How Do You Make Live Streaming Broadcasts More Consumable?

How do you make live streaming broadcasts more consumable?

We recently partnered with Broadcast Pix, a leader in Live Production and Streaming, and our first collaboration is to make their broadcasts more easily consumable. What do we mean by that? It’s really quite simple…the goal is to make any Live Streaming production easy to understand, regardless of the viewer’s screen, current situation or environment and the way you do that is by adding live captions so no matter where you are you can view and understand what’s going on.

Captions are no longer just for the deaf and hearing impaired. In a 2022 survey of 1,200 people, language learning company, Preply determined that 50% of Americans used subtitles and closed captions the vast majority of time they watched video content. The survey pointed out three key reasons for this:

  1. It’s become harder and harder to understand dialog on the TV. 72% of respondents sited this as one of their main reasons for using captions. Why? Multiple reaons including modern TV’s have the speakers in the back instead of the front, the audio is designed for theatrical use but being streamed as compressed audio to the TV at less quality.
  2. It’s just harder to understand dialog, period. Talking too fast, muddled speech, speaking with an accent, loud background music, too many people talking at once, laugh tracks, sound effects, noisy environments whether you’re at home or out in public. Ever tried to watch a program with a bunch a seven year olds running about?
  3. The third reason has to do with age, devices and environments. The younger generations tend to use phones, tablets and laptops with smaller screens and they also tend to watch programming in more public environments like transit or restaurants but also noise averse engironments like libraries and offices where sound would be frowned upon.

I can think of a few more reasons why captions are important. Think English as a second language, speakers that mumble, speakers that talk too fast, poor acoustics, etc. So back to our collaboration with Broadcast Pix.

Broadcast Pix is integrating VoCaption, BroadStream’s automated live captioning solution directly into the various Broadcast Pix Live Production solutions. This will provde Broadcast Pix users with a seamless, very accurate solution for live captions on every production.

VoCaption uses the most accurate speech engine available today and is offered in over 40 languages and is suitable for use in commercial broadcasting, Government and Public Access, Religious and Educational institutions, and corporate broadcasting.

Want to see more. Join us at IBC 2023 in Amsterdam we’ll be at the RAI in Hall 2, Stand B11 providing live demonstrations of a Broadcast Pix FX Hybrid with VoCaption. You can also check our our other ASR solutions that include WincapsASR, Q-LiveASR and SubCaptioner.

VoCaption is also available integrated with OASYS Integrated Playout and will also be on display at IBC2o23.

NAB Show 2023 Recap

Our team had a great time at NAB2023!

This year, our team headed back to the NAB Show in Las Vegas to meet with customers, resellers, and partners to showcase our new line of ASR products as well as the new features recently added to OASYS Integrated Playout.

If you weren’t able to attend the event this year, here’s a quick recap of what our team demo’d on the showroom floor:

WincapsASR: WincapsASR is a file-based, on-premise captioning software that uses ASR technology to easily convert audio to text. When partnered with a professional caption editing software such as WincapsQ4, Wincaps can help broadcasters improve productivity by over 30%. Professional captioners no longer take on the role of both caption creation and editing. With WincapsASR, the ASR technology handles the caption creation so that humans edit and monitor for quality control. Features such as intelligent caption segmentation, custom dictionaries, and substitution lists also help to make the editing workflow easier. Media files stay on-premise or in a private cloud for full file security.

Q-LiveASR: Our newest, hybrid live captioning software seeks to take the pressure off of live captioners and make creating captions for live/news programming simpler and quicker. Q-LiveASR combines ASR technology with professional editing software in a system that can be easily installed on-premise or through a private cloud. Files are kept secure and users control ASR activation and selection. ASR takes the main active input while subtitlers take a break, buffer ASR to allow for quick corrections, and override ASR via manual or apology captioning if needed.

