiveTranscribe with a BT mic and a phone on speakerphone

 

Would work great for conference calls at work!

 

phone on speakerphone, tiny BT mic set near the phone and connected via BT to your android device running the free app LiveTranscribe.

 

Very very good.  
 

LiveTranscribe requires internet access (WiFi or cellular data)

 

[Jewel]

@Mary Beth

Forgive my ignorance, when you connect that BT mic other people won't hear what's being said over the speakerphone from both the speakerphone and the BT mic? 

[Mary Beth]

@Jewel

All questions welcome at any time!

 

I used the BT mic ONLY to send the speech to my android device running the free LiveTranscribe app.  So the BT connection was from the tiny BT mic sitting on the table next to the speakerphone during a conference call.  This set up would have all others in the room also hear the call through the speakerphone.

 

If you did not want others to hear the speakerphone call........

you could do it with Roger transmitter/Roger MyLink receiver attached to an android device running LiveTranscribe for speech to text

while the same Roger transmitter was also sending audio to your Roger 21 receiver.

Roger transmitters can send to multiple Roger receivers at the same time.  So you can use a receiver to listen (Roger 21) and use Roger MyLink receiver plugged into an android device for speech to text at the same time.

 

 

[Mary Beth]

Link to video review of LiveTranscribe 

It is captioned

 

 

[Joan]

@Mary Beth

Great video! Very informative and great job with the captions!😊

[Carmen B]

Hello all

any similar apps that you know of for IPhones? 

[Mary Beth]

@Carmen B

My favorite speech to text app for iPhone is otter.ai.  Ten hours every month free.  If you want more than ten hours, there is a fee.  It has the best accuracy on iPhones of all the apps I tested with my iPhone.  Do not get confused by an iPhone app called Live Transcribe.  It is not connected to the android free LiveTranscribe and it is not accurate for me.