A Study Of The Impact Of Automatic Speech Recognition On The Accuracy Of Number Interpretation In E-C Simultaneous Interpreting

Recent advancements in technology have had a profound impact on translation and interpretation,particularly as Automatic Speech Recognition(ASR)technology is adopted in interpreting practice.Although research on ASR-aided interpretation is a relatively new field,recent studies have primarily focused on evaluating the impact of ASR technology on the overall performance of interpretation.While previous research has demonstrated that ASR tools can improve the accuracy of number interpretation,the extent of improvement can vary depending on the direction of interpretation.Therefore,this study seeks to measure the impact of ASR tools on the accuracy of number interpretation in English-Chinese simultaneous interpreting and explore how ASR tools make such a difference.The research questions of this study are:(a)To what extent do ASR tools increase or decrease the accuracy of number interpretation in English-Chinese simultaneous interpretation?(b)How do ASR tools make such a difference in the accuracy of number interpretation in English-Chinese simultaneous interpretation?Therefore,the study carried out a simultaneous interpreting experiment and a retrospective interview.In the simultaneous interpreting experiment,participants were divided into two groups.The experimental group was assisted by ASR tools,while the control group was not.The number accuracy of the two groups was compared and analyzed.After the experiment,each participant received a retrospective interview to recall their real feelings during the experiment.Combined with experimental data,the retrospective interview recordings were also used for later analysis.This study has shown that:The ASR tool has improved the number accuracy by 33.125%(from 42.5%without the technical support to 75.625%with the technical support).The ASR tool has reduced the frequency of different error types,omissions by 2.75 instances,approximations by 3 instances and other errors by 7.75 instances on average.With the help of ASR tool,simple whole numbers have seen an increase in accuracy by 22.5%,complex whole numbers by 35%,decimals by 55%and years by 20%,showing that technical support helps interpreters in decimals most.While interpreters with technical support interpret the numbers correctly,they are likely to misinterpret number-related information because of spending more effort in screen reading and less in listening and analysis.The above results show that the ASR tool has improved the accuracy of number interpretation in English-Chinese simultaneous interpreting.Interpreters should stay open-minded towards the ASR technology and improve the coordination of effort allocation through training so as to fully utilize the ASR tool to assist interpretation.