Glossary
Transcription foot pedal
A transcription foot pedal is a switch that controls audio playback with the foot, so a transcriber can start, pause and rewind a recording while typing. It is also called a foot control or foot pedal.
Updated October 17, 20263 cited facts, each traced to its source
Also called foot pedal, foot control.
A transcription foot pedal is a switch that you press with your foot to control a recording while you type. It starts and pauses the audio and rewinds it, so your hands stay on the keyboard. It does not record anything. It controls playback of audio that is already stored on a machine or in a file.
Typists have used pedals since the first playback machines
From the earliest dictation machines, typists transcribed recordings with foot pedals that controlled the playback speed and let them reverse and repeat a passage 1. The author speaks, the typist listens and types, and the pedal moves the typist back and forth through the audio. That design is why the pedal is a transcription control rather than a dictation one.
A pedal can be hardware or a software key
Hardware pedals are the traditional choice, but software can do the same job. NCH Software's Express Scribe transcription program uses hot keys or a foot pedal to control audio playback, so the keyboard can run playback with no pedal at all 2. The pedal is an option for keeping both hands on the keys, not a requirement.
Example: a pedal that starts, pauses and rewinds
Philips describes its foot control as letting you start, pause, rewind and fast-forward audio files with only a slight movement of the foot tip 3. That is the manufacturer's description of how the control feels to use. It is not a measured typing result, so treat it as a product claim.
Why it matters for transcription
Each pause and rewind costs a hand movement when the controls are on screen or on the machine. A pedal moves those controls under your foot, so the hands keep typing. For long recordings, that removes a steady stream of small interruptions. The same control is covered from the dictation side in the dictation foot pedal entry, and the older hardware is described in the Dictaphone entry.
For the work that uses pedals, read our guide to transcription jobs, which covers the skills and tools typists use. For the software side, see transcription software.
Related terms
- Dictation foot pedal: the same device, described for dictation work.
- Transcriptionist: the person who types from a recording with these controls.
- Turnaround time (TAT): the delivery window that a transcriptionist's typing speed has to meet.
Evidence
Every number on this page, with where it comes from. Open a fact to see the exact words in its source.
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Related terms
- Transcription: How to Turn Audio and Video Into TextThe topic this term belongs to
- Clean verbatimClean verbatim is a transcript that removes filler words, stutters, repetitions and false starts while keeping the speaker's wording and meaning. It is the usual choice for reading, captions and coding, where hesitations add noise rather than information.
- Closed captions (CC)Closed captions (CC) are a text version of a program's dialogue and relevant sounds that the viewer can turn on or off. The word closed means the viewer chooses whether to see them, which separates them from open captions.
- Forced alignmentForced alignment is the process of matching a known transcript to its audio so that each word or phone gets a start and end time. Unlike open speech recognition, it does not decide what was said; it only finds when each word was said.
- Open captionsOpen captions are text drawn onto the frames of a video, so every viewer sees them and nobody can switch them off. They are also called burned-in captions or hardcoded subtitles.
- SubRip subtitle file (SRT)A SubRip subtitle file, or SRT, is a plain-text file of numbered caption blocks. Each block has a start and end time in hours, minutes, seconds and milliseconds, followed by the caption text. It is one of the most common caption formats on the internet.
- Subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH)SDH stands for subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. They show the dialogue plus the sound effects, music and speaker identification that a hearing viewer would get from the soundtrack.
- Timestamp (transcription)A timestamp in a transcript is a time marker, such as 00:12:15, that shows when the nearby text was spoken in the recording. Timestamps let readers jump to a passage, and they can be attached to whole segments or to single words, with different accuracy.
- TranscriptionistA transcriptionist is a person who listens to recorded speech and types it as text, such as a clinician's dictated report. Speech recognition now writes first drafts, so much of the work has shifted to checking and correcting machine text.
- Turnaround time (TAT)Turnaround time (TAT) is how long a transcriber or service takes to deliver a finished transcript after an order is received. Court schedules define it in calendar days or hours, counted from the order.
- Verbatim transcriptionVerbatim transcription writes down exactly what is said, including filler words, false starts, repetitions and non-speech sounds, with no tidying. Researchers and legal teams use it when the way someone speaks is part of the record.
- WebVTT (VTT)WebVTT (Web Video Text Tracks, usually shortened to VTT) is a plain-text file format for timed captions and subtitles on the web. A .vtt file is a list of cues, and each cue gives a start time, an end time and the text to show.
Pages that use this term
- Transcription: How to Turn Audio and Video Into TextTopic
- Transcription Software: How to Choose OneGuide
- How do you get a transcript without using AI?Question
- What equipment do you need for transcription work?Question
- What is a dictation foot pedal?Question
- What is Express Scribe and what are the alternatives?Question