VoCaption Live: Our fully automated live captioning software, VoCaption, has been updated and improved to better support live captioning. With VoCaption, broadcasters can easily convert program audio to text with just the click of a button. Custom vocabulary tools, alternate word lists, and profanity filters help to improve accuracy. There are no scheduling issues and no need to pay for a full hour of labor when only a few minutes of captioning are needed.

Polistream: Polistream is known globally for being the most flexible captioning and subtitling encoder and transmission system on the market. By utilizing an array of software modules and internal cards we are able to create a subtitle transmission system that meets users exact requirements now and into the future. Our team is constantly updating the Polistream hardware and software to meet our customer’s changing needs.

OASYS Integrated Playout: Our new OASYS end-to-end compressed IP playout software was an important focus this year. Our team showed broadcasters around the world how OASYS can easily integrate into their system to help them run their channels more efficiently. With compressed end-to-end IP broadcasters can ensure that their station is set up to run smoothly into the future as their station and technology grows.

SubCaptioner Online Portal: SubCaptioner is an online transcription service that converts audio to text, automatically, for only $0.25/minute. At this price, users receive a TXT, WebVTT and a SRT file! Files are converted in just minutes by our innovative ASR technology that takes the manual labor out of creating transcriptions and captions. Create an account on subcaptioner.com to get started. Once you’ve uploaded your first media file, use the code NAB2023 to receive 50% off at checkout.

If you’re interested in scheduling an online demo with our team, visit our contact page.

Meet with us at Languages & The Media 2022

Our team is excited to be heading back to Languages & The Media 2022! We’ll be showcasing some of our newest ASR products as well as new features to our current captioning solutions at Booth #5.

We are excited to meet with everyone face-to-face and join the conversation about the latest advancements in subtitling. If you’re interested in scheduling a meeting with our team in Berlin, or if you’d like to hear more about our newest captioning and subtitling products, simply fill out the form below.

Languages & the Media 2022

Appointment Request

Please advise the topic for our meeting and indicate a few times you are available. Our team will contact you to firm up the details.

How Churches Can Become More Accessible

We can all agree that churches need to be accessible. After all, the messages they share each week were intended for everyone to hear. Over time, the conversation around accessibility has evolved so the way churches adapt to become more accessible should as well. It’s vital for churches to understand what this evolved definition of accessibility truly means. Then, it’s equally important for churches to evaluate how they spread their message and to understand if they are actually developing a welcoming environment that is accessible to all and, in not, where adjustments can be made to improve overall accessibility.

How accessibility in the church has evolved.

For a very long time, accessibility mainly referred to making sure someone had physical access to a space. This could be a ramp for the entrance of your building, an elevator to access different floors, or an empty space at the end of an aisle of chairs designated for a wheelchair. Most churches in America have taken the proper measures to ensure their buildings are physically accessible for individuals with disabilities to enter. However, have they taken the proper measures to make their digital and live content fully accessible? Can their messages be accessed by the deaf and hard-of-hearing community? Are their messages available to ESL (English as a second language) individuals? Can their messages be understood in loud, noisy, or public areas?

The topic of content accessibility, especially in churches, is being discussed at an exponentially higher rate post-pandemic. Without being able to meet inside a building, many churches went online and realized that, even if their content was already available digitally,  it was not easily accessible outside of ideal viewing / listening circumstances.

Each church’s strategy to create more accessible content will depend on where they’re located and what the needs of their specific community are. There is no perfect solution, but the idea here is that churches need to start making thoughtful and intentional changes towards accessibility.

Here’s an example: Spanish is the native language for 26% of Texas residents – roughly 7.25 million people. If you want to run a thriving church in Texas that is serving the local community well, there is a good chance you’ll need to make your content available in both English and Spanish. That’s why many churches in Texas have recruited staff members and created entirely separate services in Spanish. It’s one way to ensure that the message they are preaching is more accessible to their community.

These churches saw a need and they filled it.

