Multimedia Accessibility Evaluations

Captions allow people who do not have access to sound to engage with video and audio content. Captioning videos help students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing participate in classwork involving videos. Captioning is part of the Accessible Technology Initiative because videos have become an integral way to share information with students, faculty, staff, and visitors. Accessible Educational Materials: Teaching with Accessible Video.

  • Video: Captions on videos, audio descriptions (for slide content and images), and transcripts 
  • Audio: Transcripts of an audio file or podcast

Turn captions on or off

  1. Go to the video
  2. If captions are available, the CC icon will be visible on the video player.
  3. To turn captions on, tap CC.
  4. To turn captions off, tap CC again.
Multimedia Accessibility Evaluations
Media Type Description How to Check

Video/Audio

Multimedia icon.

 

 Videos, captured lectures, recorded presentations for instructional media must all have captions. 

Audio

Audio icon.		 The purpose of the transcript is to provide an equivalent to what is presented visually. Ensure transcripts are provided for audio content.

Audio Descriptions

Audio descriptions icon.

Audio descriptions are audio tracks or transcripts that contain narration of onscreen movement or visuals. They are mainly intended for users with visual impairments such as blind and low vision users.

Audio descriptions have a narrator that describe critical content that is not conveyed through audio such as settings, graphics, and on-screen activity. Audio descriptions are commonly used for pre-recorded material such as video tutorials, video resources, and instructional videos.

Do I need audio descriptions?

  • Yes – if the video contains graphic elements that are not explained by the narrator in the video.
  • No – if the narrator in the video describes all the actions and graphic elements portrayed in the video. If a video does not represent content through visuals, it does not need audio descriptions, but the video would require captioning.
  • Audio descriptions accessibility

Canvas

Canvas icon.		 All videos must be captioned.
  • Ensure video files have captions.
  • Ensure audio files have transcripts.

Panopto

Panopto icon.

All videos must be captioned.

  • Ensure video files have captions.
  • Ensure audio files have transcripts.

PowerPoint

PowerPoint icon.

All videos must be captioned.

  • Videos embedded in Microsoft Office are not accessible when the file is converted to Acrobat PDF. The video becomes an image.
  • Embedded videos are not accessible to screen reader users or users navigating with a keyboard or some other navigation device other than a mouse.
  • An alternative put the link of the video underneath the video itself.

Zoom

Zoom icon.		 Adding Closed Captions to your Zoom meetings is easy with CaptionSync. Zoom offers two options for recording meetings - Local Recording and Cloud Recording; you can use either option to record meetings that you wish to later have captioned. This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions on how to submit Zoom recorded meetings for captioning.

YouTube

YouTube icon.

The content on YouTube is primarily based on videos, therefore captioning videos is essential. Captions will help videos reach a wider range of audience and make them accessible to people who are blind, deaf or hard of hearing. In addition, captions also benefit seeing viewers, captions can help the viewer understand when audio is distorted or when the viewer is a non-native speaker.

  • Transcripts are text versions of multimedia files. Transcripts can be used for videos or audio recordings. Transcripts are typically useful for users to download and have access to the text of the media.
  • Closed captioning are captions that can be turned off and on by the user.
  • Open captioning are captions that remain on screen and cannot be turned off.
  • Audio descriptions describe the visuals that are portrayed in the video. Examples of what can be included in an audio description are if the video includes diagrams or charts.

The easiest way to add captions on YouTube videos is:

  1. Navigate to Video Manager
  2. Select the Edit button
  3. Select Subtitles/CC
  4. Select Add new subtitles or CC button
  5. Decide if you want to add or edit subtitles or closed captions

 

Resources