Create and Use Accessible Video Content

According to the Federal Communications Commission, "Closed captioning displays the audio portion of a television program as text on the TV screen, providing a critical link to news, entertainment and information for individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

• The d/Deaf and hard of hearing population: Captions are essential for providing access to information and communication for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. 
• People with learning disabilities: Captions can help people with learning disabilities, such as children with Down syndrome who have poor auditory short-term memory. 
• People with attention deficits: Captions can help people to maintain focus on what is being presented.
• English language learners: Captions can help English language learners  improve their comprehension and fluency. 
• People who want to improve literacy skills: Captions can improve literacy skills for children and adults. 
• People in noisy environments: Captions can help people access information in noisy rooms or during fast-paced presentations. 
• People that chose to watch content with the sound off: Captions allow people to watch content with the sound off. 
• People in shared living spaces: Captions can be polite in shared living spaces where muting or lowering the volume on audio-visual content might be necessary.

Most video platforms allow you to create automatic captions and edit them for professional-quality results.
At Rutgers, tools like Kaltura, Panopto, and YouTube support these features. For step-by-step guidance on how to enable captions, edit transcripts, and improve video accessibility using these tools, visit our Accessible Video Tools page

According to the Federal Communications Commission (external link), "audio description is audio-narrated descriptions of a television program's key visual elements. These descriptions are inserted into natural pauses in the program's dialogue. Audio description makes TV programming more accessible to individuals who are blind or visually impaired."

• People with low vision or blindness: Audio descriptions are essential for people who are blind or have low vision to understand the content of a video. 
• People with cognitive disabilities: Audio descriptions can help people with cognitive disabilities who have difficulty understanding visual information. 
• Non-native speakers: Audio descriptions can help non-native speakers understand the content of a video. 
• Visual learners: Audio descriptions can help visual learners understand the content of a video. 
• Students: Audio descriptions can help students, especially those who are seated in the back of the room or looking away to take notes. 
• Commuters: Audio descriptions can benefit commuters so that they can listen to content while traveling. 
• People who benefit from seeing and hearing at the same time: Audio descriptions can benefit people who benefit from seeing and hearing at the same time. 

When creating content, the best way to ensure full access it to verbalize all essential visual components within your video. By doing this, there does not need to be an external process to unnaturally add these visual descriptions.

Examples: 

• If you are recording a class and you are using a slideshow, as you change from one slide to the next, announce that change and read the slide number or title of the slide that you have moved on to.
• If you are showing the class an image while recording, be sure to verbalize what it is an image of and what the important characteristics are.
• If you are writing on the board, verbalize what is being written.
• If you are pointing to something, verbalize what you are pointing too and it's main characteristics.
• If there is movement that is being watched, verbalize what that movement is, who is doing it, and why it is important in the context of what you are teaching.