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[Editor's note: This article was written in 2004 and has since been archived. Some content may be outdated.]
[Editor's note: This article was written in 2002 before the author's death in August 2007 and before the Captioned Media Program became the Described and Captioned Media Program. To see the National Association of the Deaf's tribute to Dr. Bowe, please refer to the end of this article.]
[Editor's note: Ms. McCann wrote this article in 2002. For a recent biography of the author, please refer to the end of this post.]
Captioning is a vitally important way of making information available to people with a hearing loss. Another method of providing access that can also be used with captioning is assistive listening technology.
This conference was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, just two years after Captioned Films for the Deaf (CFD) was signed into federal law. Its goal was to review the background, brief history, and future plans of CFD. Speakers at the conference included Dr. Edmund B. Boatner and Dr. Clarence O'Connor, who were the founders of the CFD. The report also includes a list of participants, exhibits, and suggested topics for future discussions. Prepared by Patricia Cory, Librarian (Lexington School) and Conference Coordinator.
Printed in the American Annals of the Deaf in 1974, Dr. Malcolm J. Norwood's article reminds readers that the "lifestyle of modern society is technologically oriented." Dr. Norwood indicates that the "name of the game today is educational services," and that his role in the government's Media Services and Captioned Films branch includes research in technology related to the handicapped child. He writes of the upcoming development of Learning Resource Centers. He emphasizes that "the utilization of television as a means of bringing deaf persons further into the mainstream of the general population also has a top priority."
Written by Dr. Malcolm J. Norwood in 1980 for the First National Conference on Captioning at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. The author provides a captioning scale (for reading rate) employed at the time, and he details some of the early difficulties encountered in captioning films. Also explained is a method of captioning, utilized at the time for educational films, referred to as "syncapping," in which audio tracks are streamlined to match the captions.
Paper prepared for the Symposium on Research and Utilization of Educational Media for Teaching the Deaf, February 5-7, 1968, Lincoln, Nebraska. Written by Dr. John A. Gough, the first chief of the Captioned Films for the Deaf (CFD) program. Overviews CFD activity in: (a) the acquisition of projectors and screens for every classroom in the U.S.; (b) training of teachers in media utilization; (c) distribution of captioned media reaching an annual total population of 200,000-250,000; (d) research in media utilization to increase language; and (e) production of filmstrips, 8mm loop films, and transparencies.
An estimated 28 million deaf and hard of hearing Americans need access to television programming and daily activities now more than ever. How else would someone with hearing loss find out about the newest developments in a conflict overseas or a heightened terror alert? How would they participate in a town hall meeting or a religious service? For 90% of these Americans who don't know sign language, the answers are broadcast captioning and CART (Communication Access Real-time Translation).
The full dissertation submitted to the faculty of the graduate school at the University of Maryland in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy by Dr. Malcolm Norwood (the "Father of Closed Captioning") in 1976. The study investigates the effectiveness of communicating verbal information to deaf persons using two different modes of presentation: print (captions) and sign language (interpreter). Concludes that the educational level of deaf persons determines the amount of verbal information received, regardless of the mode of presentation used; but the greatest amount of information is transmitted by captions.
A telephone survey was conducted by Cindy Camp of Jacksonville State University in April 2004. Twenty captioning agencies were randomly selected from readily available information on several Web sites, and agency representatives were asked to respond to several questions. These questions included the pricing for captioning of a 30-minute video, turn-around time, additional fees or discounts, requirements for copyright permissions, if customer proofing/changes to the captioning were part of the pricing structure, and if the agency could provide Internet captioning.
John A. Gough, Director of Captioned Films for the Deaf invites groups of eight or more deaf persons to take advantage of this free-loan media program. A one-page paper that was written at a time when there was very little to no educational or special-interest films. From 1962.
This national survey conducted by Frank G. Bowe and Aviele Kaufman in 2002 focuses on 359 special educators from 45 states found that most perceive value in captioned media for some special education students, notably those who are English Language Learners and those classified as having specific learning disabilities. Results suggest that captioning technologies be explored in more depth, particularly since they are available to classroom teachers at the touch of a button.
Parenting a deaf or hard of hearing child was never simple, but rearing the child with a hearing loss today presents a dizzying array of choices, settings, communication methods, philosophies, and regulatory procedures.
