Audio Accessibility

Deaf Awareness Month – Many Different Ways to Enjoy Life...
Audio Accessibility The post Deaf Awareness Month – Many Different Ways to Enjoy Life as a Deaf Person appeared first on Audio Accessibility. If you enjoyed the post, be sure to follow Audio Accessibility via Facebook, Twitter, newsletters. September is Deaf Awareness Month. Check out the video to learn more about deafness. Full Video Transcript with Visual Description (Video descrip...
Tue, Sep 19 2017

Why NO Live Captions During Online Emergency Announcements?
Audio Accessibility The post Why NO Live Captions During Online Emergency Announcements? appeared first on Audio Accessibility. If you enjoyed the post, be sure to follow Audio Accessibility via Facebook, Twitter, newsletters. There was a video by Fox 13 News Tampa Bay via Facebook yesterday that featured a man in a bright yellow shirt what turned out to be not a professional interpret...
Sat, Sep 09 2017

Dr. Robert Davila – A Deaf Role Model
Audio Accessibility I would like to talk about Dr. Robert Davila – a deaf son of Mexican immigrants and a remarkable person who has achieved so much in his life and has held many high level positions in his career. He was also the first deaf person in USA whom I met when I was 16 years […] The post Dr. Robert Davila – A Deaf Role Model appeared first on Audio Accessibility.
Thu, Jul 20 2017

Wonder Woman Movie Experience Not Wonderful For a Deaf...
Audio Accessibility Since learning about TV captions in 8th grade, I cannot imagine my life without good quality captions – for movies, videos, live events. I didn’t start going to movie theaters until I was in college when I learned about movies with open captions that were displayed directly on the screen and it was a wonderful […] The post Wonder Woman Movie Experience Not Won...
Sun, Jun 25 2017

What a [bleep] – How to Caption Expletives?
Audio Accessibility There have been many instances where captions were censored on TV or in a video even though when the audio was not. Of course, profanity is not meant to be heard by minors. However, if speech can be clearly heard word for word on TV or in a video, it also needs to be captioned word […] The post What a [bleep] – How to Caption Expletives? appeared first on Audio...
Mon, Jun 05 2017

You’d Rather Read Those [Captions] Than Hear Me?
Audio Accessibility It was part of Marvel’s new trailer for the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: “What’s UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPP? Chris Pratt here, with a special look at Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. And… C’mon seriously dude? You’d rather read… those… than… hear… me? Nah, no. No reading those. (Chris swiping away the text.) Those. (Chris swiping away […] The post Yo...
Thu, May 04 2017

Are Speech Technologies and AI Replacements to Human...
Audio Accessibility I attended an event about speech technologies a month ago to which I was invited by an organizer who assumed that I wouldn’t need a live CART human captioner to follow panelists and a sign language interpreter for a networking part (that I asked her for) – despite her knowing me for many years as […] The post Are Speech Technologies and AI Replacements to Huma...
Fri, Mar 24 2017

How to Add GOOD Quality Captions to Videos in YouTube,...
Audio Accessibility There are many videos online that are either don’t have captions or have auto captions. Auto captions are not of acceptable quality and bad captions are not better than no captions. Machine generated captions fail to meet many good quality captioning guidelines. Many people don’t realize that it’s a responsibility of media owners and producers […] The post H...
Thu, Mar 02 2017

How to Make Your Events Accessible for Deaf and Hard of...
Audio Accessibility As an independent consultant and speaker, I am not able to attend events and to give presentations there as often as I would like to. It’s an important way for me to be able to learn from other speakers, to network with other professionals, and to meet potential clients. It is hard enough to be […] The post How to Make Your Events Accessible for Deaf and Hard of...
Wed, Jan 04 2017

The 2016 Year in Review
Audio Accessibility Hope 2016 was good for you. I wanted to share some highlights of this year. Following is a list of articles I wrote on Audio Accessibility website in 2016: Hotel Accessibility for Deaf Guests October – Audiology Awareness Month No Captions for Many Online Videos About Hurricane Matthew Deaf Awareness Month – #Услышьменя and #HearingPrivilege Live Capti...
Wed, Dec 21 2016

Hotel Accessibility for Deaf Guests
Audio Accessibility According to the Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), hotels, motels, inns, and other places of lodging are responsible for making their facilities accessible to individuals with disabilities. Not only they need to make their lodgings accessible, but also their websites and communications between staff members and their guests with disabilities. For...
Tue, Nov 01 2016

Hospitality Accessibility for Deaf Guests
Audio Accessibility According to the Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), hotels, motels, inns, and other places of lodging are responsible for making their facilities accessible to individuals with disabilities. Not only they need to make their lodgings accessible, but also their websites and communications between staff members and their guests with disabilities. For...
Tue, Nov 01 2016

