DO-IT - Video and Multimedia

The audio content of multimedia presentations is inaccessible to people who are unable to hear. If there is content presented auditorially, the accessibility solution is captioning that provides a synchronized text alternative to the audio track. For additional general information about captioning, see How do I make multimedia accessible?

Many educational entities produce large quantities of videos for their distance learning programs, outreach, marketing, and other functions. Also, a growing number of institutions are turning to multimedia as a means of enhancing their Web-based curricula. The cost of captioning all this video and multimedia content has many institutions concerned and exploring their possibilities. Many institutions are outsourcing on an as-needed basis, but must be careful to ensure they can receive the accessible media in a timely fashion. Often prompt turnaround requires additional cost. Other institutions are developing the expertise to provide captioning in-house.

Researchers continue to explore options for automating portions of the captioning process. Some educational entities and other organizations are using products or services that utilize some degree of automated captioning.

The best-case scenario would be fully automated captioning using speech recognition technology. Unfortunately, current technology is not accurate enough to fully support this approach. However, research and development toward this goal has been fueled by a rapidly growing market for video search and archival systems. In order to archive and index digital multimedia so that users can search its content, at least a portion of that content needs to be text-based. The first company to utilize speech recognition in this market was Virage®, whose VideoLogger™ application used speech recognition to capture text from a video, which it then used to build a structured searchable index. However, because of the accuracy limitations of speech recognition, this tool could not be used to generate entire caption tracks; it was used instead to extract sets of keywords, including only those words that the software can interpret with a high level of confidence.

The first step in captioning multimedia is creating a transcript of the audio content. Speech recognition technology has become a widely used tool for transcriptionists. In a process called shadow speaking, the transcriptionist (who has trained the speech recognition software to understand his or her speech) simply speaks along with the audio, repeating what the speaker is saying. Transcriptionists who are creating transcripts to be converted into captions will typically use an off-the-shelf speech recognition product such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

If a transcript already exists, products or services like CaptionSync™ by Automatic Sync Technologies can effectively use speech recognition to create captions from the existing transcript. This is possible, whereas fully automated captioning is not, because the speech recognition engine only needs to identify when a known word or phrase was spoken, which is a much easier task than identifying what what was spoken. CaptionSync is provided as a web-based service, where customers upload a video file and transcript, and within minutes receive a caption file via email.

For more information about what to consider when making a video that is accessible to all viewers view the video Making Videos Accessible.

How do I make multimedia accessible?

Terry — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 21:25:28 +0000

Date Updated:

03/06/13

Multimedia presentations can enrich education and enhance learning for many students, but it can also pose barriers for others. Audio and video are inaccessible to people who are unable to hear, and video is inaccessible to people who are unable to see critical information that is presented visually. Other students are impacted by low bandwidth Internet connections. Multimedia players can pose barriers as well if the player controls require use of a mouse or if they are not labeled sufficiently to be usable by screen reader users.

To address the needs of students who are unable to hear the audio, a transcript is an adequate accommodation for an audio recording or podcast. A transcript is also an important alternative to video for people with low bandwidth connections, as well as people who are unable to see or hear the content and who therefore would be unable to access captions (they can read the transcript using assistive technologies such as Braille output devices).

However, for most people who are unable to hear a video, a transcript does not provide an equivalent experience. The presentation's message is dependent on the simultaneous interaction between its audio and video portions. Even in simple lectures, much of the message is presented through the lecturer's nonverbal communication. For this reason, video should be captioned. Fortunately, it is very easy to create captions from a transcript. The transcript simply needs to be organized into short caption-sized segments (e.g., sentences or phrases) and timestamped. A wide variety of free tools are available that perform that function, including some that do it automatically (e.g., YouTube).

Captions can either be open (part of the video display, therefore always on) or closed (contained within a separate text track, synchronized with the video by the video player). Most media players, including web-based and standalone software players, support closed captions. However, some do not, so support for closed captions is a very important consideration when choosing which media player to use for delivering your content.

A variety of free tools have been developed that support the creation of transcripts and closed captions, motivated in part by YouTube's support for closed captions. The following is a list of some of these tools:

There are also several vendors that specialize in high volume captioning services for enterprise clients. Some of these vendors offer robust services including seamless integration with YouTube, iTunes, and lecture capture systems. Examples include:

Additional information about multimedia accessibility is provided in the following Knowledge Base articles:

Where can I find vendors who provide captioning services?

