Closed captioning is the visual display of text, on an audio file or video transmitted vai a screen of one type or another. This is the most common format for closed captioning, and they can easily be seen by clicking on the CC symbol in the media platform menu. Closed captioning is often called subtitling, but there are some distinctive differences. Subtitling involves translating the audio into a different language, but closed captions are usually the same language as the original audio. On top of this, closed captioning is also very different to open captioning. It can be toggled on or off and they are burnt onto a video instead. In other words, you will not be able to turn them off.
Who Uses Closed Captioning?
If you are deaf or if you are hard of hearing, then closed captioning gives you the chance to have much greater access to content. It can be on the television, YouTube or even on Facebook. If you are not sure what all of these terms mean, then think about hearing loss being on a spectrum. Everyone is different and everyone has hearing loss to a greater or lesser degree. There are so many terms for deafness and ultimately, everyone has their preferred term. If you are able to hear properly then you should know that closed captioning does have its uses. They give you a level of access where there is an impediment to sound. It may also be that the sound is muted. This could be at a noisy bar, or when you are working out at the gym. There are some surprisingly funny reasons why people choose to use closed captions, or real-time captions as well. When most people want to add captions to their video, they invest in real time captioning software as this gives you the chance to add captions without having to hire someone to transcribe the audio for them.
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Closed Captions Aren’t Just for Television
There really are seemingly endless benefits to closed captioning. You aren’t limited to Facebook, the movies or even TV. Beyond this, there are so many other applications where closed captioning can be used. They can be used on company sites, in music theatres or even in the workplace. Captions are ideal if you want to be given a level of access to information throughout all areas of life. University captioning, or closed captioning when used in an educational facility provides a level of critical access to those who are hard of hearing. There are positive impacts to having captions on your lecture content though, and if you break this down then you will soon find that there is a tool suited to every student, whether they are taking notes, doing revision or even daily activities. Captioning is easily the best way for you to cater to a more diverse workplace or educational establishment.
How does it Work?
So many people don’t know how real-time captioning works. This is understandable, but it’s a very simple concept. Most of the time, an AI software processes the spoken word and then translates it into a written format. This is then attached to the video, or whatever content needs the transcription, and put in real-time.
