DOCUMENT RESUME ED 357 591 EC 302 139 AUTHOR Kipling, Marsha D. TITLE Closed-Captioning...Accessibility to Information and Entertainment. Key Notes. INSTITUTION Access Group, Atlanta, GA. PUB DATE [91] NOTE 6p.; Funds were provided by the Agent Orange Assistance Program and United Cerebral Palsy Associations, Inc. PUB TYPE Non-Classroom Information Analyses (070) Guides Use (055) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Accessibility (for Disabled); *Captions; *Communication Aids (for Disabled); *Communication Disorders; *Deafness; Federal Legislation; Hearing Impairments; Illiteracy; Limited English Speaking; Telecommunications; *Television Viewing IDENTIFIERS 'Captioned Media; *National Captioning Institute ABSTRACT This fact sheet provides basic information on closed captioning as a source of information and entertainment for people with hearing impairments. It describes the role of the National Captioning Institute (NCI), defines closed captioning, and notes NCI activities in three areas: development of the TeleCaption decoder, obtaining the cooperation of television networks, and finding financial sponsorship. Expansion of NCI's role into off-line captioning and real-time captioning is mentioned, and the wide range of closed caption selections now available is noted. Specific sources for the necessary decoder and additional information are given. The future of captioning and other uses of captioning (such as with limited English speaking students and functionally illiterate adults) are briefly considered. Finally, it is pointed out that equal access to electronic information is now a right under the Americans with Disabilities Act. (DB) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** 0.1. DEPARTMENT Of EDUCATION Offme at EducAltenel ReeeerCh and improvement INFORMATION EDUCAnONAL RESOURCES ERICI CENTE rYclus document Me been ,ermoduCed ds mowed from ins person or orgenitatmn upneting rL Mtnor cnendee have Wen mad* to improve ,Woeluetmo 0,41.W Op MOMS Staled al IhisOoCu. POIntsolview offIc.10 ment do not necessarily represent OERI positron or pokey Closed-Captioning...Accessibility to Information and Entertainment Key Notes THE ACCESS GROUP Peachtree Rd., N.W. 17i . Suite 310 North Atlanta, GA 30309 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY ;-1 1,1( TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." CLOSED-CAPTIONING...ACCESSIBILITY TO INFORMATION AND ENTERTAINMENT ...The networks annource that there has been a of the definition. Even though the closed plane crash in southern California. The plane has captions are broadcast along with the regular been identified as Airline Flight 503. Anyone video and audio portion of the television wishing information about a passenger is asked to signal, the captions are invisible to everyone call their local airlines. except those households with a telecaption decoder. Therefore, the captions are readily .."The waters of Nancy Creek have overflowed available yet do not interfere with the view- again. All those people residing in the 800 block ing of those not needing the captions. of Walnut Avenue are asked to evacuate immedi- ately." Closed-captioning will be a free service of the television industry supported by sponsorship "Listen here Jackie, you better similar to the sponsorship ... listen to your sister Roseanne..." of regular programming. These are examples of informa- tion and entertainment most of Where to begin... the American public takes for granted. But to a segment of the It was imperative to NCI population, the right of accessi- that they begin to work in bility to television as a primary at least three key areas: source of news and entertainment is a relatively new phenomenon. 1) Develop and market the TeleCaption decoder (a The Federal Government, in 1979, machine which makes the created the National Captioning Insti- V captions closed and can be pur- tute, Inc. or NCI. NCI was charged, as a chased by the consumer); to create "closed nonprofit corporation, 2) Meet with networks to determine their captioning services for deaf and hard-of-hearing willingness to support the project; people." NCI saw itself responsible for helping to 3) Find financial sponsorship for the first make electronic information and entertainment closed-captioning. universally available to all people. So in 1980, NCI began offering its captioning Just exactly what is closed captioning... services to the television networks with a total of 16 hours per week of captioned pro- Closed-captioning is defined as the process in gramming on ABC, NBC, and PBS. which the audio portion of &program is converted into written words. These words then appear at Response to the new captioning efforts was the bottom of the television like subtitles on a very positive. A parent of two hearing im- foreign movie, The caption portion of the defini- paired children commented that her children tion is not particularily new as it has been used in were in the 10th and 11th grades when the the movie industry