October – Audiology Awareness Month
Audio Accessibility There are over 48 million of people with hearing loss in USA above age of 12, but only one in seven who could benefit from hearing aids uses them. The main reason is stigma related to hearing loss and also high costs of hearing devices. I find it sad that more people are willing to take […] The post October – Audiology Awareness Month appeared first on Audio Ac...
Wed, Oct 19 2016

No Captions for Many Online Videos About Hurricane Matthew
Audio Accessibility Earlier this year a blizzard hit the east coast of USA and emergency announcements were posted not only on TV, but also online. Most of TV announcements were captioned and also sign language interpreters were included. However, most of online videos with announcements were NOT captioned. The majority of deaf and hard of hearing people […] The post No Captions for ...
Mon, Oct 10 2016

Deaf Awareness Month – #Услышьменя and...
Audio Accessibility September is Deaf Awareness Month that is celebrated worldwide every year to spread more awareness about deafness and hearing loss. There are about 620 million of deaf and hard of hearing people worldwide (out of total population of around 7 billion) – about 50 million of them in USA (out of total population of around […] The post Deaf Awareness Month – #Ус�...
Mon, Sep 26 2016

Live Captioning Access at Public Events and Conferences
Audio Accessibility I have been attending various mainstream events and conferences (both free and paid) for many years as well as presenting at them and am very thankful for organizers who are willing to make their events accessible via live captioning or sign language interpreting or both (depending on type of an event) based on my consultation and […] The post Live Captioning Acc...
Thu, Sep 22 2016

Deafness and Bullying
Audio Accessibility The recent news went viral about a deaf student in a school in Nebraska who was bullied by having his backpack items dumped into a toilet. Sadly, it’s not the first or the only example that deaf people are bullied by hearing peers – in school, at work, and in public. Bullying also happens within […] The post Deafness and Bullying appeared first on Audio Access...
Tue, Sep 06 2016

Deaf Education – School for the Deaf or Regular School?
Audio Accessibility Since I started my formal education at the age of 7 in a school for the deaf in Russia, I wanted to publish the article today to celebrate Knowledge Day, the day when the school year traditionally starts in all schools in Russia and many other former Soviet republics annually on September 1st. It is […] The post Deaf Education – School for the Deaf or Regular Sc...
Thu, Sep 01 2016

Deafness Is Not a Barrier to Learning Foreign Languages
Audio Accessibility My family has a library – most books are in Russian, our native language, but there are some books in English and French. As a deaf person, I access most information via text. So I liked browsing through those books when younger. Russian books were not hard for me to read, though some were advanced […] The post Deafness Is Not a Barrier to Learning Foreign Langu...
Thu, Aug 18 2016

My 18th “Hearing” Birthday with a Cochlear Implant
Audio Accessibility Today is the 18th anniversary of my cochlear implant activation. My friend jokingly told me that my implant is now considered an “adult”. It seems like just yesterday when I was browsing brochures about cochlear implants and not being sure if it’s a right decision for me to get one. It’s impossible to summarize my […] The post My 18th “Hearing” Birthda...
Sat, Aug 06 2016

The Best Ways of Using an YouTube Captioning Tool
Audio Accessibility According to data from the Archives of Internal Medicine published in 2011, there are 48 million of American people aged 12 or older having hearing loss. If including 3 million of children, it would make a total of over 50 million of deaf and hard of hearing people in USA. It’s one in five Americans! […] The post The Best Ways of Using an YouTube Captioning Tool...
Fri, Jun 10 2016

Why the Signing Gloves Hype Needs to Stop
Audio Accessibility There has been a hype around about “signing gloves” that were “invented” by two University of Washington students. First of all, those students are NOT “inventors”. The idea of signing gloves has been proposed by many others before them – for example: An idea for the EnableTalk “smart” glove announced in 2012; An idea for […] The post Why the Sig...
Sun, May 01 2016

Deaf Lawyers, Dancers, Reporters
Audio Accessibility There have been several events in the past few months where deaf and hard of hearing people showed to the world that they can do anything as long as communication access services are provided to help them become successful. Yesterday was a historic day for people with hearing loss who practice law. There are about […] The post Deaf Lawyers, Dancers, Reporters appe...
Wed, Apr 20 2016

Amtrak Accessibility Issues for Deaf Travelers
Audio Accessibility I went to present at a conference in Massachusetts last month and took train there via Amtrak. While I like traveling, I often experience communication and information access issues on trains like I do during air travels. Many deaf and hard of hearing travelers share same frustrations. Amtrak website allowed me to book tickets online […] The post Amtrak Accessibil...
Thu, Apr 07 2016

