Effects of real-time transcription on non-native speaker's comprehension in computer-mediated communications

Abstract

We performed an empirical study to understand the relative contributions of real-time transcription to a non-native speaker's comprehension in audio/video meetings. 48 participants were assigned to 2 presentation modes (audio, audio+video) and 3 transcription modes (no transcript, real-time transcripts in the streaming mode, transcripts with all past records) in a 3×2 factorial experimental design. The results suggest that comprehension can be significantly improved for both audio and audio+video conditions when real-time transcription is provided. Also, the participants reported positive subjective responses to the presence of real-time transcription in terms of usefulness, preference, and willingness to use such a feature if provided. No cognitive load issues were reported by the participants in the ability to synthesize across modalities. Implications for system development and design, as well as future work utilizing automation speech recognition to provide the transcripts are discussed. Copyright 2009 ACM.