So why have some churches not made their content more accessible to their community members? It could be because they think that making their content accessible will cost too much money. It could be that they don’t consider content accessibility to be a specific problem that affects their church community. The reason is definitely not that churches are against making their content accessible to a larger audience, but that they simply aren’t aware of affordable and simple ways to improve their content accessibility.

There are a variety of ways that are time and cost-effective for making church content more accessible. Let’s look at these options in more detail:

ASL Interpreters

The reality is that illiteracy among the deaf population occurs at a higher rate than among hearing individuals. Most children learn to read at a young age using phonics, an approach that teaches a child to match a sound with a corresponding visual syllable. While this does not stop most deaf children from learning to read, it does slow their learning progress compared to peers of the same age. If a church wants to find a way to serve their local deaf community, finding an ASL (American Sign Language) interpreter can prove to be very effective and shows a great deal of care toward that  group. ASL is the language of the deaf community, just like English is the language of the United States. Finding a way to share the Gospel in their native language is the best way for your church to reach this community. For more resources you can check out Deaf Missions, a non-profit dedicated to sharing Gospel-centered content in ASL. A great example of a church already modeling this well is Brentwood Baptist in Tennessee (AKA – The Deaf Church).

Pros:

  • ASL is a more commonly used language and most communities might have someone willing to volunteer to sign the services for a church
  • 97% of deaf people are unchurched, proactively adding ASL interpretation to your church is a great way to reach a part of your community most likely not hearing the Gospel anywhere currently

Cons:

  • While ASL is becoming more common, finding someone who is proficient enough in sign could come at a price for a church if a volunteer is not readily available

Online Captions / Subtitles

This is something that a lot of churches that stream online probably feel like they have covered. If you stream to Youtube or Facebook, they can provide automated captions for you. Unfortunately, these captions fall short of being accurate enough to be useful to anyone who needs them. Youtube only boasts an average of 60-70% accuracy on their captions which is low compared to the average of 95% accuracy that our software, SubCaptioner, can produce.

Captions also increase engagement and focus among all viewers, not just those who have a direct need for them. A recent study shows that viewers 18-25 were 4x more likely to watch a program if it was captioned or had subtitles. 

Lastly, an incredibly useful thing about providing your own caption file, instead of relying on automated captions that are generated, is the SEO benefit. If you just use the automated captions that are generated, they don’t help your video get placed in front of users when searching for content like yours. When you upload your own file, YouTube can use that text to help boost your video when someone searches for the topics you are covering.

Pros:

  • Caption files can be an inexpensive way to make sure your digital content is accessible
  • Captions can help everyone focus on your message and retain the information longer
  • Captions can increase SEO

Cons:

  • Using a free option to provide captions reduces accuracy and usefulness of the captions being generated

Live Sermon Captions

This may be the option that churches are least familiar with and yet, it is probably the one they could benefit from the most. In-person church attendance has declined since churches returned to meeting together post-Covid. People have become comfortable with the idea of “attending church” in their homes. Can you blame them? They can control the volume, the temperature, stay in their pajamas, and most streams can provide captions making the content easier to digest. Some studies suggest that church capacity is only back to around 67% from what it was in 2019. While we can agree that we are not just interested in getting our numbers up when it comes to church attendance, there are benefits to attending live services that watching online just cannot provide. Live captions are a way to bridge that gap and meet people where they are while encouraging them to return to service.

Live closed captioning software helps churches to include captions with their sermons to help their congregation better understand and retain the message. Software like this is available at affordable prices and especially tailored to meet church’s unique needs. VoCaption is a great software tool that can be quickly integrated into a church’s production flow. It also requires little training for staff members. VoCaption adds captions to your church’s screens with the click of a button. While the preacher speaks, the software quickly and accurately converts their speech to text to create captions for your congregation to see. 

Do you need help improving the accessibility of your church sermons?

We would love to help! Contact our team to discuss the best ways to make your sermons and online content more accessible.  Adding captions to your in-person and online services is an easy way to proactively love your community and serve them well. Let’s discuss the best way to integrate captioning and subtitling softwares into your church with ease.

