I am proud to take my advocacy for free ASR captions for people with hearing loss on Zoom to the airwaves — and just in time for virtual holiday dinners. On November 23, 2020, I was interviewed on Here & Now, National Public Radio (NPR)’s midday news program with Peter O’Dowd. NPR distributes Here & Now to over 450 stations in the United States, with an estimated 4.5 million weekly listeners. I hope Zoom was listening!
Listen to the interview here. Thank you to NPR for also making a full transcript available.
To help with our advocacy, please sign and share the petition: Provide Free Captions for People with Hearing Loss on Video Conferencing Platforms.
Captions Needed for People with Hearing Loss on Zoom Calls
In the interview, I discuss the challenges people with hearing loss have faced during the pandemic. Face masks have taken away our speechreading super-power, making in-person conversations difficult. Video conferencing calls are a great way to stay connected with friends and family but for people with hearing loss, it is not as easy as it sounds. While video calls aid with lipreading, it is still often difficult to follow a conversation.
Poor audio quality and weak internet connections can create a mismatch between lip movements and sound, especially if discussions involve more than one person. Captions could change all that, but for Zoom, the most popular video conferencing platform, caption capabilities are hidden behind a paywall, making them difficult for most people with hearing loss to access. This needs to change.
Captions are Our Ramps
In the interview I state: “You would never build a building, include ramps but then ask people in wheelchairs to pay to use them. The same holds for people with hearing loss. Captions are our ramps. Why should we have to pay to use the feature we require for equal access?”
A big thank you to NPR for raising awareness about this important issue!
I heard this NPR interview and want to say you did a great job, and I am now a subscriber! Thank you!
Thank you Sally! And welcome!
Wish we can enter a dialogue with Zoom reps about this problem. Is it a money issue for them? Logistics? Thanks, Shari! I’d love to be able to see if Zoom captioning would allow me to work again.
Zoom says it is an issue of server capacity, but that does not ring true to me. Feel free to email Zoom’s accessibility contact at alex.mooc@zoom.us. Thanks for joining in the advocacy.
I will absolutely do this. Any template for wording I should use?
Feel free to borrow language from this article or the NPR write up. Thanks for your advocacy!
It’s not only Zoom calling that needs captioning. The whole system for accessibility for the hearing impaired has been just as much based on our ability to lip read. I can’t hear the cashier in the supermarket, can’t hear my name being called in a doctor’s office, can’t use Live Transcribe in the doctor unless he has Wifi. It’s as if someone put stones on a wheelchair ramp or misspelled the braille in an elevator. But it’s not obvious to anyone but ourselves. We are just not providing adequate accessibility to the hearing impaired.
Very true. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Well said. Last week I had the experience of a postal worker at the PO where I was trying to send packages tell me to shut off my transcribing–I suppose she didn’t want to be recorded! She kept talking to me and told her she can say anything she wants but I can’t hear her. I went home and sent a letter to the PO General in DC and the local PO where I had the issue. If if I don’t ever hear back, it was important to do.
What a terrible situation. A similar thing happened to me at the post office years ago with a mumbling and uncooperative clerk, and I asked to speak to a manager. The problem was immediately solved.
Thank you for sharing your experiences.
I’m currently struggling about Zoom with my 5-member HOA board of directors. We meet via Zoom these days. The talking moves so quickly, with folks talking on top of one another, and virtually no oversight by the president, that I, being HOH, have a very hard time following what is said. After a 2-hour meeting, I am exhausted. Yes, captions would be great, but a helpful first step would be simply practicing the courtesies of speaking more slowly and one at a time! Zoom is definitely problematic for those of us with hearing loss!
Thanks for doing your part to publicize the problem, Shari!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the subject.
An observation that comes to my mind is that the ADA doesn’t seem to be advocating for us as much as people with other disabilities. I can be completely off base on this since I don’t know the details of their work but I don’t hear about the ADA doing much in this area. Given the pandemic one would think it would be a priority on their part.
Interesting comment but I’m not sure that’s their job. I make complaints to them when I think it merits it, but this new world that we’re living in with technology has changed the rules completely. I follow a chef on FB – he is wonderful and puts short cooking videos on FB every day. However there is no captioning – I have raised it with them multiple times but their comment is that it’s too expensive for a small foundation to do. The rules originally created for captioning basically say if something is going to be aired on TV, it must have captioning. That leaves out many ways we are currently getting information and leaves us with no place to turn. So Zoom is just a small part of the world we are missing out on. The chef I’m speaking of has now created a foundation and is selling membership to videos – and they are not captioned either.
