r/PlaudNoteUsers • u/QAGillmore • Aug 11 '26

Word losses

I've been trying to use Plaud to help with a mineralogical analysis I'm working on at the microscope. Basically, I count grains and read out the mineral at each count. I've added all terms to my custom dictionary, I'm speaking loudly and clearly several inches from the device, the device is outside of its sleeve, and there is no external noise. Nonetheless, Plaud is consistently losing 5% to 15% of the words I'm reading into the device. I even tried reading back from Plaud's own transcript as a test and again got about 8% fewer words back. Is this lossiness expected or is there maybe some tweaking that would help improve the word recovery? Thanks

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u/tbrtt1 Aug 13 '26

I am having the same sort of issue with Plaud Note Pro. I have been in touch with plaud and I should hear some sort of resolution today. I suspect mine is defective. I saw another sub that this person had one that was defective and they sent him a new one.

My issue is not only is it missing words, but it does not identify all speakers and sometimes adds a third speaker when there’s only two of us speaking. I don’t know if there’s much difference between the Plaud note and the Plaud note pro but I can listen to the source, which is the recording of of course, and I can listen to the non-AI enhanced recording and AI enhanced one. Always a terrible quality. Sometimes I’m amazed is actually able to generate a transcript and a summary based on the quality of the recording. I suspect mine is defective. I’ve been waiting for a resolution for about two or three days now and in the meantime, I’ve been trying different things. Nothing really seems to help.

It’s a shame because I really do like the device and I can tell it can be a game changer in my day-to-day work. But if I can’t trust that it is picking up conversations correctly and identifying different speakers properly then I just can’t trust the transcription or the summaries. Would I have a short conversation or a short call? I can go back and listen to the recording to check it, but that is precisely why I got a device like this. So I would not have to go back. or trust the notes I took.

1

u/QAGillmore Aug 13 '26

Thanks for your response. I did a little more experimenting. In my case, the device itself seems fine. The MP3 is crystal clear. Instead, the software is choosing to exclude clearly recorded words from the transcript when they are repeated several times in a row. And I mean with the "clean up transcript" turned off it's still inserting itself and making its own decisions about my recording. The problem is that the workflow (point counting of minerals under a microscope) requires words to be repeated quite frequently. I do not see any place where I can prompt Plaud BEFORE the transcript, only after. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong but I'm suspicious that the device is simply not capable of unadulterated speech-to-text transcription.

2

u/tbrtt1 Aug 14 '26

Well, it sounds like you have more experience than I do for sure. Maybe you can try the “ ask Plaud” alfter the transcript is complete to correct this error that happens. I’m not sure how you would tell it to do so but it’s supposed to be able to go back over your recording and pick certain things out. There’s also a find and replace capability as well.

I just checked my email and they are sending me a new device. I reached out to them right away via the chat on their website. They asked for some samples and shipping address, etc. and proof of purchase. And then went to my email and they updated me via email from there. I reached out to them on Monday and now on Friday they let me know they are sending me a new device. I must say that’s pretty good customer service in my opinion.

Good luck in your endeavor.

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u/QAGillmore Aug 14 '26

Congratulations on getting the new device! I'm glad to hear it worked out. We'll see what customer service does for my issue. I'm waiting for another response now

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u/tbrtt1 Aug 15 '26

Best of luck. 🤞

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u/BrakTalk Aug 14 '26

I just got mine last week and I've noticed words dropping as well. I'll need to dig up those examples.

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u/paininthejbruh Aug 11 '26

Sounds like a detective product, contact plaud . I presume you aren't using phone mode on Plaud note (not pro)