Learning Center

Captioning Key - Accessibility Vendors

The Described and Captioned Media Program maintains an online listing of captioning service vendors. Please complete the form below to add your company to the listing.

Captioning Key - Tools for Creating Captions

Captioning Key - YouTube

Google offers an “auto caption” feature for YouTube uploads by which text-to-speech software attempts to automatically generate captions from a video’s soundtrack. If you’d like slightly more control over the content of your captions, Google has also implemented “automatic caption timing.” To use this feature, simply transcribe all of the words found in your video, and upload it as you would your SRT (timed) caption file (see below). The same text-to-speech algorithms used for “auto caption” will synchronize your transcribed text for you, eliminating the need to worry about timecodes. (Check YouTube help for more about these automatic features.)However, the safest (and most accurate) bet would be to upload an SRT file with your video; once completed, this will enable a “CC” button on the video player interface and captioning will be turned on by default. YouTube has provided instructions for users interested in adding captions to their YouTube videos.

Captioning Key - Numbers

Experts don't always agree on rules for writing numbers or numerals. Captionists should follow a standard style manual, remembering to be consistent, or use this relatively detailed overview.

Captioning Key - Captioning Presentation Rate Research

This appendix is a research document which contains a conglomerate of studies related to both children and adults and how they view, read, and prefer captions. Initially, it seems to be common sense that verbatim captioning is the ideal, the mark of true equal access. However, it may be possible for spoken audio to be delivered so quickly that most people cannot read its verbatim captioning, which seems counter-productive to the goal of equal access.

Captioning Key - Speaker Identification

Establishing the identity of both onscreen and offscreen speakers is vital for clarity.

Captioning Key - Sound Effects and Music

Sound effects are sounds other than music, narration, or dialogue. They are captioned if it is necessary for the understanding and/or enjoyment of the media.

Captioning Key - Presentation Rate

A reoccurring question about captioning is whether captions should be verbatim or edited. Among the advocates for verbatim are organizations of deaf and hard of hearing persons who do not believe that their right for equal access to information and dialogue is served by any deletion or change of words. Supporters of edited captions include parents and teachers who call for the editing of captions on the grounds that the reading rates necessitated by verbatim captions can be so high that captions are almost impossible to follow.

Captioning Key - Language Mechanics

Use italics as follows:

Captioning Key - Elements of Quality Captioning

Captioning is the key to opening up a world of information for persons with hearing loss or literacy needs. There are more than 30 million Americans with some type of hearing loss. Millions of others are illiterate, learning to read, or use English as a second language.

Captioning Key - About the Key

The first captioning of films in America occurred in 1951, three decades before the advent of closed captioning on broadcast television. It was performed by Captioned Films for the Deaf (CFD), the ancestor of DCMP, which became federally funded in 1958. Guidelines were developed at CFD to assist teams of teachers and deaf persons who wrote captions for many years, first for films and then later for videos.

Captioning Key - Special Considerations

Captioning Key - Text

Mixed case characters are preferred for readability. However, capital letters are used for screaming or shouting.