Video and Audio
For audio and video recordings, a text equivalent can be helpful for all learners. For audio, this can be in the form a transcript. For video, the text should be in the form of captions which are added to the video.
Important
When deaf or hard of hearing students are enrolled in your course, you will be notified in advance by Disability Support Services. DSS will assist you in obtaining professional captions. This must be done before you post the video to the course site.
How to create captions for video and audio
The best way to begin is to type a script before you begin recording. In addition many of the players and software have a caption feature which owners can use to type up accurate captions for their videos and audio recordings, using the automatically generated captions as a base transcript. Remember, the results must be edited because auto-generated transcripts are only about 70% accurate.
- Adding Captions in Zoom
- Adding Captions in YouTube
- Adding Captions in Echo 360
- Adding Captions in Microsoft Stream
Contact CTE for support or to learn how to create and correct your own transcripts.
Bad captions are worse than no captions
The auto generated captions on YouTube or other video players and software are not accurate. Auto-generated generated captions MUST BE corrected before use.
Did You Know?
Why captions are essential for communication access:
- Turning up the volume is not an effective means for ensuring that students have access to the content in videos.
- Many instructional videos are often designed so that examples and demonstrations are taking place over the narration or dialogue. Captions allow the text to be synchronized with the visual action, creating a congruent visual and text message for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.
- If you are creating your own lecture videos to post, it is essential that those videos are captioned when a student who is deaf or hard of hearing is enrolled.
Quality matters
- Captioning for access is more than just adding text of what is being said, it includes speaker identification and explanations of audible action on and off the screen.
- Quality captions which are accurately synchronized to the video are important for ensuring access, and the process takes time.
Audio Description
Use audio description for to make highly visual content accessible to blind or visually impaired participants.
Learn more about Captioning and Audio Description from WebAim.
- Descriptions provide information about the visual content in your video.
- Descriptions are used to explain highly visual content that is not gleaned from the narration and is central to understating the content.
If a blind student is enrolled and will need audio descriptions, you will be notified in advance. Descriptions may need be professionally produced depending on the complexity. Contact DSS for support and answers to your questions about audio description.