Zoom Built-In Automated Live Transcription Who can use it and is there a fee? Note that automated transcription services are not accurate enough to provide ADA compliance. Zoom Transcription & Captioning Options Zoom CC/LT Options Please consult with the Disability Resource Center by emailing to consult on specific questions regarding facilitating live captioning services for students with disabilities. Zoom also provides the ability to use other 3 rd party live captioning services, which can provide ADA compliance.
3rd party Manual and Automated Live Transcription This option is similar to the Zoom built-in Automated Live Transcriptions, but it provides a 3rd party interface for managing and editing transcripts. In this scenario, the host of the meeting must provide the individual.
“And they agreed to do that.”įor those with hearing loss and other people who need the captioning for accessibility reasons, Zoom has created a Google form where they can submit requests, Eberts says. “We asked Zoom’s management to create an interim process,” she says. But Eberts says there’s still a way for those who need it most to access the feature. While Zoom’s latest move is a success, the platform doesn’t plan to roll out this feature until later this fall, a time when the pandemic circumstances might be changed and video conferencing might not be as needed. Ebert mentioned that it was hard to contribute to conversations for fear of looking silly or repeating something that had already been said. Other issues included the audio cutting in and out or not matching with the lip movements and sounds. “But, you know, sometimes I'll connect with headphones to really try and improve the audio. “So you dial in early and you try and set yourself up so you're in speaker mode so that you have the largest possible picture of whoever is going to be speaking,” she said.
In November, Eberts stressed the importance of inclusivity, making video conferencing accessible to all and the difficulties that she experienced when trying to participate on Zoom. “It’s just such a powerful feeling for people with hearing loss to have their voice finally be heard.” “It just shows the power of grassroots advocacy,” she says. The petition and media coverage helped bring attention to Zoom management about the issue, she says.
“I guess they were not ready for that in terms of the technology.” “I think that Zoom was feeling very overwhelmed by the pandemic,” Eberts says, mentioning that droves of people went to use the platform.
Now, in an attempt to assuage those difficulties, Zoom has announced it will make closed captioning free for all its users this fall, a win for advocates like Eberts. “It has been a very challenging time for everybody, but definitely for people with hearing loss during the pandemic,” she said. While the result of that effort led to Google and Microsoft removing their captions from behind its paywall, Zoom was slow to do the same. Zoom is pledging to give all users free caption services after advocates pushed for the platform to make closed captions more accessible during the pandemic.īack in November, hearing health advocate Shari Eberts joined Here & Now to discuss an open letter she wrote in April that turned into a petition, garnering 58,000 signatures from others with hearing loss. (Photo illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) In this photo illustration, a Zoom logo is seen displayed on a smartphone.