Watch our webinar about how churches have adapted after the COVID-19 pandemic to online services and content by following the link below.

 

How To Learn Spanish With Subtitles

Learn a second language with subtitles

Can you improve your language learning skills by simply turning on subtitles?

Subtitles offer many benefits to individuals who are learning a new language and teachers who are teaching a foreign language. While some individuals may use subtitles as their main method of language learning, subtitles are typically used as a way to reinforce what may have already been taught in the classroom.

How can subtitles help to reinforce language learning for students?

With subtitles, students can read what they hear which improves their reading and listening comprehension while also building their phonetic understanding. Studies show that for students who are learning English, for example, it is beneficial to add English subtitles to English language videos in order to build greater phonetic understanding of the language. Students who watch the video with subtitles in their native language don’t show the same improvements in phonetic understanding as those who used English subtitles.

Subtitles also help to improve student’s word recognition and grammar skills. Reading the words that are spoken and seeing the sentence structures helps to visually reinforce what students may have already learned in the classroom. Students can also pause the program to see the grammatical structure of a sentence and recall for themselves verb conjugations and grammatical rules.

When you compare studying flash cards to watching a program with foreign subtitles, the foreign subtitles provide much greater benefits to language learning. Subtitles provide more “real life” language learning experience for students while also engaging them more which can improve their retention of new words and grammatical rules.

How language teachers can use subtitles to help their students:

Language teachers can easily and affordably add subtitles to the videos they create for their students. BroadStream Solutions provides closed captioning and translated subtitling services for teachers to help them provide their students with the best learning experience possible. Pricing starts at only $0.25/minute for same-language closed captioning and $1.67/minute for translated subtitles! Learn more here or send us a message to speak directly with our team.

Tips for learning a new language with the help of subtitles:

  • Keep the videos short. Shorter, entertaining videos will keep your attention and better motivate you to study the words and grammar used. Even though longer videos or movies will provide great learning material, it can feel daunting to sit down and absorb that amount of a new language.
  • Start with videos or a tv series you’ve already watched and loved! You’re more likely to follow along with the foreign language if you’ve already memorized the plot, and if you love the show you’re more likely to stay engaged with the subtitles.
  • For beginners, keep things simple. Put the audio on in your native language and the subtitles in the language you’re learning. This way you can connect what you hear to what you’re reading. Once you feel confident enough, switch the audio over the foreign language as well so you can hear what you read and work on phonetic understanding.
  • Repeat, repeat, repeat. Unfortunately, you can’t just watch one video with subtitles and feel like you finally understand a new language. Learning a new language takes time, and you need to create a habit of watching videos or Netflix series in a foreign language to start to see the benefits over time. Don’t get discouraged if it takes you a while! Keep immersing yourself in reading and listening to the language and over time you’ll come to understand.

Learn about our closed captioning and subtitling services that allow video creators to easily and affordably add captions to their videos! BroadStream Solutions uses advanced ASR technology to create accurate captions that are then edited and quality controlled by professional translators. That way, our captions are highly accurate with fast turnaround times and affordable prices. Help your students make the most out of your language learning videos and add subtitles today!

Why YouTubers need to add captions to their channel.

Benefits of adding captions to your YouTube channel

YouTubers understand the need to create high-quality, engaging videos for their viewers. As a YouTuber, you spend hours coming up with ideas for new content, investing in the resources to create your content, and recording and re-recording to make sure everything is perfect…This is no easy task, and takes more time than people realize.

So what can you do to further optimize your content for search and ensure that it gets in front of your target audience?

One simple way to optimize your YouTube channel is to add proper captions to every video you publish. Read on…

How captions optimize your YouTube channel

YouTube is the #2 search engine in the world. People use YouTube to search for answers to their burning questions, to see “how-to” do something, to learn new skills or hobbies, or to simply just pass the time with entertaining content.

