The notion that we could turn speech in to searchable text in a useful way betrays the author&#x27;s knowledge of spoken communication. Very often it&#x27;s not the words that are the important bit. Unless the recording medium can add in &#x27;Person A shrugged&#x27; or &#x27;Person B replied &#x27;Yes&#x27; but was being sarcastic&#x27;, any system will be next to useless.