Abstract

Speech-to-Text applications have made dazzling progress in recent years (e.g. Whisper). However, since they are usually intended to generate texts conform to written standards, they tend to blur marks of an oral nature (e.g. repetitions, pauses in the stream of words, phatics like er…). Thus, even if such applications suggest huge benefits in terms of working time as well as transcription accuracy, they remain inadequate for verbal exchanges analysis. Relying on a sample of transcripts from medical consultations anticipating an awake brain-surgery (a research now in progress), this study aims at three goals: (i) drawing up an inventory of difficulties revealed by the use of Whisper from a speech analyst perspective; (ii) clarifying the origins of these difficulties; (iii) suggesting ways to overcome them.