If you regularly consume video content or watch broadcast television, you’re likely familiar with closed captioning. It might be tempting to assume that “closed captioning” is a catch-all term for every variety of on-screen text. However, closed captions are actually a specific style of video captions. As an alternative to closed captions, you can open caption your video content to make it more accessible to diverse audiences. When producing digital or broadcast media, it’s important for creators to carefully consider which style of captioning would best serve their viewers. Let’s discuss the key differences between open and closed captioning and explore some best practices for adding open captions to video content.
What does it mean to open caption?
Captioning, in general, refers to the process of converting audio into on-screen text that displays in sync with a video’s audio track. Captions typically appear within a video’s viewing window or on a TV or movie screen. However, in some public settings like movie theaters, users will receive and view a video’s captions on a separate captioning device.
The two primary styles of captioning are closed captioning and open captioning. The general function of these two captioning styles is the same. However, the delivery method differs slightly between them. When consuming video content, an audience member can enable or disable closed captions at will, usually via an on-screen menu option or [[CC]] button on a remote control.
Open captions, on the other hand, are permanently embedded into a video. Viewers can’t turn on and off this style of captions. For this reason, professionals often refer to open captions as “burned-in” or “baked-in” captions. Essentially, any time an audience member watches a video, they can view the open captions in their entirety without having the option to disable or pause them.
Benefits of open captions
Content creators can support the diverse needs of audience members by adding open captions to their videos. Those who are Deaf or hard of hearing tend to benefit significantly from the inclusion of accurate captions because captions can provide them with more equitable viewing experiences.
Creators can also use captions to boost accessibility for viewers with ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, auditory processing disorders and specific learning needs. In fact, adding captions to video content can boost comprehension, information retention and audience engagement for all viewers.
Additionally, captions can help creators and producers offer more equitable, engaging experiences to audience members consuming content in a non-native language. Sometimes, providing a visual representation of a video’s audio track can help non-native speakers engage more fully with the messaging. Some media hosting platforms even offer multi-language captioning options so viewers can access real-time, on-screen translations.
When should you open caption?
When setting out to create content, it’s essential to carefully consider whether open or closed captions would best serve the needs of your viewing audience. Creators often add closed captions to videos on media hosting platforms like YouTube and Vimeo. By taking this approach, creators allow users to decide whether to watch a video with the captions on. While on-screen captions may improve accessibility for some viewers, other viewers – including some with neurodivergent conditions – may find them distracting and prefer to hide the closed captions while watching a video.
In other contexts, however, open captions are the best choice for creators and producers looking to support diverse audiences. For example, many movie theaters periodically offer screenings of films with open captions included. This means that the captions will appear on-screen for the duration of the movie with no option for individual audience members to hide or disable them. These open-captioned screenings allow audience members who are Deaf or hard of hearing to experience a film without having to operate a separate captioning device simultaneously. Offering these captioned screenings is a great way to support customers with disabilities and provide more equitable viewing experiences to all.
Event producers can also use open captioning solutions to make live events more accessible. For example, producers can partner with professional captioning services to generate real-time captions during conferences or seminars and project them onto the venue’s jumbotron. Open captions can also be added to live streams of these events, so audience members tuning in virtually can fully and equally engage with speeches, lectures and other programming.
Using technology and tools to open caption content
Content creators and event producers would be well-advised to invest in professional-grade captioning solutions to maximize the value of their efforts. While it is technically possible for in-house employees to manually produce captions within video editing or media hosting platforms, this process tends to be incredibly labor-intensive. Furthermore, untrained professionals may make substantial errors, negatively impacting accessibility.
Some media hosting platforms and social media sites offer users the option of automatically generating captions for their video content. While these software offerings are convenient and efficient, it’s important to understand that auto-captions often fall short of the accuracy requirements outlined by modern accessibility standards. Auto-captioning tools rely on a form of AI known as automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology. This advanced software solution interprets audio information and uses advanced language learning models to convert the audio to text. While this technology is impressive and evolving, it often fails to fully grasp subtle nuances in human communication. ASR software may struggle to produce accurate captions if a recording features low-quality audio, multiple speakers, overlapping dialogue or varied dialects.
For this reason, many professionals prefer to partner with professional captioning and transcription services like Verbit for their captioning needs. Verbit’s approach combines the speed of AI technology with the expertise of professionally trained human transcribers to produce highly accurate captions and transcripts. With a platform that offers a number of seamless software integrations with popular media hosting and communication sites, Verbit’s partners can efficiently incorporate open captions into all their communications. Verbit also produces highly accurate live captions for in-person and virtual events, allowing professionals to offer more inclusive, engaging programming to all.
Challenges and considerations
Accuracy is perhaps the most important thing for business leaders to remember when investing in captioning solutions. Accessibility standards like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) set a high bar for the accuracy of video captions. To offer equitable viewing experiences to those with disabilities, it is critically important that captions are as accurate as possible.
Partnering with a professional captioning service is likely the best way to ensure your captions support these legal requirements and offer sufficiently accessible content experiences to all audience members. Professional captioning providers like Verbit understand the best practices for creating and formatting captions to provide comprehensive support for all viewers.
Best practices for open captions
In addition to prioritizing the accuracy of your open captions, it’s also important to properly time and format all captions to effectively support audience members. While closed captions often appear as white text encased in a black box, open captions may offer creators enhanced caption design options. Since individual viewers cannot turn open captions on and off, it’s particularly important to ensure they are well-formatted and don’t obstruct any visual elements or be overly distracting.
It’s also critical that all captions sync up properly with the video content. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how accurate your captions are if the timing is way off. Misaligned captions can contribute to confusion and negatively impact the viewing experience for caption users. Professional captioning services adhere to strict quality control standards to ensure that both the caption text and the corresponding time codes are as accurate as possible. As a result, professionally produced captions can help provide more streamlined messaging and reliable support for various media projects.
Partnering with professionals is the best way to support access
Proactively offering open captioning for video content and live events is a great way to support audience members of all backgrounds and abilities. Thanks to recent technological ad, it is easier than ever for creators and producers to support their communications with accurate open captions. As a result, it’s important to carefully weigh your captioning options and invest in the solution that best serves your community.
It’s hard to overstate the benefits of partnering with a professional captioning service like Verbit for your captioning needs. In addition to exceptionally high accuracy rates, Verbit offers seamless software integrations and automated workflows to streamline the captioning process and support diverse audiences. Verbit monitors future trends in accessibility, media and communications to develop tailor-made assistive technologies for professionals across every industry. Reach out today for more information on how Verbit’s open captions can help you offer more engaging, accessible experiences to all.