A speech processing system divides a spoken audio stream into partial audio streams, referred to as “snippets.” The system may divide a portion of the audio stream into two snippets at a position at which the speaker performed an editing operation, such as pausing and then resuming recording, or rewinding and then resuming recording. The snippets may be transmitted sequentially to a consumer, such as an automatic speech recognizer or a playback device, as the snippets are generated. The consumer may process (e.g., recognize or play back) the snippets as they are received. The consumer may modify its output in response to editing operations reflected in the snippets. The consumer may process the audio stream while it is being created and transmitted even if the audio stream includes editing operations that invalidate previously-transmitted partial audio streams, thereby enabling shorter turnaround time between dictation and consumption of the complete audio stream.