Providing Captions for Live Audio

Shawn Sandy (Ally.Cafe) ~ May 13, 2024

The WCAG 2.2 guidelines provide specific requirements for providing captions for live audio content, such as live broadcasts, webinars, or video conferences. These guidelines aim to ensure that individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing can access and understand the audio content.

WCAG 2.2 Guidelines for Captions (Live)

The relevant WCAG 2.2 guideline for captions (live) is:

1.2.4 Captions (Live) (Level AA): Captions are provided for all live audio content in synchronized media.

This guideline requires that captions be provided in real-time for live audio content, such as live broadcasts, webinars, or video conferences. The captions should be synchronized with the audio and provide a text representation of the spoken content.

Purpose and Best Practices

The purpose of providing captions for live audio is to ensure that individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing can access and understand the audio content in real-time. This is particularly important for live events, where the content is time-sensitive and cannot be easily replayed or reviewed later.

Best practices for providing captions for live audio include:

Use professional captioning services: Professional captioning services can provide accurate and high-quality captions in real-time, ensuring that the captions are synchronized with the audio and accurately represent the spoken content.
Provide clear and concise captions: Captions should be clear, concise, and easy to read. They should accurately represent the spoken content, including important context and non-speech sounds.
Ensure proper positioning and styling: Captions should be positioned in a way that does not obscure important visual information and should be styled in a way that is easy to read, with appropriate font size, color, and contrast.
Provide caption controls: Users should have the ability to control the appearance and positioning of captions, such as adjusting the font size or color, or repositioning the captions on the screen.
Test and monitor captions: It is important to test and monitor the captions during live events to ensure that they are accurate and synchronized with the audio.

Code Example

Here’s a simple example of how to provide captions for live audio using the <track> element in HTML5:

<video controls>
  <source src="video.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
  <track src="captions.vtt" kind="captions" srclang="en" label="English" />
</video>

In this example, the <track> element is used to specify the caption file (captions.vtt) and its language (srclang="en"). The kind="captions" attribute indicates that the track contains captions.

Relevant Resources

By following the WCAG 2.2 guidelines for captions (live) and implementing best practices, you can ensure that your live audio content is accessible to individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, providing an inclusive and equitable experience for all users. Captions (live)

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