for years. first captioned programs were available. She went on to say that the children were immedi- The concept that is new pertains to the closed part ately interested in the power of print accom- panying the visual display of television. She re- What do I need to take advantage of closed- ported that what was even more encouraging, was captioning? that closed-captioning promoted interest in all print materials, particularity books, an interest she had not To receive captions in the home, TV viewers need a seen before. decoder that displays the captions on the TV screen. NCI is the sole developer, manufacturer, and distribu- NCI expands its role... tor of the TeleCaption decoder. Decoders can be purchased ,hrough a nationwide distribution network NCI, continued its efforts with networks and began of over 1,000 retail locations. For a distributor in your to approach syndicated TV programmers, home video area, you may call NCI Consumer Marketing at their companies, and makers of commercials. It sought to toll freenumber: expand its sponsorship base. The National Captioning Institute also sought to provide captioning-related 1-800-533-9673 (voice) or advice to Congress. NCI researched the educational 1-800-321-8337 (Text Telephone) applications of captioning in hopes of expanding its All efforts were directed at base of consumers. or by writing: National Captioning Institute, Inc. making closed-captioning available on a much 5203 Leesburg Pike broader front, both in terms of programming and Falls Church, Virginia 22041 viewership. NCI also has available a program which places free During these years, NCI continued to refine its meth- decoders with deserving deaf and hard-of-hearing ods of captioning. NCI has worked in two specific children from economically disadvantaged homes. captioning areas: Questions concerning this program may be directed to 1) Off-line captioning; the NCI toll free numbers. 2) Real-time captioning. Off-line captioning employs English or journalism majors whose job it is to caption, in a clear and And during all those years, NCI was... concise manner, pre-recorded programs. Real-time captioning employs court reporters who use an ultra- Moving ahead with offering financial and technical modern computer which translates stenotype pho- support for the development of the first captioning netics into English words. The availability of both microchip. the superchip, which could be manufac- kinds of captioning has allowed NCI to expand its tured directly into television sets. And then in 1990, offerings greatly. the Decoder Circuitry Act was passed by Congress. This law insures that all televisions manufactured to All of these advances mean that the following closed- be sold in the United States, with screens 13" or larger, caption selections are available today: must be made with caption decoding circuitry in- cluded. more than 450 hours of television programming weekly; And what does this all mean for the future nearly 30()() captioned movies including classics of closed-captioning... and children's movies; nearly 140 local station newscasts; The Decoder Circuitry Act will become law and will 22,00() commercials a year; go into effect on July 1, 1993. Therefore, any televi- 4500 hours of captioned sports a year; sion set, meeting the size specifications, manufac- 1000 hours of children's programming a year; tured for sale in the United States, will have closed- 990 hours of cable television weekly; captioning capacity. live events such as the Olympics and the President's inauguration. The decoder (available for about $130) will still be of Maryland Reading Center calls a conve- available for television models sold prior to July, nient and dignified reading environment; 1993. Everyone purchasing a television model sold and what many consider a stimulating learn- in the U.S. after July, 1993 should have access to ing media, namely television. closed-captioning. All of these support systems benefit the targeted Consumer problems regarding the purchase of tele- populations in a variety of ways. More information regarding how closed-captioning specifically ben- visions with captioning capabilities after July 1993 efits these populations and how closed-captioning should be directed to NCI or local consumer advo- can be used instructionally can be obtained from the cates. National Captioning Institute by writing or calling their toll free numbers. might benefit from closed- Who else Other "amazing" advantages of closed- captioning? captioning... Braille was invented for use by the military when a communication system was needed for communicat- Real-time captioning systems are being used in court- rooms. A person who experiences hearing loss as an ing quietly in the dark. The telephone was invented in the search for a usable hearing aid. Likewise, adult may not have developed speech reading or sign language skills to a high degree. Technology has closed-captioning may be destined to be used for helped by providing a scripted visual image