Captioning

Captioning helps make your video content more accessible to those with auditory challenges and those whose primary language is not English. It also allows viewers to access your content when they are in a location that may not permit audio playback. Many users without these challenges also report that captions are beneficial. One example of this is that captions allow viewers to access your content when they are in a location that may not permit audio playback.

To help determine if your content requires captioning, please visit https://web.accessibility.duke.edu/duke-guidelines/video-captioning-requirements or contact Disability Management System. 

Once you’ve determined that you’d like or need captioning, you may contact our list of recommended vendors for a quote for your content. Costs for captioning services are the responsibility of the content publisher/owner.

Automated Machine Captioning With Manual (Human) Correction

Many video publishing and content management platforms are now leveraging automated speech-to-text technologies to generate captions for videos automatically at no cost. One notable example of this is YouTube. Since accuracy is in the neighborhood of 60-80% these by themselves are not acceptable to satisfy captioning requirements. Many of these services allow you to manually review and correct captions to be completely correct. If you review and correct captions manually, then this is acceptable to satisfy captioning requirements.

Live Captioning

Duke has selected Alternative Communication Services (ACS) as a preferred provider for live captions at Duke in partnership with Duke's Disability Management Systems office and is relatively affordable and easy to use. 

To use ACS, you simply point the company to an audio feed of your event. The way the student will see the captioning is through a web-based system called StreamText. 

 If you have questions about live captioning or need help researching additional options, please contact the OIT Service Desk and OIT Interactive Technology Services will respond to assist.