National Association of the Deaf

The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) applauds Google’s decision to roll out auto-captioning for YouTube. All YouTube videos in English that have a clear audio track can be automatically captioned. In addition, Google has made turning on captions much easier by allowing YouTube account holders to set up closed captions to be “on” for all videos they view. Google also plans to provide the universal “CC” icon on the video player whenever possible.

"Automatic speech-to-text captioning was the stuff of science fiction for deaf and hard of hearing people who have been marginalized for years as inaccessible videos became an integral part of the Internet. The National Association of the Deaf was delighted when Google unveiled its innovative auto-captioning service in November 2009," said NAD President Bobbie Beth Scoggins. "Today's announcement by Google to broaden the availability of auto-captions to YouTube's entire user and partner base opens a new world of video content to deaf and hard of hearing people. We look forward to finally being part of the YouTube community and catching up with the torrent of content that is uploaded everyday. Captions are just as essential as audio for all videos. The NAD urges other companies that have online videos to follow Google's lead in making the Internet accessible for all."

While Google’s speech-to-text automatic captioning service is far from perfect, the NAD applauds Google’s commitment to access. The auto-captioning feature is an excellent tool that makes the process of captioning videos much easier. Video owners can download the auto-generated captions, correct them, and then upload the accurate captioning file.  Alternatively, video owners can upload a transcript and use Google’s auto-timecode feature that automatically matches the transcript to the audio file to produce captions.

Captions, like “curb cuts” and ramps, are universal design principles that often have extra benefits. In this case, viewers will be able to use Google’s auto-translate feature to translate captioned English YouTube videos into other languages. Additionally, people can search captioned YouTube videos for specific terms. For example, a search for “one giant leap for mankind” would find the Apollo moon landing video and identify the place in the video where those words/captions appear.

The NAD also takes this opportunity to remind entities covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other federal laws of their obligations to ensure that their communication, information, programs, and services are accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, including by captioning their Internet videos.