Showing papers on "Closed captioning published in 1981"

Television Captioning Strategies: A Systematic Research and Development Approach

Abstract: This paper summarizes a research effort designed to determine effective television captioning strategies for hearing-impaired youngsters, ages 9-18 years. Four studies were conducted to answer the following questions: (a) Is the multilevel linguistic approach to captioning effective? (b) What is the optimal presentation rate for captions? (c) Do the caption rate and the caption density of a television program influence comprehension? (d) Does syn-capping (replacing the audio to conform to edited captions) facilitate comprehension of a captioned television program? The specific studies are summarized, and the major findings with regard to caption language level, rate, synchronous captioning, and reading ability of the viewers are presented. Implications for captioning specialists and educators are explored.

Captioned Television and Hearing-Impaired Viewers: The Report of a National Survey.

Abstract: In fall 1980, the WGBH Caption Center conducted a national mail survey to determine media habits and preferences among hearing-impaired people. The survey was undertaken to supple- ment audience ratings reports for WGBH's Captioned ABC News and to collect preliminary information to guide future captioning efforts. Responses were received from 1,745 people, 59% of the mail sample. Respondents were pri- marily deaf, with an early age of onset. They averaged high levels of newspaper reading and captioned television viewing. Roughly 50% reported watching the Captioned ABC News two or more times per week. Level of education was found to be significantly related to news reading and television viewing behavior. The response rate and the findings suggest that such direct approaches to the hearing-impaired students can provide important and useful data for captioned program producers. The United States leads the world in the pro- duction of captioned programming for hearing-impaired television viewers. Both public policy and private consumer initiatives suggest that this leadership will continue. Yet surprisingly little information exists about the television preferences of hearing-impaired people. Basic questions about the appeal of var- ious types of programs and the manner in which these programs might most effectively be captioned have been the subject of small (WGBH, Note 1), specialized (Wick, Note 2), and clinical (Bickman, et al., 1979) studies, but no systematic large-scale survey has previously been undertaken. In June 1980, the Caption Center of WGBH Boston decided to conduct such a survey. We identified three areas of specific research inter- est. First, we wished to obtain a profile of gen- eral viewing preferences for programs of differ- ent types. Second, we wanted to estimate the amount of interest in the Captioned ABC News among a target group of hearing-impaired peo- ple and to gauge this group's use of other news sources. Our third research aim was to query viewers of the Captioned ABC News about some of the features and techniques used in the pro- gram. This article will address our findings on the first two research questions. BACKGROUND Since 1973, the Caption Center has produced the Captioned ABC News, a captioned rebroad- cast of ABC's World News Tonight. The program is currently broadcast Monday through Friday over more than 180 stations of the Public Broad- casting System (PBS) and is generally seen by viewers at 11:00 p.m. local time or later. WGBH receives viewing reports from PBS, based on the Nielsen Television Index, indicat- ing the program's television rating or average audience size. These reports are limited in important ways, however, especially in their applicability to specialized audiences. No data exist, for example, to determine to what degree hearing-impaired people are adequately sam- pled in the ratings process. Many hypotheses have been proposed about the habits of hear- ing-impaired viewers, but they all require intu- itive interpretations of the ratings reports. Although gratified by the audience size stated in the PBS reports, the Caption Center decided

Background and Initial Audience Characteristics of the Closed-Caption Television System

Abstract: This problem was recognized, and in 1973 the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped (BEH) began funding research through the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) to develop a system for closed-captioning television programs. The goal was to create a system which would make hidden subtitles (closed captions) a part of regular television broadcasts. The captions would be visible only on those television receivers equipped with a special adapter. To understand how the system developed by PBS accomplishes closed captioning, it is necessary to have a basic understanding of how a television picture is generated. In the American system, a television picture consists of 525 lines flashed on the screen 30 times per second. The first few and the last few of the 525 lines

Effects of language level and visual display on learning from captioned instruction

Abstract: It’s pretty clear that captioning — that is, displaying a transcription of the audio portion of a video presentation as printed words on the screen — is helpful for hearing-impaired viewers. A major concern, however, is that the captions are written in language too difficult for many viewers to understand. This study explored the influence of the language level of captions on the acquisition of pictorial information and two types of verbal information.

Closed-Captioned Television: Educational and Sociological Implications for Hearing-Impaired Learners

Abstract: The National Captioning Institute (NCI) has achieved stunning success in its first year of operation. Hearing-impaired viewers of all ages are enthusiastically grateful for the opportunity to read what they cannot hear on television. The closed-captioning service continues to be expanded by further technological developments and program offerings. Educators of the deaf recognize that well-written captions directly attack many of the communications problems faced by their students and pave the way to improved achievement in other academic disciplines. Captions on television programs enliven the classroom environment and extend effective learning into after-school hours. Closed captioning represents a significant sociological breakthrough as well. Hearing-impaired viewers are now able to communicate more freely with their hearing peers as they share information and entertainment gleaned from the television screen.

The Line 21 System Closed-captioned Television for Hearing-impaired Viewers

Abstract: The benefits offered by closed-captioned television for hearing-impaired viewers in Australia, allowing them to watch television is discussed.