News – Disability and Rehabilitation Research Project on Twenty-First Century Captioning Technology, Metrics and Usability

Analysis of Consumer Survey on Captions

Posted on February 8, 2020February 8, 2020 by Christian Vogler

In 2019, the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) conducted a consumer survey on captions in local TV news. This survey collected more than 900 responses, of which 534 featured open-ended comments. The Captioning DRRP, with permission from HLAA, conducted a qualitative analysis of these comments for major themes. The following three major problems with captions saw the most frequent mentions:

Completeness (242 mentions)
Synchronicity and timing (153 mentions)
Accuracy (123 mentions)

It is clear that for many deaf and hard of hearing consumers of local news, caption quality continues to be a challenge. This analysis was filed with the FCC and is also available in the links below.

Analysis of HLAA survey and Comments on TDI Petition (PDF)Download

Appendix – Detailed qualitative data from the HLAA survey (PDF)Download

Consumer Advocates and Researchers File Petition for Rulemaking with the FCC

Posted on August 23, 2019February 6, 2021 by Yuqing Deng

Players have escaped from sprinkler quickly when they get blasted by sprinkler at Wimbledon. The caption reads "MAYBE THEY JUST NEEDED TIME TO DOUBLES MATCH AND WENT OFF" — Confused by this caption above? You’re not alone. Here is what the audio really said: “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,”

A coalition of consumer advocates, researchers and the Twenty-First Century Captioning Technology, Metrics and Usability project have filed a petition for rule making with the Federal Communications Commission. Our goal is improving live caption quality.

In 2014 the FCC issued an order about best practices for caption quality. Unfortunately, live captions still have many problems.

We ask the FCC to do these things:

Start a Notice of Inquiry into caption quality metrics
Provide guidance about using Automatic Speech Recognition

We look forward to working with all stakeholders on practical consumer-focused caption quality metrics. We also look forward to our research informing the FCC proceedings.

You can read the whole petition here.

Elsewhere on the Web:

The National Association of the Deaf has posted an ASL vlog on this topic.
Action Alert by the Hearing Loss Association of America

See you at the M-Enabling conference

Posted on June 17, 2019June 17, 2019 by captions_gje4n4

Two smiling men and one smiling woman are standing in a booth. In the background is a projected image showcasing the project. — Norman Williams, Raja Kushalnagar and Paula Tucker at our booth

We are exhibiting! Come and visit us at our booth at the M-Enabling Conference, in the main exhibit hall. Help us by taking a survey to guide our research. We want your input, no matter whether you are consumer, broadcaster, or caption provider.