Lyla — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 21:25:05 +0000

Date Updated:

04/09/21

There are many vendors who provide a wide range of captioning services. One of the best resources for selecting a vendor is the U.S. Department of Education, which, in collaboration with the Described and Captioned Media Program administered by the National Association of the Deaf, officially approves captioning service vendors. Approved vendors are listed in the document Captioning Service Vendors.

What legal issues are associated with access to video products for students with sensory impairments?

Sherry — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 21:24:54 +0000

Date Updated:

09/29/22

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that public programs and services, including educational institutions and opportunities, be accessible to people with disabilities. For example, with captions, the content of a videotape shown in a course might be made accessible to a person who is deaf. If the product is not captioned, access to the content would need to be provided in another way, perhaps with a sign language interpreter. Similarly, if a person who is blind is enrolled in a course, the essential content that is presented visually could be spoken by the narrator, other speakers, or the instructor, or audio description could be provided as part of the product.

The Television Decoder Circuitry Act requires that all television sets with screens 13 inches or larger manufactured for sale in the United States must have built-in closed-caption decoders. This Act has made it possible for millions of people to display closed-captioned televised materials in their homes, workplaces, and schools.

Section 713 of the Telecommunication Act resulted in many changes in the broadcast and cable television industries. Among other things, it charged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to create mandates to increase the percentage of television programming that is captioned. It has published rules and set guidelines for increasing the number of captioned programs.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires that the federal government develop, procure, maintain, and use electronic and informational technology that is accessible to people with disabilities. In the 508 guidelines that were developed by the Access Board and became effective in 2001, all training and informational video productions that impart an agency's mission must contain captions for speech or other audio information necessary for the comprehension of the content, and critical visual content must be audio-described. Although the standards were developed for the federal government, additional legislation and voluntary compliance have extended their impact beyond federal agencies.

What are some guidelines for creating attractive and functional open or closed captions?

Sherry — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 21:24:54 +0000

Date Updated:

05/24/22

Captioning is usually considered when the video product is complete, if at all. Instead, the production should be filmed so that critical content does not appear where captioning will cover it (usually at the bottom of the screen). Captions should describe all of the visual content, including nonspeech noises. Suggestions for making attractive and functional captions include the following:

Use a consistent style to display captions.
Use one or two lines of text.
Use a sans serif font, such as Helvetica, and proportional spacing.
Caption the exact wording of speakers, including slang and grammatical errors. Occasionally, some edits may be necessary to facilitate reading speed.
Describe sound effects that contribute to the understanding of the content.
Use italics to indicate the narrator, off-screen voices, sound effects, and other vital information.
Synchronize captions with the aural content.
Do not often change the location of captions on the screen.
Consult language style guide and dictionary for standard conventions regarding numbers, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

This content and more information is from Creating Video and Multimedia Products That Are Accessible to People with Sensory Impairments.

Is there a way to add captions to a video that is already published?

Lyla — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 21:24:50 +0000

Date Updated:

04/09/21

Yes, captions can be added to a video presentation that has already been published to make it accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

The first step in adding captions to a video is to transcribe it, or obtain a transcript if one already exists. The second step is to synchronize the transcript with the video. There are various tools and techniques for doing this, depending on the media type.

For streaming media, each of the three most popular streaming video formats (Quicktime, Real Player, and Windows Media) support closed captions, and software is available for little or no cost to facilitate the entire process of adding captions. For additional information, see the DO-IT Knowledge Base articles, How do I make multimedia accessible? and What are some guidelines for creating attractive and functional open or closed captions?

Adding captions to analog video formats, such as VHS, is a more specialized process, and there are several service providers that do post-production captioning. For more information on locating vendors visit the DO-IT Knowledge Base article, Where can I find vendors who provide captioning services?

Creating Video and Multimedia Products That Are Accessible to People with Sensory Impairments

brianna — Wed, 09 Apr 2014 22:43:21 +0000

Creating_Video_Multimedia-Products-Accessible-Sensory-Impairments

By:

Sheryl Burgstahler, Ph.D.

