Captioning Reading Experience Survey Results

(White letters are hardly seen on the left due to the absence of the black box — the worst example — and are easiest seen on the right in the 100% opaque black box — the best example.)

I’ve been consulting and presenting on captioning access for over 10 years, written a book (currently it’s undergoing a new edition), and given a TEDx talk about this. I’ve also seen many podcasts, videos, and events that are either not captioned or have captions that are not easy to read due to poor formatting.

Captions are more than just adding text. Captioning is an art and not something that can be learned overnight. Anyone can make captions, but not everyone can do it well. It’s like writing a book — anyone can write a book, but not everyone is a professional writer and they also need to work with professional editors and designers. That’s why expertise is needed to make captions and transcripts look professional and easy to read.

There are captioning guidelines adopted by many organizations, but based on my experience, they are not consistent and some are outdated. Many of them also do not consider our actual experience as deaf and hard of hearing users for whom captioning access is the only way to perceive aural information. It’s important that captions and transcripts are not only accurate, but also formatted in a way that improves reading experience for us deaf and hard of hearing people.

So I did a survey in 2019–2020 on the captioning reading experience and asked deaf and hard of hearing people aged 18 or older for feedback on their experience. The survey had 16 questions, and 14 were multiple choice.

Continue reading in the article on Audio Accessibility website.