using needs much broader than originally intended. real-time captioning enabling the viewer to read specifically each party's speech., Dr. Robert Davila, Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services with the U.S. Schools are able to film, edit and caption video with Department of Education has identified "parity" as a goal of technology in the classroom. Closed- a system costing less than $6000. These techniques are allowing schools to develop local interest pro- captioning has been, and is being, tried with several populations in an attempt to use technology as a grams and share them with a much wider audience. parity tool. Closed-captioning is being used with: hearing impaired students, English as a Second Lan- A hearing impaired adult reports that the most amaz- ing aspect of closed-captioning is that she actually guage (ESL) students, functionally illiterate adults, and reluctant readers. can watch the national and local news and understand what is going on. As an oral hearing impaired person, she says that she can generally watch a comedy or The 'inderlying premise for closed caption use with drama and follow the dialogue by watching the all of these populations is that the captions provide what is called "comprehensible input" (Krashen, speaker. However, with the news, there are always "interruptions" with maps and other graphic dis- 1985). Comprehensible input can be defined as the plays, pre-recorded taped segments, or live tele- process by which people learn language and literacy phone interviews... all things that interrupt the pre- without formal instruction, using language they al- sentation of the news for a person dependent upon ready know and cues from the environment. speechreading. A student using closed-captioning has the advantage One deaf adult reports that she had never voted of having several reading supports available includ- before the Presidential debates were captioned. She ing: admits to never having felt a real sense of the the visual image; candidate's beliefs before being able to watch and spoken dialogue or narration; printed matter in proper sentence form; read what the candidates were saying. what Dr. Robert Wilson from the University gl future of closed-captioning a bright one. Another adult deaf person reports that, finally they had felt a part of the American political system after References: watching their first inauguration captioned with real- Caption, 1991 issue publication of the National life captions. Captioning Institute. A senior adult who says "I can't quite hear what I "Captioned TV Benefits Hearing Audiences", press used to" finds captions a pleasant way to continue to enjoy his/her favorite TV program. release from NCI, Septemer 20, 1990. Carney, E. (1987), "Caption decoders: Expanding All of these people are now able to enjoy the advan- Accessibility to elec- options for hearing impaired children and adults, tages of closed-captioning. tronic information is no longer just the advantage of American Annals of the Deaf, 132(2), 73-77. the mainstream. The National CaptioninP__Institute, 10/91 brochure No longer just a possibility...now it's a from the National Captioning Institute. right "New NCI Study Reveals that Closed-Captioned TV Helps Asians and Hispanic-Americans Learn En- With the passage of the Americans with Disabilities NCI, August 27, 1990. glish", press release Act (ADA), equal access to electronic information such as television and videos is now a right. The "The Tools of Empowerment, From Captions to availability of a decoder or a television with captioning Computers, Technology Provides Educational Par- capacity at a hotel, a motel. or hospital should be- ity", by Kathryn Schmitz, FOCUS, National Techni- come a common courtesy ofTered to the user of cal Institute for the Deaf- A college of Rochester closed-captioning. Institute of Technology, Fall, 1992. As with every right granted. responsibility follows. The "big job" confronting the consumers of closed- This article was written for THE ACCESS captioning is to help educate the public. Broadening GROUP by: the consumer base, soliciting support to help finance Marsha D. Kipling, Teacher of the Hearing Im- closed-captioning, encouraging vendor awareness, paired, Atlanta Area School for the Deaf. and in general, "spreading the word," will make the KEY NOTES are created by THE ACCESS GROUP to proyide irdhinnr*On t >aimistive technology to the families of Vietnam veterans. who have children::: ACCESS GROUP isjointly funded by the Agent Orange Class AssistaniiirOgrain.andVaitett Cerebral Palsy Associations. inc. If you are a family member or :a prok.talinial:noortinglvith: families of Vietnam veterans, THE ACCESS GROUP can serve asatesoaree:Ackiyouirtyour i c a t i t m i s a l s o available sm..audiett m::Fer more e f f o r t s t o obtain a s s i s t i v e technology. This p u b l information ea& 1-800-821.8580 (Voice, TT THE ACCESS GROUP 1776 Peachtree Rti., N.1V, Suite 208 North Atlanta. GA 30309 SI oEST COPY AVAILABLE