Sign Language Is NOT a Substitute to Captioning
Audio Accessibility This past weekend the blizzard hit the east coast of USA, so there were emergency announcements by mayors of cities and governors of states impacted by the blizzard. They are usually captioned on TV for millions of deaf and hard of hearing people. Lately, sign language interpreters have been included in emergency announcements. It may […] The post Sign Language Is...
Tue, Jan 26 2016

Spring Awakening – Pros and Cons of Broadway Plays in ASL
Audio Accessibility Happy New Year! I wanted to start the new year with an article about Spring Awakening, a Broadway play in ASL (American Sign Language), directed by Deaf West. They also directed another play on Broadway back in 2003, Big River. Deaf actors work with hearing actors who voice for them for hearing audience. I have […] The post Spring Awakening – Pros and Cons of Br...
Mon, Jan 04 2016

The 2015 Year in Review
Audio Accessibility It’s been a while since I last wrote a blog post. Many things were happening in the past couple years. I was working on my new book that I published earlier this year – one of achievements in my life that I’m proud of. The book is called “Sound Is Not Enough: Captioning as Universal […] The post The 2015 Year in Review appeared first on Audio Accessibility...
Tue, Dec 29 2015

To Be or Not To Be Deaf, That is The Question
Audio Accessibility Helen Keller, a well known deaf-blind American said: “Deafness is a much worse misfortune. For it means the loss of the most vital stimulus — the sound of the voice that brings language, sets thoughts astir and keep us in the intellectual company of man.” That’s what many hearing people would think, too. As a […] The post To Be or Not To Be Deaf, That is T...
Sun, May 04 2014

“I Will Tell You Later”
Audio Accessibility It is a response we deaf and hard of hearing people often get when we ask hearing people what they are talking about. When we follow up, they say something like: “Oh I forgot, but it was not important.” There are also other comments like “Never mind”, “Hold on a minute”, “You don’t need to […] The post “I Will Tell You Later” appeared first on ...
Wed, Apr 02 2014

RIT/NTID – Deafness Is Not Equal to Sign Language
Audio Accessibility As an RIT alumna, I would like share with you the following articles about communication access issues at RIT/NTID to better understand that I was not the only oral deaf student who was frustrated there. I find it sad that NTID still forces oral and cueing deaf students at RIT to learn sign language. Are […] The post RIT/NTID – Deafness Is Not Equal to Sign Lang...
Mon, Mar 24 2014

Sochi Olympics and Paralympics 2014 and Captioning
Audio Accessibility Time flew really fast after London Summer 2012 Olympics, and just recently Winter Olympics in Sochi were over with Paralympics happening there now. I discussed accessibility of London Olympics and Paralympics, and now I would like to discuss accessibility of the Sochi Games. I would like to start with an article in Russian by Gluxix.net […] The post Sochi Olympics...
Thu, Mar 13 2014

Sochi Olympics and Paralympics 2014 and Captioning
Audio Accessibility Time flew really fast after London Summer 2012 Olympics, and just recently Winter Olympics in Sochi were over with Paralympics happening there now. I discussed accessibility of London Olympics and Paralympics, and now I would like to discuss accessibility of the Sochi Games. I would like to start with an article in Russian by Gluxix.net […] The post Sochi Olympics...
Thu, Mar 13 2014

Vimeo Captioning Feature Finally Added
Audio Accessibility After many complaints for 6 years about the lack of captioning feature, Vimeo finally implemented it recently and made it public on January 7th. You can find details about how to add captions/subtitles in their Help section. When testing captions in Vimeo videos, there are a few things that I liked: Captions are shown as […] The post Vimeo Captioning Feature Finall...
Mon, Feb 24 2014

Super Bowl XLVIII – Derrick Coleman, Amber Zion,...
Audio Accessibility What do those people have to do with the recent Super Bowl and what do they have in common? They have some or no hearing and took part in the most popular American event: Derrick Coleman is the NFL’s first deaf offensive player to play in Superbowl. His team, Seattle’s Seahawks, won the recent Super […] The post Super Bowl XLVIII – Derrick Coleman, Amber Zion...
Tue, Feb 04 2014

Music to Deaf Ears?
Audio Accessibility Can people who are deaf or hard of hearing enjoy music or even play musical instruments? Sure! Listening to music is not the only way. When I was little, I was fascinated with my grandmother’s piano and wanted to learn how to play it. My grandmother had a piano book for kids that was used […] The post Music to Deaf Ears? appeared first on Audio Accessibility.
Sun, Jan 19 2014

