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.

  • Deirdre O'Malley

  • Contact Info

  • deirdre@domalley.ie
  • https://www.domalley.ie

  • About Our Member

  • I am a Registered Professional Reporter (RPR), a Certified Realtime Reporter (CRR) and now a Registered Merit Reporter (RMR) - USA Certification.
    I started out my career as a legal secretary which introduced me to the workings of the courtroom, and there began my fascination with stenography. I qualified as a stenographer in 1999 having completed my training in Dublin, Ireland, where I then worked for three years covering court hearings, arbitrations, planning inquiries and tribunals.
    In 2002 I relocated to New York and trained as a deposition court reporter. Working alongside videographers, I specialised in complex litigation, hearings, arbitrations, and all types of meetings and public hearings for law firms, educational institutions, Fortune 500 companies, and governmental agencies.
    In 2011 I returned to live in Ireland and am now more focused on providing realtime. I provide services to governmental commissions of inquiries/tribunals, court hearings both on-site and remotely. I also like to travel, so when the opportunity arises I will travel for US deposition and arbitration work worldwide.
    I am fortunate to hold both an Irish and American passport!

  • Member
  • American Depositions, Arbitrations, Court, Disciplinary Hearings/Regulatory Health, NCRA Certified, Qualified Realtime Reporter - QRR, Realtime, Verbatim STTR/Captioning - Remote, Verbatim STTR/Captioning - On-site, Audio Transcriber, Scopist (Editor)
  • EU
  • County Meath