Transcription For Hearing Impaired People

Imagine this situation. As you browse the net, you come across a YouTube video that your friend has recommended you to watch. You go to the link and as the video starts playing, you realize that you can't hear the sound of the video transcription. You check the volume controls. But they are all fine. You get frustrated and finally close the link. Now imagine the case of Chris Anderson who is deaf and goes through such videos almost every day.

Chris has tried to see various documentaries, TV shows, interviews, pod-casts on YouTube and various other video sharing sites. But due to the absence of captions/subtitles in most of these videos, he is unable to get what the characters in those videos say or what the narrator is conveying through the video.

Transcripts are enormously beneficial for these purposes. Be it a video interview, podcast transcription or a conference call or an audio blog, providing a transcript would help people who are deaf to precisely understand what's conveyed in them. Captioning Youtube videos and annotating them make it accessible to millions of people who are hearing impaired around the world. Also providing a transcript along with the videos in your blog makes the content of the video index-able by Google's search engines.

You can help persons like Chris enjoy the same videos as the rest of the world does. Transcripts enable persons such as Chris to understand and enjoy the audio information you are providing. It also benefits people who prefer reading the information while listening to it. Next time Chris opens an video interview in Youtube, he need not be frustrated. You can make a difference to him with a transcript.