Captions are the text of spoken words time-synchronized with video or a live speaker. They allow viewers to see the words and are used by people who are Deaf & Hard of Hearing. Many students also use captioning as a learning aid. Captions should include relevant sound effects, identify the speaker, and describe other non-speech elements (e.g. people dancing).

Auto Captioning

Auto captioning uses automatic speech recognition to display captions. This captioning type should only be used as a learning aid. It is not fully accessible for Deaf & Hard of Hearing people due to inaccuracies, poor punctuation, and not referencing non-speech elements. 

Closed Captions

Closed captions (CC) are included in videos. They can be enabled or disabled. Enabling CC at all times is a universal design practice and makes the video fully accessible for Deaf & Hard of Hearing people.

Open Captions

Open captions serve the same function as CC but cannot be disabled. 

Real-Time Captioning

Communication Access Real-Time Translation (CART) provides captions live and in real time. It utilizes a professionally trained expert that transcribes audio content as it is being stated. The captions are transmitted to a Deaf or Hard of Hearing person.

What are Transcripts?

Transcription is the process in which speech or audio is converted into a written, plain-text document.

What are Subtitles?

Subtitles translate spoken audio into the viewer’s language. In most cases, subtitles are not fully accessible for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers because they do not include non-speech sounds that provide an equivalent viewing experience for people who cannot hear.

Cascade users must ensure that any posted video is captioned. Videos can be captioned using a number of tools, including Amara and YouTube. However, keep in mind that YouTube's automatic closed-captioning tool is only a starting point. Once YouTube has processed automatic captioning, the captions will need to be edited.  See YouTube Videos below for more information. 

If you have further questions about website accessibility within the Cascade CMS, please contact any member of the UCM web team at webmaster@miamioh.edu. The AccessMU Center can provide consultation and training to make your materials accessible.

How to Check YouTube Videos for Auto-Generated or Human-Generated Captions

• Turn captions off/on and look to see what is designated in the upper left corner.
  

Alternatively, open the setting and see which caption track is selected. Auto-generated tracks will say "English (auto-generated)" and will typically lack punctuation and capitalization.

Adding/Editing Captions on YouTube

Use the YouTube Captions Editor

1. Go to your Video Manager
2. Next to the video you want to edit captions for, click Edit > Subtitles and CC
3. Click on the caption track you want to edit
4. Select a specific line in the caption track panel
5. On your keyboard, press the up or down arrow to adjust the timing
6. On your keyboard, press the left or right arrow to change the duration
7. Click Save changes

Download & Edit Caption Files

1. Go to your Video Manager
2. Next to the video you want to edit captions for, click Edit > Subtitles and CC
3. Select the caption track you want to download
4. Click the Actions drop-down menu
5. Click the captions file format you need. Learn more about caption file formats
6. Your browser will download a file containing the captions track. Edit the file and save it
7. Follow the instructions to upload the captions to your video again

How to Search for YouTube Videos with Captions

Videos with captions available will have a “CC” icon underneath the video summary in search results. If you’d like search results to only show videos with captions available, enable this search filter:

1. Enter your keywords in the YouTube search bar
2. Click the Filters button
3. Click CC (closed caption)

Captions provide a text representation of all essential audio in a video or sound recording, including non-speech sounds, music, and other information. Captions can be open captions (“stuck” on the video, so they are always visible) or closed captions (users can turn captions on or off). They incorporate time information so that they are presented in relative sync with the audio or video. 

Machine Translation (MT) is automated translation. It is the process by which computer software is used to translate text from one natural language to another.

Kaltura uses Machine Translation and enables fast translation results with a Turn Around Time (TAT) which is less than the media length. The translation's file accuracy is around 85%. The captions' file should be edited after the translation is completed to increase accuracy. Visit the Kaltura Editing Captions page to learn more.

Material Submission

Copyrighted materials that are submitted for remediation should be lawfully made and obtained under US copyright law. If you have questions about identifying and obtaining lawful copies of works, please reach out to MU's copyright librarian, Carla Myers, at myersc2@miamioh.edu, or 513-529-3935.

Providing Students With Access to Remediated Copies

In those situations where vendors do not provide accessible copies of works, the AccessMU Center may be able to create a remediated version of the work for the student to use. In order to promote compliance with US copyright law these accessible copies should only be made available to the student who required the accommodation. Students with Captioned Media accommodations will be granted access to these resources through Kaltura.

Instructors will need to enable "My Media" in their Canvas course navigation.  This will allow the eligible student(s) to view these captioned resources. Please visit Canvas Guides for assistance in managing Canvas Course navigation.

Captioned media requests for students with accommodations should be submitted via SAM. Instructors will receive an email titled "[SDS] Captioned Media Instructions" with a link to the SAM captioning request form. If you are an Instructor and you did not receive this email, please contact the Miller Center for Student Disability Services at 513-529-1541 or sds@miamioh.edu.

Miami University departments can also submit files for captioned media services on a proactive basis.  Each department will be responsible for the cost of these services and be required to provide an index code at the time of the request. Captioned media requests start at $1.00/per minute.  Please allow 7-10 business days for these services.

Contact the AccessMU Center at 513-529-0200 or accessmu@miamioh.edu for pricing if your captioned media is needed sooner than 7-10 business days.

Captioned Media Request Form

All audio files, including Podcasts, should be accessible. The easiest way to make your content accessible is by providing a transcript. Providing a transcript for your audio files will benefit several individuals.  Including, people with disabilities, Non-Native speakers, people in noisy environments, people who are fast readers, and people with low connections or poor bandwidth. Additionally, you should also make sure your website and the media player are accessible.