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Teaching Essentials

Audio, Video and Digital Media

Recorded audio, video, animation, and digital and interactive media requires text alternatives to the audio content embedded within them. This applies to media used in LEARN and PowerPoint, and even to external media.

American Sign Language (ASL) – English interpretation of audio content is available for Deaf and hard of hearing students.

Captions

Captions are text versions of the audio that appear on screen in synch with the spoken word in video and animation. Captions should be used in all recoded media but are not required for audio.

Captions are required for people who cannot hear audio content. They also aid in greater understanding of the content for people who may not be fluent in the language and for those who prefer to read captioned text.

Techniques

Captions can either be closed or open. Closed captions (CC) can be turned off, where as, open captions are always visible.

Example

Introduction to Disability and Accessibility ›

Who depends on captions?

  • People who are Deaf and cannot hear the audio.
  • People who are hard of hearing and cannot hear some of the content.
  • People with cognitive and learning disabilities who need to see and hear the content to better understand it.

Transcripts

Transcripts are text documents based on the audio content embedded in media, including audio, video, animation and interactives.

Transcripts are required for people who are Deaf or heard of hearing. But they can be used by people who prefer to scan and read at a pace faster than the spoken word and benefit anyone who prefers to have readable and searchable text.

Techniques

Transcripts can be:

  • Included with the media
  • Made available for download
  • Linked to from the media to a another web page containing the transcript

Example

Who depends on transcripts?

  • People who are Deaf and cannot hear the audio.
  • People who are hard of hearing and cannot hear some of the content.
  • People who are blind who access text content on a refreshable (dynamic) Braille display, which converts text into Braille.
  • People who are Deafblind, who cannot hear or see, who access text content on a refreshable (dynamic) Braille display, which converts text into Braille.
  • People with cognitive and learning disabilities who need to see and hear the content to better understand it.

Generating Captions and Transcripts

YouTube

YouTube does an excellent job at providing auto-generated captions for video. You can also download the captioning file to edit and build your own text transcript.

Steps

  1. Upload a video YouTube. It will automatically build the captions.
  2. Download the captioning files
  3. Delete your video if plan not to host it on YouTube
  4. Review and edit the captioning file for any errors
  5. Upload the captioning file to your video on another platform
  6. Include the text from the captioning file as a text transcription

Resource

Caption builders

If you prefer to use a dedicated caption builder, these services are recommended by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium):

American Sign Language – English Interpreting

To ensure equal access for Deaf and hard of hearing students, an American Sign Language (ASL) – English interpreter will provide interpretation of audio content. Ideally instructors can provide videos ahead of time to ASL – English interpreters for interpretation. The interpretation would then be sent to Deaf students.

American Sign Language (ASL) – English Interpretation services

 Resources