And How Universal Design Features Benefit Everyone

DVDs, streaming video on the web, and films are engaging instructional tools. Everyone benefits from dynamic visual displays and dialog. Well, not everyone. Viewers who are deaf miss all audio content not also presented in a visual form. Those who are blind can access only the visual content also presented in spoken form. It is usually not difficult to make video and multimedia accessible to viewers with sensory impairments, but special considerations should be made at the design phase to ensure complete access to everyone.

Universal Design

It is also easier and less costly than providing accommodations to viewers with sensory impairments once they need to access the media.

Universal design is defined by the Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University as "the design of products and environments to be usable by all people to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design". At the Center, a group of architects, product designers, engineers, and environmental design researchers established a set of principles to guide the design of environments, communications, and products. The principles ensure that the design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities; the design communicates necessary information effectively, regardless of ambient conditions or the user's sensory abilities; the design can be used efficiently, comfortably, and with a minimum of fatigue; and appropriate size and space is provided for approach, reach, manipulation, and use regardless of user's body size, posture, or mobility.

When universal design principles are applied, products can be used by people with a variety of characteristics. Expensive options for making the content of an inaccessible product accessible to people with disabilities can be avoided.

Access for People who are Deaf

To experience watching a multimedia product without the ability to hear, turn off the volume during a video presentation. Some programs, such as sporting events, are fairly easy to follow by watching the visual display. Others, like news programs, make little sense without audio. To make this content accessible to those who are deaf, the producer could arrange for a sign language interpreter or text captioning to appear on the screen.

Captioning involves synchronizing text with audio content of a video presentation. It is more common than sign language because not all individuals who are deaf know sign language, there is no one standard version of sign language, and the intricate motions of sign language may be difficult to display clearly, especially when scientific or other highly specialized language is used.

Millions of people worldwide experience enough hearing loss to affect their ability to watch a television program at a standard volume level. Some people are born deaf or hard of hearing, some experience a hearing loss from an accident or illness, and many gradually lose their ability to hear. The elderly are the fastest growing group of individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. Captions on videos allow full accessibility to programs by family, friends, and fellow students.

Captions can also serve other viewers, such as for those for whom English is a second language. People with certain learning disabilities can also benefit from hearing and seeing the spoken word simultaneously. For those learning to read, captioning has educational value; some instructors use captioned videos with the sound turned off to teach people how to read. Captions also provide content access to people viewing videos in noisy settings or in situations when it is important to be quiet.

Captioning and Transcription

Off-line captioning is created after the video has been shot. The captioner types the captions, which are recorded on the video display. Captions typically appear on the screen as a group and erase as a group; they do not scroll. The captions are either "open" or "closed." Open captioning appears on the screen whenever the video is presented. It is particularly appropriate for products specifically designed for or about people with disabilities, (e.g., DO-IT videos). Closed captions are stored in Line 21 of the vertical blanking interval (VBI) between the frames of a television signal and appear when the television's built-in decoders are used.

Real-time captions are created while shooting takes place. They are most often used for live programs such as videoconferences and sporting events. Much like a courtroom reporter, a trained stenotypist enters spoken content by typing phonetic codes on a special keyboard that facilitates high-speed transcription. Computer software translates the phonetic codes into words that typically scroll across the bottom of the video image in a continuous motion.

To employ universal design, the production should be filmed so that critical visual content does not appear where captioning will cover it. For example, if you are shooting an ice skating event, make sure the feet of the skaters are not so close to the bottom of the screen that they will be covered with captioned text. Keep in mind that captions should provide content for all of the visual events that occur on the screen, including noises that are not the result of speaking (e.g., a dog barking may translate into the captioned text "Dog barks."). Suggestions for making attractive and functional captions include the following:

Use one or two lines of text.
Caption the exact wording of speakers, including slang and grammatical errors.
Only occasionally edit a few words to facilitate reading speed.
Caption sound effects that contribute to the understanding of the content.
Synchronize captions with the aural content.
Only occasionally change the location of captions on the screen.
Use a simple sans-serif font, such as Helvetica, and proportional spacing.
Ensure high contrast between the text and background.
Use both uppercase and lowercase letters.
Use italics to indicate the narrator, off-screen voices, sound effects, and other vital information presented aurally.

