ArticleBMC research notes2024
From voice to ink (Vink): development and assessment of an automated, free-of-charge transcription tool.
Article in BMC research notes, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Efficacy and acceptability of a blended intervention for emotion regulation (MAISHA) among young people in Kenya: study protocol for a cluster RCT.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- "If we survive this, we'll make it through anything" - Exploration of the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of nursing home staff in Hesse, Germany.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- Potential of the World Health Organization's Skin NTDs App to Support and Improve the Detection of Skin-Related Neglected Tropical Diseases: Protocol for a Performance Evaluation and Feasibility Study in Senegal.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Informing People-Centered Target Product Profiles for TB Diagnostics: A Multi-Country Qualitative Study.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Implementation of Point-of-Care PCR-testing for the diagnosis of respiratory infections in vulnerable patient populations.PloS one · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundVerbatim transcription of qualitative audio data is a cornerstone of analytic quality and rigor, yet the time and energy required for such transcription can drain resources, delay analysis, and hinder the timely dissemination of qualitative insights. In recent years, software programs have presented a promising mechanism to accelerate transcription, but the broad application of such programs has been constrained due to expensive licensing or "per-minute" fees, data protection concerns, and limited availability of such programs in many languages. In this article, we outline our process of adapting a free, open-source, speech-to-text algorithm (Whisper by OpenAI) into a usable and accessible tool for qualitative transcription. Our program, which we have dubbed "Vink" for voice to ink, is available under a permissive open-source license (and thus free of cost).
resultsWe conducted a proof-of-principle assessment of Vink's performance in transcribing authentic interview audio data in 14 languages. A majority of pilot-testers evaluated the software performance positively and indicated that they were likely to use the tool in their future research. Our usability assessment indicates that Vink is easy-to-use, and we performed further refinements based on pilot-tester feedback to increase user-friendliness.
conclusionWith Vink, we hope to contribute to facilitating rigorous qualitative research processes globally by reducing time and costs associated with transcription and by expanding free-of-cost transcription software availability to more languages. With Vink running on standalone computers, data privacy issues arising within many other solutions do not apply.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.