Showing papers on "Closed captioning published in 1980"

The Effects of Caption Rate and Language Level on Comprehension of a Captioned Video Presentation

Abstract: The purposes of this study were (a) to explore the effect of caption rate on comprehension and (b) to assess the effect of varying caption language level on comprehension One hundred eighty-seven students, enrolled in three elementary and secondary schools for the deaf, viewed a one-half hour commercial television program captioned at 60, 90, or 120 words per minute and at increasing levels of linguistic complexity The students were tested on explicit, inferential, and global comprehension items Caption rate did not appear to affect comprehension The language level of the captions influenced explicit and inferential comprehension, with subjects performing significantly better with lower, than with higher language level captions This effect was particularly noticeable with poorer readers Directions for further captioning research are discussed

Captions and Reading Rates of Hearing-Impaired Students

Abstract: ����� Reading rate is one of several attributes of reading having a bearing on how effectively and efficiently one reads. With the proliferation of captioned fA-lms and the tremendous undertaking of captioning television programs, reading rate becomes a critical issue. By adapting the scoring procedure of the Gates McGinitie Reading Test, speed and accuracy portion, the reading rates of 185 randomly selected hearing-impaired students from residential schools for the deaf were obtained. These rates were then compared with the reading rates of hearing students and extempore speech. Based on the findings, a large number of hearing-impaired students would appear unlikely to benefit from captions. With the rapid explosion of printed knowledge in our society, it is imperative that individuals learn to read effectively and efficiently. Effective and efficient reading presumes flexibility or a kind of reader adaptability encompassing a range of attributes including rate, facility of association, perceptual freedom, and other attitudinal sets as described by McDonald (1965). Rate begins to assume extreme importance when one considers the monumental task of assimilating this proliferation of printed matter. For the hearing-impaired child and adult, the need for flexibility in reading rate becomes perhaps even more pronounced. In addition to vast quantities of printed matter, the proliferation of captioned films for the deaf in the past several years and the more recent captioning of television programs by major networks have resulted in a minimal necessary reading rate for hearing-impaired individuals if they are to take full advantage of the captions. This may be only a minor problem with adults who lost hearing later in life after acquiring language and reading as hearing pupils during their school years. But it can be a serious matter for many persons who faced the acquisition of reading while educationally deaf, and whose reading abilities are limited. The fact that the exposure time of captions (which sets a base line for speed of their

Evaluation of a Multilevel Linguistic Approach to Captioning Television for Hearing-Impaired Children

Abstract: ����� Hearing-impaired students who read at the second, third, and fourth-grade levels viewed five versions of three children's television programs. In versions one through three, captions were presented at different levels of linguistic complexity; version four was captioned according to an intuitively-based method; and version five was shown without captions. Students' comprehension of all three programs was higher with the captioned than the un captioned versions and in all three assessments, second-grade readers showed significantly lower comprehension than third and fourth-grade readers. Differentiation in comprehension as a function of captioning mode, however, was found for only one of the three programs. The pattern of results here revealed that as the linguistic complexity of the captions increased, students' comprehension scores declined. Implications for future captioning efforts are discussed. Although television is a major source of information for hearing children, it is less valuable for the hearing-impaired child who cannot benefit from the material presented in the soundtrack. Due to this problem, people concerned about the hearing impaired began experimenting with the use of captions for television. Caption writing for children involves editing the verbatim script to allow for reading time and/or to adjust language level. However, traditionally, the reading level of the captioned materials aims at the hypothetical "average" hearing-impaired viewer. This approach cannot meet the special needs of poorer readers for whom the captions may prove frustratingly difficult to comprehend, or the special needs of better readers for whom the captions may be oversimplified, thus cheating them of richer information. Furthermore, in transforming the original program script into captions, the captioner's "intuitive" understanding of the appropriate linguistic content is the only available basis for modifying language. This results in wide variability in the complexity of syntactic structures.

Closed-caption television: today and tomorrow.

Abstract: The National Captioning Institute was founded in early 1979 to produce captions for commercial and public television programs. NCI uses a system called dosed captioning, whereby the captioned information is transmitted along with the regular picture and sound portion of the television program but is not seen on a normal home television receiver. Only with a special decoder device can the captions be seen. This device is currently marketed by Sears, Roebuck and Co. and is called "TeleCaption." It has been available to the consumer since March 15, 1980. Three networks are participating in this service, PBS, ABC, and NBC. By the end of 1980, it is expected that more than 22 hours per week of captioned programming will be available to viewers. The closed captioning system, sometimes referred to as Line 21, records captioned electronic codes on Line 21 of the television vertical blanking interval—a portion of the video signal. These codes are read by the decoder which then generates the captions that are displayed on the screen of any normal home television receiver. The closed-caption system represents the culmination of almost 10 years of technological development and the cooperative efforts of the Federal Government, nonprofit agencies, professional groups, groups representing the deaf and hearing impaired, civic organizations, and commercial industry. It is a service that's designed to meet the communication needs of 14 million hearing-impaired citizens in this country. For the future, many more populations can be served through closed captions. Bi-lingual, particularly Hispanic Americans, reading disabled children, and hospitalized and institutionalized people who are in environments in which noise must be kept to a minimum can and will be served through closed captioning of television programs. As we look to the future, we look for additional technological developments that will allow the closed-captioning service to expand beyond the captioning of prerecorded videotape programs. It will include captioning of news and public affairs, sports, real-time captioning—captioning as it is happening and further exploration of the use of captions for bi-lingual groups and direct captioning of film.

Antiope Teletext Captioning

Abstract: There is no need to argue the case for captioning, insofar as TV programs are already being captioned using tried and proven technology. However, it is a well-known fact that there is a demand for much more than classic captioning systems can provide. It would therefore seem that the time has come to extend captioning possibilities through the use of new techniques.

Television captioning at the Clarke School for the Deaf.

Abstract: Television captioning is a daily operation at Clarke School for the Deaf. This paper contains the history of Clarke's early involvement in television captioning and explains the two different methods of captioning used. Our cable television distribution system is described, and the technical means of our captioning process and equipment is detailed.