3 Important Benefits Of Real Time Captioning

11 February 2022
 Categories: Business, Blog

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Captioning is a process whereby audio content is transcribed into text and then matched up with corresponding video content. Captions are displayed in a wide variety of contexts, from recorded lectures at universities, to televised news programs and sporting events. While many captions are transcribed for prerecorded material, captions for live programming must be created in real time. Though this is naturally a difficult task, it is far from impossible, and carries with it some important benefits. Take a look below to discover just a few of the biggest ones.

Reaching a Larger Audience

It would be a big mistake to assume that everyone watching a live broadcast has access to the audio content. Many members of a given audience may be deaf or hard of hearing, and therefore require live captioning in order to understand the entirety of the broadcast. Many others may find themselves in a noisy environment while watching the broadcast -- fans of a sports team watching a big game in a restaurant or bar is just one example -- and need live captioning to catch everything that is being said. In effect, ignoring the need for live captioning means abandoning a decent percentage of an audience for no good reason.

Making Up for Substandard Audio Mixes

Audio mixes of live events can be extraordinarily tricky, and they are not always successful. While this doesn't mean that the audio content will be completely incomprehensible, it may mean that portions of it will prove difficult to understand even for those who are listening in a quiet environment and who are not hard of hearing. Confronted by a poor audio mix, viewers may be tempted to watch another broadcast or turn off their television altogether. Live captioning mitigates this risk by providing a kind of safety net just in case the audio is not up to par.

Communicating Technical Language

In such cases where the content being broadcast is that of a lecture or other kind of technical training, the audio content is almost certain to include jargon unfamiliar to some viewers. An educational talk given by a medical professional at a university, for example, may contain terms that much of the audience cannot transcribe without the assistance of live captioning.  Real time captioning is an invaluable service that allows for a greater degree of effective communication, and thus an improved audience experience for those who would otherwise find it a challenge.