Conference calls are a ready made solution to holding business, social meetings etc. among a group of people who are at different places at the same time but are interacting with each other on a common agenda. In the traditional conference room it would be easy to record the proceedings of the conference. Since the conference is conducted over wires, special devices are required to facilitate conference call transcription at a later date.  

For conference call transcription a PC, head set, and foot pedal are the basic tools required. The voice bytes are listened to through the head set and the person doing the transcription then transforms the phoneme into the grapheme using the key board of the PC. It is not possible for the person undertaking the transcription to keep pace with the speaker. Several times he would have to back track and keep checking that he has heard correctly.  Often the terminology used in the conference is foreign to him. so too the accent of the speakers. He may not be quick enough to grasp the spoken word. Hence the foot pedal is necessary to enable him to go back and forth over the conversation. It must be remembered that what is of importance is that what have been uttered must be faithfully recorded without added color or any deviation form the original.  

When a person is physically present at a conference and takes notes of the proceedings, he is able to correlate the utterances to the speaker. In conference call transcription, the biggest drawback is to identify the speaker of the utterance. It is in this instance that the automatic speaker recognition device comes into use. It has been primarily introduced as a safety measure to safeguard against infiltration by unwelcome elements. It is based on voice biometric technology. The voice of the caller is identified using short utterances chosen at random. It is not difficult for a person doing the transcription to now identify individual speakers.  

One of the prerequisites is that the devise should ensure clarity and continuity. Many conference call service providers are able to provide clients with a multi service conference bride or CSOI. This serves a dual purpose. Firstly it offers numerous channels; and secondly it features a recording facility which records every call and conversation. These voice bytes are transferred to files which are stored in compact flash cards that can easily be transported until such time when the conference call transcription is undertaken.  

Conference call transcription requires that special training be imparted to the person who has to do the transcription. Not only does he have to possess the necessary computing skills, he must also have a fair knowledge of the subject of the conference. For instance, legal conference calls required that the person undertaking the transcription be familiar with legal terminology. Similarly, medical transcription requires some knowledge of medical terms. This undoubtedly opens up new avenues for further employment