> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://doc.rapida.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Azure Cognitive Services

> Azure Cognitive Services Speech-to-Text provides real-time and batch transcription in 100+ languages.

Azure Cognitive Services Speech provides cloud-based automatic speech recognition (ASR) built on Microsoft's neural network models. It supports real-time streaming transcription, diarization, and custom models — making it a strong choice for enterprise voice applications.

## Getting Started

Follow these steps to configure Azure Cognitive Services as your STT provider:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Add Azure credentials to your vault">
    Navigate to **Integration → Vault** in the Rapida dashboard. Add your Azure Subscription Key and the endpoint URL for your Speech resource. The IAM role must have the `Cognitive Services User` permission.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Select Azure as your STT provider">
    When configuring your assistant, open **Audio Settings** and choose **Azure Cognitive Services** as your Speech-to-Text provider.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose a language">
    Select the BCP-47 language code for your primary language (e.g. `en-US`, `es-ES`, `fr-FR`). Azure supports 100+ languages and locales.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Supported Models

| Model    | Description                                                 |
| -------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| `latest` | Microsoft's latest neural ASR model for the selected locale |
| Custom   | Custom Speech models trained on your own audio data         |

## Key Features

* **Real-time streaming**: Low-latency partial and final transcripts for live voice applications
* **Speaker diarization**: Identify and label individual speakers in a conversation
* **Custom Speech models**: Train on your own audio data to improve accuracy for domain-specific terms
* **Profanity filtering**: Mask or remove profane words from transcripts
* **Phrase lists**: Boost recognition accuracy for specific words or phrases
* **Content redaction**: Automatically redact PII from transcripts

## Supported Languages

Azure supports 100+ languages and locales including English (US, UK, AU, IN), Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified, Traditional), Korean, Hindi, and Arabic. See the [Azure documentation](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/ai-services/speech-service/language-support) for the full list.

## Configuration Options

| Option           | Description                                   |
| ---------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| Subscription key | Azure Cognitive Services authentication key   |
| Endpoint         | Azure Speech resource endpoint URL            |
| Region           | Azure region (e.g. `eastus`, `westeurope`)    |
| Language code    | BCP-47 locale code                            |
| Sample rate      | Audio input sample rate in Hz (8000 or 16000) |

## Notes

* For telephony use cases, set sample rate to 8000 Hz to match PSTN audio.
* Custom Speech models require training data upload via the Azure portal.
* Pricing is per audio hour. See [Azure Speech pricing](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/cognitive-services/speech-services/).

## Related

* [Azure Speech TTS](/integrations/tts/azure-speech-service)
* [Deepgram STT](/integrations/stt/deepgram)
* [AWS Transcribe STT](/integrations/stt/aws-transcribe)