Speech-to-Text Reporting (also more commonly known as captioning) is an area of realtime work providing communication support for the D/deaf and hard-of-hearing communities, as well as people whose first language is not English. Hearing people also benefit from the services of an STTR. Captioning assignments include meetings, conferences, festivals, museums, seminars, lectures, or one-to-one support. The captioner can be either onsite or remote.

The primary role of an STTR is to provide communication support, not to provide a legal, official transcript. If and when a text-format document is provided by the STTR, this is purely as an aide-memoir for the service user and has no legal standing, i.e., it cannot be quoted in the Court of Appeal, for example. A disclaimer to this effect will accompany an STTR’s transcript:

DISCLAIMER: Live captioning is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility. This document contains the real-time captions in a text format, and has not been edited, proofread, or corrected. It is not an official, legal transcript and is not certified to be true and correct. It may contain computer-generated mistranslations of palantype/stenotype code and/or electronic transmission errors, resulting in inaccurate or nonsensical word combinations.

  • Natalie Bracken

  • Contact Info

  • nbracken@hotmail.com

  • About Our Member

  • I trained to become a Palantypist in 1990 at Inner London Crown Court. I qualified with the Association of Shorthand Writers in 1991. The company I was working for won the contract for the Central Criminal Court (‘Old Bailey’) in 1993 so I began working there in 1993. I worked there until 2003 when I left to pursue a career as an STTR reporter. I am a Member of BIVR and the NRCPD and AVSTTR. I mainly do STT real-time work but also still produce DARTs digital transcripts from Crown Courts. I have covered transcripts and write-outs for the General Medical Council and the General Dental Council. I have covered webinars and also Adobe Connect lectures. I passed my deaf Awareness course. I have passed the QRR2 with distinction. I have passed the RQP exam with the IPS n February 2019. I have an LLB (hons) law degree and passed the Solicitors’ Professional Examination in 1993.

  • Member
  • Court, Disciplinary Hearings/Regulatory Health, NRCPD Registered, Qualified Realtime Reporter - QRR, Realtime, Verbatim STTR/Captioning - Remote, Verbatim STTR/Captioning - On-site, Audio Transcriber
  • UK, EU, Worldwide