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Vol. 5, No. 2 March/April 1997 |
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Captioning
by Michael Meyreles, ATP
New Castle County ATRC
Closed captioning is an important technology designed specifically for individuals with hearing impairments, yet many others can benefit from this technology as well. Closed captioning has applications in education of persons with reading or learning disabilities, persons who are illiterate, and individuals trying to learn English as a second language.
What is closed captioning and how does it work? Essentially, captions are subtitles, spoken words translated into written words allowing persons with hearing impairments access to what is being said on television. Captioning can be either open or closed. Both open captions and closed captions are encoded and inserted into the television signal. With open captioning, the captions always appear on the screen. Viewing closed captions is accomplished by selecting the closed caption option in the video portion of your television’s menu system or by using a telecaption decoder for televisions purchased prior to July, 1, 1993.
The Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990 is a federal law that requires new television sets to have built in caption decoder circuitry. The law took effect July 1, 1993 and since that date, television manufacturers must have caption decoder circuitry built in all sets larger than thirteen inches. Congress found among other things that:
- To the fullest extent made possible by technology, persons who are deaf or hard of hearing shall have equal access to the television medium.
- Closed captioned television can assist the Nation’s large immigrant population who are learning English as a second language.
- Closed captioned television can assist both hearing and hearing impaired children with reading and other learning skills and improve literacy skills among adults.
The educational value of reading captions is significant. The auditory output along with the written word appearing on the screen can only help to reinforce reading skills. Research studies have shown that captioned television provides a successful learning environment for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing and persons with special learning needs.[1]
The idea of a captioning system came about as a result of a failed project that was commissioned by the National Bureau of Standards and ABC-TV. In 1970, The National Bureau of Standards was investigating the possibility of transmitting digitally encoded time information embedded in the television signal. This concept failed but ABC thought captions could be sent instead. Ten years later in 1980, The National Captioning Institute (NCI) broadcast the first close captioned television series.
In 1982, NCI developed real time captioning. This process allows any live broadcast, such as the news or sporting events, to be captioned as they are being televised. Real time captioning uses court reporters, who can type up to 250 words per minute, giving viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing near instantaneous access to most live broadcasts. In 1980, NCI captioned a mere 832 hours worth of programming. Today, NCI captions more than 14,000 hours worth of programming yearly.[1] Most publications listing television programs, such as the TV Guide or newspapers, use the universal symbol for closed captioned, two capital C’s surrounded by a symbol of a television set, to indicate if a program is closed captioned or not.
Technology is now available that will enable persons to caption their own videos. Using software products such as CaptionWorks by Universal Learning Technology, captions can be placed directly on any video.
Captioning, an idea born out of failure, now benefits more that twenty-four million individuals[1] with severe hearing impairments as well as persons with learning disabilities. In a little over a decade, captioning has grown to a global communications service. For more information regarding captioning, please contact your local ATRC.
[1] National Captioning Institute, http://www.us.net/nci/
