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Are you frustrated with live captioning? Tell the FCC! The FCC has asked for comments about your experiences with captions for live TV programming. You can file online at: Link . Enter “05-231” in the “Proceeding(s)” field to make sure that your comment is added to the record. Comments are due by September 13th!

Read the entire petition that we filed with the FCC: Link

Read our press release: Link


VIDEO DESC & TRANSCRIPT: The NAD logo appears on bottom right corner as a watermark. Zainab Alkebsi is standing in front of the NAD Front Desk at the NAD Headquarters.

ZAINAB: Captioning on TV isn’t always perfect right? Sometimes, we read poor captioning like this…

[Screenshot of tennis match with captions, "MAYBE THEY JUST NEEDED TIME TO DOUBLES MATCH AND WENT OFF,"]

ZAINAB: Did you understand it? Of course not, that caption made no sense! What the audio commentary really said was…

[GRAPHIC "CORRECT CAPTION: "And, you know, maybe they just needed some time to cool off a bit, but they probably didn't wanna be blasted with sprinklers like this. A mixed-doubles match at Wimbledon was interrupted when a sprinkler just went off,"]

ZAINAB: To address this concern, the NAD joins a coalition of 1) consumer advocates, 2) researchers, including the Twenty-First Century Captioning Technology, Metrics, and Usability Project– all of us, together, we asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to set new rules for live captioning quality. Basically, we all want to improve the quality of live captioning! In 2014, the FCC released “best practices” for caption quality. While it was vague they established four requirements: accuracy, completion, timing, and placement. However, we know that’s not enough. Since 2014, we still face captioning issues. We need more specific requirements in place. So, that coalition I mentioned earlier, with different groups, we asked the FCC for two things:

[GRAPHIC: “1. START A NOTICE OF INQUIRY INTO CAPTION QUALITY METRICS”]

ZAINAB: First, start a “Notice of Inquiry” (NOI) into caption quality metrics. Which means to gather input from the public about their live captioning experience and figure out a way to measure live captions - how we can say “that captioning is good, that is bad”. Keep in mind, this isn’t about whether captions are done with a person or automatic via a machine – right now, we’re focused on quality. If the captioning quality doesn’t meet the standards, then they cannot use that technology.

[GRAPHIC: “2. PROVIDE GUIDANCE ABOUT USING AUTOMATIC SPEECH RECOGNITION”]

ZAINAB: And secondly, provide guidance when and how to use Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR). You can watch Howard’s previous AHA explaining ASR. This is important because ASR isn’t to be used all the time.

[GRAPHIC: “OUR GOALS ARE?”]

ZAINAB: The coalition’s goal is figure out what the best practices are for live captioning.

[GRAPHIC: “WHAT CAN YOU DO?”]

ZAINAB: You can get involved and file your own comments with the FCC. Share your own experiences with live captions! Please use docket number 05-231, the deadline to submit is September 13th!

[GRAPHIC: “DOCKET NO. 05-231 / DEADLINE TO SUBMIT: SEPTEMBER 13th, 2019”]

ZAINAB: Tell the FCC you want them to improve live captioning! Thank you.

Video cuts to grey background with the NAD logo quickly changing in different bright colors from teal to white to black to hot pink to green to orange to teal to yellow to purple to finally the official NAD logo with copyright text underneath “The National Association of the Deaf (c) 2019 All Rights Reserved”.