Google uses a special algorithm for YouTube to ensure that when individuals search for various topics, they receive the best results. How does YouTube’s algorithm work? It prioritizes relevance, engagement, and quality when creating the results for a search. Videos with the highest score in these three categories appear at the top of the search results list.

So what can YouTubers do to get the best rankings in these three categories? For starters, they need to create high-quality content with clear audio and good lighting. It’s also important to check the title, tags, and description of the video to make sure it contains relevant keywords for the subject. For a bigger impact on search and relavence, don’t use the free captions option within YouTube…it’s not searchable text. More on this later.

The absolute best way to improve relevance, engagement, and quality scores for videos on YouTube is to include professional captions! Captions and text transcripts allow Google to more easily crawl (read) everything that is said during your video to better analyze your content’s keywords and subject matter. Captions also expand your potential audience and help viewers engage with more of your content, improves your video’s scores, increases your number of views, and helps you to make more revenue per video.

Let’s talk more detail about how captions affect your YouTube videos:

  1. Captions create a wider audience for your videos. Approximately 15% of American adults aged 18 and over report some trouble hearing, which is a large audience that can benefit from added captions to videos. More people visiting your channel and being able to watch your videos in their entirety thanks to subtitles means higher relevance, engagement, and quality scores.
  2. Studies show that over 50% of people use captions on videos. These individuals are more likely to click away from a video or engage less with videos that do not include accurate captions. Remember that not everyone who uses captions are “hard of hearing”. Many individuals use captions to allow them to watch videos with the sound lowered or muted if they are in a public place. Others use captions simply because they enjoy the added clarification of what’s being said on screen.
  3. Captions improve your keyword density, thus improving your search rankings. Caption files (.srt files) are added to videos in text format, so all of the text is used by the search engine to place your videos high on the list when someone searches not only your key words but relevant words in your .srt or caption file. The higher your keyword density, the higher your SEO optimization will be and the more people will be exposed to your content.
  4. Translated subtitles help your videos to rank in different languages. It’s reported that over 60% of video views on YouTube come from non-English speakers. If your videos are in English with no foreign language subtitles, you’re missing out on more than half of everyone using YouTube! Adding foreign language subtitles to your videos means that you now have keywords in foreign languages, boosting your search results in those languages as well.

“So why can’t I just use YouTube automated captions?”

Simply put…because Google doesn’t crawl them! YouTube’s automated captions are not used by search engines to determine your video’s keywords and boost your SEO scores. These automated captions are not helping to improve your search rankings or put your video high on the list when your audience searches for the topic. They also aren’t helping to boost your engagement scores which in turn boost your rankings in search results.

Yes, YouTube automated captions are a free and easy option to add captions to your video, but they aren’t adding any benefit to your channel’s overall performance or growth. Want to grow your channel(s)? Take the step toward professional captions.

How YouTubers Can Add Professional Captions To Their Videos

Adding captions to your YouTube videos is easier and more affordable than you think. You can add captions to your videos by using BroadStream’s closed captioning services! Our team uses the most innovative ASR (automated speech recognition) technology alongside professional translators to create accurate and affordable caption files for video content creators.

For only $0.25/minute, You can add a same language caption file to your video. For $1.67/minute, you can add a translated subtitle file. Accurate captions at affordable prices – to help You improve your channel’s performance and accessibility with every video you caption.

To learn more about our captioning services, visit our page or contact us.

NEW English-to-Spanish Subtitle Translation Services

We’re excited to introduce our new English-to-Spanish translation service to provide Spanish subtitle translations for your video content.

Our Spanish captioning service translates English captions to Spanish with high-accuracy and fast turnaround times, starting at just $1.67 per minute. Get a free quote today to get started!

Our English to Spanish Subtitling Services:

Using the most advanced ASR technology combined with professional translators, our team creates highly accurate Spanish subtitles for English videos. Our solution uses both ASR technology and professional translator/editors to improve efficiency, maintain high accuracy and keep prices low.

