speechio

中文

SpeechIO is a Python speech-to-text library. Transcribe audio files or connect a microphone to display text as you speak and receive a final result for each utterance.

Use local models or cloud services: local recognition reads an existing model directory and processes audio on your machine; cloud recognition sends audio to the selected service using your API key.

Features

• Transcribe audio files, PCM audio, and sequences of audio chunks.
• Capture microphone audio, detect speech and pauses, and return results by utterance.
• Receive live text through a callback while speaking.
• Use manual segmentation, wake words, and custom recognition engines.
• Try the Web example application and debug console to inspect results and API usage.

Currently supported:

Model	Runs on	File transcription	Text while speaking
Whisper	Your machine	Supported	Periodically transcribes accumulated audio to update the preview
Nemotron 3.5 ASR 0.6B	Your machine	Supported	Native streaming
qwen-audio-3.1-asr-flash	Alibaba Cloud Bailian	Short audio	Not supported; can transcribe after each utterance ends
qwen-audio-3.1-asr-flash-streaming	Alibaba Cloud Bailian	Short audio	Native streaming

The initial Bailian integration supports short audio and realtime recognition, not long-recording file jobs. Whole-audio calls accept up to 300 seconds; HTTP calls also have an encoded-size limit. Inputs exceeding these limits are rejected.

Install

Requires 64-bit Python 3.11–3.13.

pip install speechio

Install optional dependencies for the features you need. Each command also installs SpeechIO:

Use case	Command
Microphone input	python -m pip install "speechio[microphone]"
Bailian cloud recognition	python -m pip install "speechio[remote]"
Bailian with microphone input	python -m pip install "speechio[remote,microphone]"
Local Nemotron	python -m pip install "speechio[nemotron]"
OpenWakeWord wake words	python -m pip install "speechio[wake-openwakeword]"
Porcupine wake words	python -m pip install "speechio[wake-porcupine]"

These commands install the library and its dependencies. They do not download speech recognition models. For local recognition, prepare a model directory as shown below.

On Linux and macOS, prepare PortAudio before installing the microphone dependency. See the PyAudio installation instructions. Wake words also require the corresponding model files; Porcupine requires an AccessKey.

Quick start

This example uses Whisper base on the CPU to transcribe a local audio file.

Run the download code separately to save the model to a directory you choose. Skip this step if you already have a model directory compatible with faster-whisper.

from speechio.models import download_model

download_model(
    engine="whisper",
    model_id="base",
    destination="models/whisper-base",
)

Save your audio as speech.wav, then run:

from speechio import LocalModelConfig, transcribe_audio

config = LocalModelConfig(
    engine="whisper",
    model_path="models/whisper-base",
    device="cpu",
    compute_type="int8",
)

result = transcribe_audio("speech.wav", config=config, language="en")
print(result.text)

Relative paths are resolved from the directory where you run Python. Recognition only loads existing files from model_path; it does not download models automatically. Use language="en" for English or "zh" for Chinese. Omit it to leave the language unspecified.

Usage examples

Cloud transcription

Install the remote extra and set the DASHSCOPE_API_KEY environment variable to your Bailian API key. The code below reads that variable; the SDK does not automatically load .env files.

import os

from speechio import RemoteModelConfig, transcribe_audio

config = RemoteModelConfig(
    provider="bailian",
    model="qwen-audio-3.1-asr-flash",
    api_key=os.environ["DASHSCOPE_API_KEY"],
)

result = transcribe_audio("speech.wav", config=config, language="en")
print(result.text)

You can also pass a key obtained by your application directly through api_key. Calls send audio to Bailian and are billed according to your account and selected model.

Live microphone transcription

Install the microphone extra and prepare the model directory used in the quick start. Speak into the default microphone and press Ctrl+C to exit.

from speechio import LocalModelConfig, StreamTranscriber

config = LocalModelConfig(
    engine="whisper",
    model_path="models/whisper-base",
    device="cpu",
    compute_type="int8",
)

try:
    with StreamTranscriber(
        config=config,
        language="en",
        on_partial=lambda text: print("Live:", text),
    ) as stream:
        for result in stream:
            print("Final:", result.text)
except KeyboardInterrupt:
    pass

Text received by on_partial may change. The loop yields a final result for each utterance. The bundled Silero model detects speech and pauses; no separate detection-model download is needed. To select a microphone, use list_input_devices() to find its index and pass it as input_device.

Whisper updates previews while you speak and transcribes the complete audio when each utterance ends. Nemotron and Bailian streaming models use the streaming task's final result by default. Set completion_mode="final" to request an additional whole-audio transcription. Cloud retranscription adds requests and may incur additional charges.

For cloud microphone transcription, install remote,microphone, replace config with a RemoteModelConfig, and select qwen-audio-3.1-asr-flash-streaming. To stop recording and receive remaining results, call stream.end_input() and continue consuming the loop.

See the repository's examples for more use cases.

Web example application

The repository includes two pages: an example application for recording and file transcription, and a debug console for adjusting parameters, inspecting events, and viewing API examples. Both use the same core SDK. The Web application is not included in the installed SDK package.

Install uv and clone the repository. If you already have a checkout, use its root directory:

git clone https://github.com/anwen0724/speechio.git
cd speechio

On first use, copy apps/web/config.example.toml to apps/web/config.toml. If you already have a configuration file, edit it directly.

Set local model directories or fill in apikey for cloud models. Alternatively, copy apps/web/.env.example to apps/web/.env and fill in your key. The Web application checks credentials in this order: apikey in the configuration file, process environment variables, then apps/web/.env. Blank values are skipped.

uv run --group web python -m apps.web --enable-debug

• Example application: http://127.0.0.1:8767/
• Debug console: http://127.0.0.1:8767/debug

Press Ctrl+C in the server terminal to stop it. Omit --enable-debug if you do not need the debug console. The application listens only on localhost and runs one task at a time. Local configuration and credential files are covered by Git ignore rules.

License

SpeechIO is licensed under the MIT License. Copyright © 2026 anwen.

The bundled Silero model includes its license; see the model asset notes. Other models, dependencies, and cloud services are subject to their providers' licenses and terms.