Hello @FredS
Thanks for reaching out to us, according to the pricing document, it's per second billing, so please no worries about you will be billed for rounding up hours - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/pricing/details/cognitive-services/speech-services/
I hope this helps!
Regards,
Yutong
-Please kindly accept the answer and vote 'Yes' if you feel helpful to support the community, thanks a lot.