For just $1.67 per minute of video content, you’ll receive a Spanish caption file AND a Spanish transcript file. Other companies charge extra for a translated transcript file, but we don’t. We give you the transcription file and the caption file for only $1.67 per minute.

To get Spanish subtitles for your English video content:

Complete the form below. Indicate how much content you have and we’ll provide an accurate quote and turnaround estimate.

FILL OUT THE FORM HERE

Once you receive your quote, you’ll be prompted to make a payment and upload your files. Our team will begin translating your files right away and send them back to you along with a translated transcription file for each video.

Learn more about our English-Spanish subtitle translation services, as well as our other captioning and subtitling services here:

Interested in our other captioning solutions?

Captioning Solutions for Broadcasters:

For over 60 years, we’ve been providing captioning and subtitling solutions for broadcasters to help improve their workflow. Check out our VoCaption Live software to add live captions to your live broadcasts. Our WinCaps software is another great captioning solution for broadcasters to help them edit and create captions for their programs as well add live captions when combined with respeakers.

Captioning Solutions for Freelancers:

Freelance captioners all of the world use our WinCaps software to easily create and edit captions. We’ve developed multiple versions of WinCaps, such as WinCaps Q4, Poliscript, and WinCaps for Academic Institutions to provide the perfect solution for each industry.

Contact our team directly to learn more about our captioning and subtitling solutions.

Do company training videos have to be captioned?

Many companies use video to provide training to their employees. Topics range from new employee on-boarding to workplace conduct and safety procedures. Video can also be used for continuous training to ensure that employees are up-to-date on the latest policies and procedures as well as product and service related information needed for customer interactions.

Using video for training is a great way to educate employees when a live trainer is not available or needed to cover basic information. To make sure your video content is understood and retained it’s important to make sure the each video includes accurate captions.

Do you legally have to caption training videos?

Yes. According to ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). Private companies must caption videos, including training videos, video tutorials, and videos used for internal communications to be in compliance with ADA standards.

Specifically, Title I and Title II of the ADA prohibit employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of a disability. This includes job training and providing any necessary aids to ensure equal access to information for all individuals.

Providing captions for all internal videos is one way to ensure your company is compliant.

Failure to comply with ADA regulations could lead to un-neccesary lawsuits. Take FedEx as an example. FedEx was sued by the EEOC in 2014 for failing to provide “closed-captioned training videos during the mandatory initial tour of the facilities and new-hire orientation for deaf and hard-of-hearing applicants”. (https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/eeoc-sues-fedex-ground-package-system-inc-nationwide-disability-discrimination)

So how can your business ensure you are following ADA regulations?

To start, make sure any company videos include accurate closed captioning. If you have any videos that do not include captions, we can help!

Fill out the form to get a quote for captioning your video content and send us your files. Using advanced ASR technology, our team will create accurate closed captioning files for your videos with fast turnaround times.

Using our captioning service, we create highly accurate captions for your training and informational videos for $0.25 per minute of content.

To make your company videos even more inclusive, consider adding translated subtitles. Adding Spanish captioning is a great way to ensure that all employees, especially those who speak English as a second language, are able to fully retain company information and training guidelines.

Translated subtitles for your company videos is done using a combination of our ASR technology and professional human translators. This way, we are able to provide you with Spanish video subtitles that are both accurate and affordable, starting an unbeatable price of $1.67 per minute. To learn more about how you can add Spanish subtitles to your training videos, visit our subtitling page.

What is ‘Respeaking’?

Respeaking is a common method used to create captions and subtitles in many countries…but what does it mean?

Respeaking is done by a professional “respeaker” to create captions or subtitles for live and pre-recorded programming. The respeaker listens to the program’s audio and repeats what is said into a special microphone (a.k.a speech silencer), being sure to add punctuation and labels to identify speakers and sounds. Speech recognition software is used to convert the speech to text that is used to create a subtitle file for the program. The speech silencer used by the respeaker helps to improve the accuracy of the captions by removing any background noise and confusing sounds.

