Subtitling, transcripts and audio description
Subtitling, transcripts and audio description
Introduction
Inclusive video and audio is important to those who are d/Deaf, are blind, have hearing impairments, have difficulty processing information, and those who perceive things differently.
Some people have a combination of needs, such as those who are deaf-blind. Everyone will have a different way that they prefer to consume information.
Features like captions or transcripts will benefit all users, not only those described above.
This content is adapted from the
Requirements and recommendations
All intranet and ‘official communications’ content must always meet these requirements.
Pre-recorded content
Video content that includes audio must :
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Provide in-video audio description of important visual information (where possible).
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Provide captions (‘subtitles’) of the audio content.
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Provide a descriptive transcript.
Audio-only content must :
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Provide a transcript.
Video-only content must :
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Provide a descriptive transcript or fully audio described version.
Live broadcasts
All live content should :
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Provide an accurate script to viewers or listeners before the broadcast, and ,
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Allow automatic captions, though this does not fulfil the WCAG requirement due to inaccuracy of automatic captioning.
Sign language
All audio-video content for consumption across a significant majority of an organisation should :
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Provide British Sign Language signing within the video.
If there is no audio in a video, inform users in text that it does not need subtitles, captions or transcriptions.
Planning audio-video content
Consider a variety of aspects as you produce audio-video content. Full considerations are covered at the
Considerations include:
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Avoid causing seizures by avoiding content that flashes more than three times in one second.
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Position actors and speakers so viewers are able to lip read.
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Reduce background noise in videos.
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Avoid descriptions based solely on sensory characteristics.
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Make overlay text readable with appropriate contrast and font size.
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Write the script so that audio description of visual information is part of the speech (and therefore is in the subtitles).
Descriptive transcripts
A descriptive transcript is a normal transcript of the audio content and includes text-based descriptions of important visual information.
Descriptive transcripts make content accessible to deaf-blind users and meets the needs of others who may have difficulty processing auditory information or can't focus on visual information.
Descriptive transcripts can be created using the captioning content that you need to produce anyway.
You don't need a separate basic transcript if you provide a descriptive one.
Automated captioning
While it's important to give people the choice to use automated captions (such as in Microsoft Teams), it does not often fulfil the requirements of users.
The automated functionality can produce inaccurate results. As such, manual review and/or a script of the conversation should be provided when you publish captions or transcripts.
Example of a bad automatic caption
Spoken text: "Broil on high for 4 to 5 minutes. You should not preheat the oven."
Automatic caption: "Broil on high for 45 minutes. You should know to preheat the oven."