Transcription is word-for-word translation of audio content into a text file. Although an appropriate alternative for audio files, it is best for videos to use captions that are synchronized with the visual content.

Legislation and greater awareness of individual needs has resulted in increasing numbers of video presentations available with captions. Many educational materials and most children's and prime time television programs are closed captioned.

Resources

Center for Universal Design in Education (CUDE) Knowledge Base (enter search text "captioning")

Hearing Loss Association of America

Media Access Group at WGBH Caption Services

National Captioning Institute

National Court Reporters Association

National Center for Accessible Media

UDL on Campus

VITAC (Vital Access)

Access for People who are Blind

People who are blind cannot access the visual content of a video production unless the content is available in audio or tactile format as well. Awareness of this access issue during the design phase of a product's creation can result in speakers or narrators voicing enough of the content to allow a person who is blind to follow along. This is particularly important for educational programming and products used with large audiences where it is unknown to the presenter what visual impairments audience members may have. Producers can listen to their video product without viewing the screen to help determine how accessible it might be to a person who is blind.

Audio Description or (Visual Description)

After shooting and editing is complete, specially trained professionals can add audio content to the video soundtrack. When pauses occur in the original production, the speaker reads titles, names and describes scenery, objects, and other visual information for the viewer who cannot see. Credits and contact information at the end of the production can be voiced in the original production or added as an audio described feature. A talking menu on a DVD is another example of how a product can be designed to be fully operable by a person who is blind.

Most video producers use outside services for audio description. Because this additional audio content is not of value to other audiences and can be distracting, audio description is usually not included with the standard product but is provided as an optional format as an accommodation when requested by a viewer. Providing this option is particularly important for products used in educational programs at all levels.

Resources

Center for Universal Design in Education (CUDE) Knowledge Base (enter search text "audio description")

Descriptive Video Service

Audio Eyes

VITAC (Vital Access)

Examples of Accessible Videos

For examples of videos that are universally designed, explore the DO-IT streaming video collection. These videos are designed so that captions do not cover important visual content, and credits and reference information is spoken. For most videos, there is an audio-described version, a transcript, and a publication with more detail and references. The media player, developed by DO-IT, is also fully accessible to individuals with disabilities.

Legal issues

Consult "A Guide to Disability Rights Laws" for a summary of legislation that protetcts the rights of people with disabilities in the U.S. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 and its 2008 amendments requires that public programs and services be accessible to people with disabilities, unless doing so would result in an undue burden. For example, the content of a video shown in a college course might be made accessible to a student who is deaf by including captions. Similarly, if a blind student enrolled in the course, the essential content that is presented visually could be audio-described.

The Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990 requires that television sets with screens thirteen inches or larger manufactured for sale in the United States must have built-in closed caption decoders.

Section 713 of the Telecommunication Act of 1996 charged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to create mandates to increase the percentage of television programming that is captioned. It has published rules and set guidelines for gradually increasing the number of captioned programs.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires that the U.S. Federal Government develop, procure, maintain, and use electronic and information technology that is accessible to people with disabilities. In the Section 508 guidelines that were developed by the Access Board and became effective in 2001, all training and informational video productions that impart an agency's mission must contain captions for speech or other audio information necessary for the comprehension of the content. Also, critical visual content must be audio described. Although the standards were developed for the federal government, similar legislation and policies of states and organizations as well as voluntary compliance have extended their use beyond federal agencies.

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DO-IT - Video and Multimedia

Captioning Lecture Capture Videos: A Promising Teaching Practice

Captions: Improving Access to Postsecondary Education

Can captions be generated automatically using speech recognition?

How do I make multimedia accessible?

Where can I find vendors who provide captioning services?

What legal issues are associated with access to video products for students with sensory impairments?

What are some guidelines for creating attractive and functional open or closed captions?

Is there a way to add captions to a video that is already published?

Creating Video and Multimedia Products That Are Accessible to People with Sensory Impairments

Universal Design

Access for People who are Deaf

Captioning and Transcription

Resources

Access for People who are Blind

Audio Description or (Visual Description)

Resources

Examples of Accessible Videos

Legal issues

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