Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is used creating editable text. It does so by converting scanned documents, PDFs, and images. The OCR software works by analyzing the pictures and identifying the characters within it. The software then converts the characters into machine-readable text, which can be edited and searched.
The process begins with pre-processing of the images, which includes steps such as visual enhancement, noise reduction, and thresholding. Picture enhancement is used for improving the quality of the image, and noise reduction is used to removing all unwanted details. Thresholding on the other hand is used to convert a picture into binary photos, which makes it easier for the software to identify the characters.
Once the photo is processed, the software begins the character recognition process. The software compares the characters to a database of known characters and attempts to match them properly. The software also measures context of the characters, which can help to improve the accuracy of the recognition.
After the character recognition process, this software performs post-processing, which includes steps such as spell-checking, grammar-checking, and formatting.
OCR technology has improved significantly over the years, it is possible to achieve high levels of accuracy with this software. Some of the best OCR software on the market include Adobe Acrobat, ABBYY FineReader, and Tesseract. Adobe Acrobat is a popular choice for businesses and individuals who need to convert large numbers of documents, while ABBYY FineReader and Tesseract are popular choices for developers who need to integrate this functionality into their applications. Make sure to look into these software and see what they can do for you.
In addition to OCR, there is another related technology called speech-to-text (STT) conversion. STT is a technology that converts spoken words into written text. The process of STT begins with recording the speech, using a microphone or a digital recording device.
After the audio recording is processed, the STT software begins the speech recognition process. This process involves analyzing the speech segments and comparing them to a database of known words and phrases.
If you want to try this technology yourself for converting MP3 files to text many online tools are available already now, and as the technology continues to improve and the amount of data used for training continues to increase, the accuracy of speech-to-text recognition systems is also increasing. However, there are still some challenges that need to be overcome, such as dealing with different accents, dialects, and background noise.
Due to the rapid progress in the AI sector both, speech- and text recognition is expected to improve significantly in the next years and we are right at the beginning of what is possible.
