Multimedia Captions and Transcripts

For content that is both audible and visual - like a training video - captions should be provided. The captions and transcripts should provide both the spoken information as well as any sounds that are vital for understanding the content. Video transcripts should also include a description of the visual content that is important to understanding the content as a whole.

Captions and transcripts allow those who are hard of hearing or deaf to watch media presentations and understand the content. Captions provide the portion of the content that is available through an audio track. Captions will not only consist of dialogue, but also identify the speaker and include various non-spoken information including but not limited to meaningful sound effects – like “footsteps approaching, knock on door.”

Creating captions for time-sensitive material will be a struggle. The author will have to choose between waiting to release information until the captions are available, or publishing content that is not accessible for those with hearing disabilities for as long as it takes until the captions are available. Captions are not necessary when the synchronic media itself is an alternate presentation of content that is given through text on the web page.

The main benefit is that people who are deaf or hard of hearing will have access to the auditory information or content within the synchronic media through the captions that are provided.

Resources