This method of respeaking requires the use of highly trained professionals who speak clearly, quickly and accurately. Respeakers, or speech-to-text reporters, must listen to the audio, respeak the audio quickly and accurately, and then check the output to make any necessary corrections. All of this must be done quickly, especially for live programming where the captions must appear in time with the live audio.

Due to the vocal strain from respeaking, respeakers are only advised to do 15-minute stints at a time. For live programming, broadcasters must have a team of respeakers ready to rotate throughout the program to ensure that the subtitle accuracy doesn’t decline as the respeaker’s voice becomes strained.

ASR Technology & Respeaking

Advanced Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) technology is quickly becoming an innovative partner to the process of respeaking. ASR technology, when combined with the method of respeaking, helps to improve productivity and the speed in which captions can be created.

Many broadcasters today use a combined ASR-Respeaker method of creating captions in order to ensure that they are fully utilizing their respeaker’s time. Respeakers can work faster and caption more content when using ASR technology as a supplemental tool. This change in workflow improves overall productivity as content producers are able to extend their re-speakers to more projects and use ASR technology as a supplemental tool to speed-up certain tasks or take over when a respeaker needs a break.

Our team works together with broadcasters to help them combine our advanced ASR technology, such as WinCaps or VoCaption Live, with their current method of respeaking to achieve higher productivity levels.

If you’re interested in learning more about our captioning and subtitling software and solutions and how they can benefit your operation, learn more here or contact our team directly. 

FCC vs. ADA Caption Requirements

Are your videos in compliance with FCC and ADA requirements?

Both the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) strive to protect and assist individuals with disabilities. This includes individuals who are hard-of-hearing and their rights to have full access to video programming. To ensure access to video programming, the FCC and ADA have set standards and requirements for closed captioning on live and pre-recorded programming.

Does your programming meet their standards and requirements?

Let’s find out:

FCC Requirements for closed captioning on television –

FCC rules apply to all television programming with captions. The organization states that captions must be accurate, synchronous, complete, and properly placed.

  • The program’s captions must match the spoken words while also displaying the background noises in an accurate manner.
  • Captions must be synced with the audio of the programming. Text must coincide with the spoken words and sounds at the same time and speed.
  • Captions must be included from the beginning of the programming to the end of the programming.
  • Captions should not block any important visuals on the screen, overlap causing difficulty in reading, or run off the screen.
  • It’s important to note that these rules also apply to internet video programming if the “video programming was broadcast on television in the U.S. with captions.”

ADA Compliance Laws for Closed Captioning –

The ADA closed captioning guidelines are targeted towards government institutions, public schools and universities, as well as businesses and non-profit organizations that serve the public. The closed captioning requirements for both television and online internet video content are designed to ensure that captions are being created correctly.

  • Each caption should hold 1-3 lines of text onscreen at a time, and should not exceed 3 lines.
  • Captions should have an accuracy of 99%.
  • The captioning font should be similar to Helvetica
  • Background noises, or non-speech sounds, should be added in square brackets.
  • Punctuation and both lower and upper case letters should be used
  • Captions should reflect slang words used in the audio

You can find more information about the ADA’s captioning regulations from their website linked here.

Are there any exclusions?

It’s important to understand that captioning rules only apply to videos that have been aired on television. If content has never been aired on television, then these rules do not apply. However, although not legally required to have accurate captioning, these videos should still include accurate captions. Why? Because video with captions reach a much wider audience. Videos with accurate captions help individuals who are deaf or experience hearing loss to still enjoy the content. Captions allow individuals who are only able to watch the content with the sound off to still enjoy the video. Captions improve retention rates for videos filled with important information, and deliver a better viewing experience.

Are you following FCC and ADA guidelines? If not, a complaint could be filed against you and legal actions may be taken.

Be safe, avoid potential and unnecessary legal problems by captioning your videos with accurate and correctly placed captions.

To learn more about captioning software that complies with FCC and ADA guidelines, visit our Subtitling & Captioning Page.