Hi I heard this on NPR and I am now also a subscriber. Great Information!!! I have hearing issues and wear hearing aids to assist. But I thought one point was overlooked. The captioning also helps tremendously with being able to better understand various accents. I work with people from all over the world and with the captioning functionality it makes it sooooo much easier to understand a difficult accent. While my hearing stream the audio it’s still very difficult sometimes to hear on top of end user audio quality issues across the world, internet connection variations, and headset functionality. Thanks so much for talking about this topic as it’s been sorely neglected.
Great point. Thank you for adding to the discussion. And welcome to the community!
Thank you for raising awareness on this issue!
My company’s been building a more affordable solution for captioning Zoom calls (www.spf.io)…we recently had one school district choose us over the Otter.ai approach because they had to pay per teacher to accommodate one Deaf student while we offered it based on usage/time.
It’s hard to make this technology completely free unless you’re a Fortune 500 company drawing revenue from other lines of business, but I’m hoping with ongoing innovation we can put it within reach of everyday Zoom users!
Thanks for the work you are doing but I don’t think we should have to pay for accessibility. Captions are our ramps.
Yes, we focus on enabling organizations to make their events, meetings and experiences accessible. I agree that the Deaf and people with hearing loss should not have to pay for accessibility!
Thanks for clarifying.
More basic question
I love in a Sr community
Am 96 and been wearing hearing aids for 10 years
So much interaction is at meals…..NOISY all around
What app. might help for distances just at table for four
Charlotte
Perhaps a speech to text app like Otter or Live Transcribe would help. Or an App like Chatable or Ear Machine that amplifies voices. Thanks for the question.
Susan Berger reflects the attitude of too many of us when she says the ADA “doesn’t seem to be advocating for us.”
Susan, the ADA is one of several laws under which we have certain rights to accessibility. But they don’t advocate. THAT’S YOUR JOB AND MINE.
From your post about the terrible way you were treated at a Post Office, I gather you are not aware that the US Access Board oversees compliance with ADA and other laws by federal agencies – including the USPS, You can and should file a complaint online. The Dept. of Justice has a similar online complaint intake portal for Title II and Title III (state and local government entities and private entities).
It would be wonderful if the ADA rules and regulations were implemented more regularly, but when they are not, it is up to us to point that out and advocate for change. Thanks for sharing the information.
Firstly, my comment left open the possibility that I was off base in my observation. Secondly, that I have an “attitude” expecting the ADA to advocate isn’t accurate. I’m not abdicating my “job” to advocate. I still say there is room for the ADA to do more whatever that would be. Thank you for pointing out the info on the US Access Board. I will look into this in addition to the letters I’ve written.
Thank you for being a great advocate Susan, for yourself and for all of us.
Thanks, Shari. You, for sure, have been a wonderful advocate, educator and change-maker these past few years. I’m hoping any push from us, whether large or small, will help make inroads which could ultimately make our lives easier than they are now. Wishing you and everyone here a healthy, happy Thanksgiving during this most unusual year.
Thank you Susan! Happy Thanksgiving!
Another problem with captions is that they must be provided by the host. I use Otter on my iPad, holding it below the monitor since I can’t control whether the host provides captions. I attended a meeting yesterday that was captioned by Rev, which has been greatly improved since the last time I used it. The best feature was the moveable captions. They could be dragged to a spot right under each speaker’s mouth. This avoided the back and forth of watching the lips but moving your eyes to the captions when you miss a phrase, and thus miss the speaker’s next words.
Thanks for sharing what works for you.
I had the captions on during a parent teacher conference and it was helpful for me!
Wonderful! Thanks for your comment.
Could you clarify which captioning you used on Zoom that you are referring to? Thanks!
I just wrote to Alex asking about Zoom offering free captions for people with hearing loss, and I’ll let you know how he replies.
Thanks for your advocacy.
I wrote as well but as of now, there’s been no response.
Thanks for trying Susan.
I took a live course, Zoom for Education, provided by Zoom. It had automated captions using Otter. I asked the instructor about the captions and was told it is provided now for education accounts (K -12), will be provided for higher education by the end of the year. When asked about regular accounts she said “next year”. I didn’t get the chance to ask about the free accounts. So just FYI.
Good news, but this is a very slow timetable in my opinion. The pandemic is when this feature is needed most. Thank you for sharing the update.
Thanks. The education accounts are paid accounts through an educational institution, correct?
I believe so.
Thank you so much for your advocacy. I’m struggling at my college because there’s no captioning.
That is awful. Under the ADA in the US, you should be able to request accommodations in educational settings. Here is a link to information about this from HLAA. I hope it is helpful. https://www.hearingloss.org/hearing-loss-time-of-coronavirus/