Yleisradio
Yle uses Lingsoft’s speech recognition-based technology to help implement its statutory accessibility work. Subtitling a live broadcast requires reliable technology and solid linguistic know-how.
Yle’s subtitling supports access to information, especially for people with hearing problems, immigrants and other groups that benefit from subtitling. Subtitling is produced for programming htat includes news broadcasts, current affairs programmes and special broadcasts – with the exception of live sports and concert broadcasts.
“We use subtitling on a daily basis, for example, on the Yle Aamu and Puoli seitsemän programmes, the evening news broadcast at half past eight and A-studio current affairs programme as well as parliamentary broadcasts once or twice a week. Special broadcasts related to news events also require real-time subtitling,” explains Virve Tossavainen, who is a team supervisor on Yle’s subtitling team.
Yle has been using the re-speaking technique for four years. This means that a re-speaker listens to live speech and then repeats it in concise format and including punctuation into a microphone. Lingsoft’s system then converts the speech into text on the viewer’s screen – with the shortest possible delay.
“Re-speaking is comparable to simultaneous interpretation. The end result is written Finnish language in which punctuation plays a huge role. Lingsoft’s speech recognition is the technical solution that makes all this possible.”
Smooth cooperation is visible live in homes
The cooperation between Yle and Lingsoft has been long-term and seamless. The aim is to use Lingsoft’s technology flexibly in Yle’s subtitling system, and it is being continuously trained with Yle’s own material to ensure up-to-date recognition of new proper nouns, terms and phenomena.
“The cooperation has been very smooth. Any challenges are reported quickly and we also get quick responses to them. Contact is regular and we occasionally need real-time updates, such as during the Independence Day Reception at the Finnish Presidential Palace,” says Tossavainen.
Tossavainen also emphasises that the technology has to function properly at all times. Live broadcasts are really live and there are no alternatives.
“Lingsoft’s technology is a critical part of our daily activities. Things have to work – and with Lingsoft they do.”
Technology is not enough – people still play an important role
According to Virve Tossavainen, speech recognition is not perfect but it’s developing all the time. At this point, the product seen by the viewer is a combination of re-speaking by a person and Lingsoft’s technology.
“Every broadcast can contain errors, either due to the re-speaker or AI recognition. For example, number recognition is still technically challenging. The end result at this time is the best that we can achieve with the existing technology.”
Cooperation between a person and AI is a key element in real-time re-speaking. Yle is continuously developing the process and Lingsoft – as a reliable technology partner – is involved in supporting this development work.”
“Of course I hope that we’ll have perfect speech recognition in the future, but language technology is not simple. In any case, our cooperation with Lingsoft is open, functional and developing, and this is also visible to our viewers every day.”
- A public service media company owned by the State of Finland.
- Established in 1926.
- Over 3,000 personnel.
- The core task is to strengthen democracy and culture and to promote equality and cohesion.
- 3 television channels, 7 radio channels, a teletext system, the Yle Areena streaming service, a mobile application and an online service.
