Fact · Transcription
The CHAT transcription manual says to use the symbol xxx when you cannot hear or understand what the speaker is saying.
Checked against its source on October 17, 2026
In the source's own words
“Use the symbol xxx when you cannot hear or understand what the speaker is saying.”
CHAT Manual: Transcription Format (Unintelligible Speech and Other Symbols), Brian MacWhinney, TalkBank, Carnegie Mellon University, n.d., Unintelligible Speech.
Open the original- What it measures
- CHAT is the transcription format of the TalkBank research database, used for coding recorded conversation, for example in child language and clinical research. The manual also says that unintelligible words with an unclear phonetic shape should be transcribed as xxx.
- What it does not show
- A research coding convention. It is written for files that a program reads, so the symbol is typed in lower case, and a legal or publishing style guide may use a different marker.