Speechmatics: sub‑250 ms captions

Speechmatics is pitching live captions that appear in under 250 milliseconds at the 2026 National Association of Broadcasters Show in Las Vegas. (nab26.mapyourshow.com) The company is listed at booth N1304 in the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Pavilion, and its own events page says it will be at the show from April 18 to April 22, 2026. (nab26.mapyourshow.com) (speechmatics.com) Live captioning systems turn speech into on-screen text while a person is still talking, and speed is the selling point because delays are visible on air. Speechmatics says its real-time speech-to-text is built for live captioning, subtitle generation, and searchable media archives. (speechmatics.com) (nab26.mapyourshow.com) The trade-off is accuracy. Speechmatics’ documentation says a 2.0-second delay is the recommended setting for captioning, while shorter delays of 0.7 to 1.5 seconds are aimed at faster-response uses and come with a small accuracy hit. (docs.speechmatics.com) Speechmatics says it uses “partial transcripts” for early text and “Low Latency Finals” to lock in more accurate words quickly. In a February 2026 post, the company said standard systems often wait through a fixed period of silence before treating words as final. (docs.speechmatics.com) (speechmatics.com) That makes the sub-250 millisecond claim notable in broadcast workflows, where caption lag can be the difference between text that feels live and text that trails the speaker. Speechmatics has previously framed latency as a balancing act between infrastructure delay and the extra time an engine needs to decide whether words will change. (speechmatics.com) Speechmatics says it supports more than 55 languages and sells speech tools into media, healthcare, contact centers, and enterprise software. The company’s 2026 exhibitor listing says media customers use it for real-time and batch transcription. (speechmatics.com) (nab26.mapyourshow.com) The immediate test will be whether the demo at National Association of Broadcasters Show can keep captions both fast and stable in a live production setting. That is the question every real-time caption system has to answer once the booth demo ends. (speechmatics.com) (docs.speechmatics.com)