Responsive Audio-Video For Deaf and hearing-Impaired Persons
Traditional Captions
Traditional Captions
[Author: Bill Fischer]
Overview
Universal Responsive Media is Based in Progressive Enhancement
An equal quality of experience for sight, hearing, physically, and cognitively impaired persons is the goal of responsive media. At the baseline of the progression is text. Then, multi-sensory enhancements are added for those persons that have the physical abilities to engage with them. Research has shown that captions, improve learning and retention for all sensory abilities (Video captions benefit everyone by Morton Ann Gernsbacher (external link)
Traditional Captions
are the most common accessibility feature in film and video for the deaf and hearing-impaired. It typically utilizes added text at the bottom of the screen, to provide a description of the dialogue and/or narration. This method attempts to 'fix' video and film that was not initially designed for blind and sight-impaired persons. They interrupt the flow of the action, leave little time for an accurate description, and stigmatize disabled persons in group viewings due to the employment of an obvious ‘fix’. However, traditional captions are far better than no captions.
Integrated Captions
These eliminate the need for added captions which are typically hurried and interrupt the natural flow of the video, animation, or film. This I-See-U specific approach aims to create an experience that sight, hearing, and cognitively impaired persons can organically experience together. One that is optimized to provide a quality experience for all, at the same time, in the same place. They're designed for accessibility from the start, they flow with the action, they're integrated and make time for viewers to both read the captions and watch the action. Their organic integrations eliminate the stigmatization that blind and sight impaired persons can experience when watching with sighted persons. Read more about Integrated Captions here.
Traditional Captioning for the hearing-Impaired
Captioning is an add-on to videos that have not been optimized for sight-impaired persons. It is a 'fix'. In most cases, the viewer is tasked to continuously decide whether to watch the action or read the captions because the video timing has not been set to allow for both. Alternatively, the viewer may stop the video to have time to read the captions without missing the action. But, that does not facilitate watching along with hearing persons and breaks the flow of the video as intended by the producer. It is a separate and unequal experience.
The FCC requires 99% accuracy for all television programs. This standard has become the unofficial, defacto target for videos delivered on all platforms
Optimizing video Timing for Captioning
It's often difficult or impossible to read captions and watch the action in a video simultaneously. When this is the case, we are forced to choose one or the other. Or, frequently pause the video. This could be partly be avoided by alternating dialogue/narration with action. This way, the viewer will have time to read the captions, then watch the action, then read the captions, then watch the action, and so on.
Layout For Captioning
The image below defines the area in a video that should be free of important information because it may be covered by the captions. The rule is to keep important content above 280 pixels from the bottom.
Closed Captions (CC) and Open Captions (OC)
Captions can be closed (off by default) or open (on by default). Most streaming services deliver closed captioning by default. Deaf and hearing impaired persons will need to turn them on.
When using YouTube, the captions can be edited and re-timed then downloaded for off-line use if desired.
Caption Writing Guide
Decide if you will be using verbatim (every "um", etc.) or clean (without the "um"s, etc.).
Speakers should be identified by name when it is important to to the narrative. Be consistent when identifying speakers.
Sync the captions to the video.
Ensure the captions are visible long enough to read at a moderate pace whenever possible.
Note important non-voice audio such as sound effects, foley, environment and music. These can disappear after a few seconds
Use adjectives to characterize an action as needed (such as: laughing sarcastically vs. laughing knowingly vs. laughing to themselves).
Use a san-serif font
Aim for 99% accuracy in spelling. punctuation, and grammar. No paraphrasing is allowed.
Limit one to two lines per caption frame, with no more than 32 characters per line.
Traditional Captions YouTube Example
This Video for 'The Diatribe' was created as part of The Epic Project. It's an example of how captions look and function on YouTube.
Youtube Caption Options
This screen capture shows the options that viewers have for optimizing their captions. These are typical for an accessible media player and include:
Font family
Font color
Background color
Background opacity
Window color
Window opacity
Character edge style
Font opacity
