Simple yet Powerful Ideas to Make Your Dictation Effective

Have hiccups in quality dictation?

As dictation saves much time than writing, you can’t take it for granted that just dictating and recording the stuff gives you the required output. When recording your dictation, you need to follow certain guidelines to make your recording come out as a fine matter.

Read through these tips…

Your dictation must be understandable and ease the job of a transcriptionist. To achieve this, herein I put forth some pointers:

1. You need to get ready with the necessary reports and other documents, date of dictation, type of document, etc. before you start the dictation. This is to avert numerous “Umms” and “Hmmms“, silence and gaps during your dictation.
2. You must have a sound knowledge about the settings and others options of your audio recording device so as to create a high quality audio file.
3. Keep your dictation area as silent as possible. You must thwart the interfering sounds from opening/closing of doors, machines/ devices, etc. 
4. If you have some instructions for the transcriptionists like date on which you need your transcripts, template required for transcription output, etc. dictate them wherever applicable.
5. Use standard report names, abbreviations and acronyms. Also, give expansion for the abbreviations and acronyms at the first time you state them in your dictation.
6. Maintain the requisite distance and be sure on your microphone brand for the finest sound level.
7. Don’t rush through your dictation. Most transcription vendors are charging only on a per line basis rather than a time basis. So, make your speech clear and regular.
8. Avoid breathing out through your mic and don’t let your voice grow fainter while you finish each sentence.
9. Spell the unusual/ technical terms to make the transcriber understand your dictation without any error.
10. Include the punctuation’s like “open” or “close” the bracket wherever necessary. Mention “End of the dictation” so that your transcriptionist makes sure that the recording ends there.

File format for email

Always it’s better to email the recorded file in the MP3 format rather than WAV format. If your audio recognition device allows recording only in the WAV format, you may convert it through the freeware like WAV to MP3 convertor. The MP3 advantage is mainly the reduced file size. But, you must ascertain the file quality after conversion to the MP3.