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# Align the Transcript

The transcript aligner compares the speech-to-text transcript and the original transcript text to produce an aligned transcript. The aligner either uses words as whole units or breaks them down into phonemes or letters. You can therefore select one of three modes:

- `words`
- `prons` (phonemes)
- `letters`

In addition, the alignment algorithm can also work in one of two polarity modes:

- In positive polarity mode, only the matched units get a positive score, and mismatches are not penalized. This mode is the default mode for transcript alignment, and is more robust to transcript and speech data errors.
- In negative polarity mode, the matched units get a zero score, and the mismatched units are penalized. Micro Focus recommends this mode if the transcripts are very accurate or the speech-to-text output is of a poor quality.

To run the transcript alignment task

- Send an `AddTask` action to IDOL Speech Server, and set the following parameters:

  `Type` | The task name. Set to `TranscriptAlign`.
  `TxtFile` | The normalized transcript file.
  `CtmFile` | The speech-to-text transcript produced for the audio file.
  `Out` | The file to write the aligned transcript to.
  `MatchType` | The mode–either `words`, `prons`, or `letters`.

For example:

    http://localhost:15000/action=AddTask&Type=TranscriptAlign&TxtFile=C:\data\transcript.txt&CtmFile=C:\misc\speechtext.ctm&Out=AlignedTranscript.ctm&MatchType=words

This action compares the original transcript `transcript.txt` with the speech-to-text transcript `speechtext.ctm` to produce an aligned transcript, `AlignedTranscript.ctm`. The action instructs IDOL Speech Server to use the `words` alignment mode.

The output file is in the following format:

    1 A 0.000 0.420 behind 1.000
    1 A 0.420 7.790 it 1.000
    1 A 8.210 2.870 all 1.000
    1 A 11.080 0.000 <s> 1.000
    1 A 11.080 0.000 Teaism 1.000
    1 A 11.080 0.000 was 1.000
    1 A 11.080 0.000 Taoism 1.000
    1 A 11.080 0.000 in 1.000
    1 A 11.080 0.000 disguise 1.000
    1 A 11.080 0.000 <s> 1.000

From left to right, the columns in the output data file contain:

- The channel ID (usually 1)
- A fixed field, A
- The start time of the recognized word in seconds
- The duration of the recognized word in seconds
- The recognized word
- The confidence value for the recognized word

This action returns a token. You can use the token to:

- Check the task status. See Check the Status of a Task.
- Retrieve the results. See Find Recommended Language Resources to Use in a Task. For an explanation of the results file, see Interpret the Results.

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