Year 2013 in Review
Audio Accessibility The new year is already starting soon this week, and I would like to highlight some things related to audio accessibility happening throughout this passing year: Holiday season brought heartwarming videos of a hearing kindergartener signing to her deaf parents and a deaf girl signing “The Night Before Christmas”. The most attention-grabbing news of this […] The...
Mon, Dec 30 2013

Importance of Quality Communication Access – No Waving...
Audio Accessibility People attended the memorial service for former South African President Nelson Mandela at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on December 10 which was broadcasted around the world. Sadly, the tribute to the well respected man was overshadowed with an embarrassing incident – the service was “interpreted” in sign language by Thamsanqa Jantjie who was reported to […] Th...
Thu, Dec 12 2013

Dangerous Decibels – Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
Audio Accessibility I came across a comic by Liam F Walsh published in New Yorker showing people acting as blind by using mobile devices and white canes to navigate around. The artist could also have added earbuds as they make people deaf by listening to their portable devices and being oblivious to the world around them. In […] The post Dangerous Decibels – Noise-Induced Hearing Lo...
Wed, Dec 11 2013

“We Want the Joys of Communicating in Many Ways”
Audio Accessibility Those are Harry Lang’s words quoted by I. King Jordan at his presentation during the recent ALDA/TDI conference in New Mexico. Communication is not limited to spoken languages only – it can happen in other ways such as via captioning, sign language, cued speech, lipreading, paper/pen, typing, Braille, etc. The conference was hosted by two […] The post “We Wan...
Wed, Oct 30 2013

Open Captions for US Open
Audio Accessibility It was the first time for me and my sister to be physically present at US Open in Queens, NY, earlier this week. It was a different experience from watching it on TV. What made it even great is that it was accessible for people like myself! When attending an event at a stadium, many […] The post Open Captions for US Open appeared first on Audio Accessibility.
Sat, Sep 14 2013

Plover – An Easy and Cheap Way to Learn Steno
Audio Accessibility There are over 48 million of deaf and hard of hearing people in USA, but only about 300 certified CART writers are available to provide real-time captioning services for live events. Obviously, it is not enough for those people, especially that majority of them know little or no sign language to benefit from interpreters. CART […] The post Plover – An Easy and Ch...
Tue, Aug 20 2013

Accessibility Webinars Inaccessible to Deaf People
Audio Accessibility There are many times when people talk about accessibility, they do not think about making their information accessible via visual means such as real time captioning to those who cannot hear or making recordings accessible before putting them online. It’s understandable that many people are not familiar with accessibility until I explain to them why...
Sun, Jul 21 2013

Telecommunications – Going Backwards?
Audio Accessibility Even though I am not a fan of phone relay services and prefer emailing or texting or instant messaging to communicate to people directly, I appreciate the ability to make phone calls via any type of those services that I wrote about in my last post. However, I got an email message from Sorenson that...
Mon, Jul 08 2013

Hello! A Person is Calling You Through Relay…
Audio Accessibility “…This is a relay operator X. Have you received a relay call before?” When people not familiar with deafness hears those words, they often hang up thinking it is telemarketing. It is not – phone relay services is what deaf/hoh people use to communicate with hearing parties. Video – (NJ Relay “Don’t Hang Up” Video)...
Fri, Jun 07 2013

Is Hearing Device a Magic Wand?
Audio Accessibility When looking at people using hearing devices (hearing aids and cochlear implants), don’t assume that they can hear and understand everything. It’s not like wearing eyeglasses that gives you 20/20 vision – even eyeglasses are not beneficial to people who are blind or have some severe eye sight problems. Just being able to hear is...
Mon, May 06 2013

Bullying Inside the Deaf/HOH Community
Audio Accessibility Shanna Groves, the deaf author and speaker, has been writing a lot about stopping hearing loss bullying. Many of us deaf/hoh people have experienced bullying by hearing people, and most of it is usually done due to ignorance. What bothers me most is bullying INSIDE the deaf/hoh community. It’s hard enough for us deaf/hoh people...
Fri, Apr 12 2013

Why is Open Captioning a Best Solution for Movie Theaters?
Audio Accessibility I am writing a follow up to my article, Fire Alarm to Protest Against a Captioned Movie? – where I mentioned about a 30-something man pulling fire alarm to protest against the open-captioned Avengers at a movie theater in Maryland last year. Also, there were complaints from hearing Brits complaining last year about The Artist...
Mon, Mar 18 2013

Can You Lipread?
Audio Accessibility It’s the first and the most favorite question hearing people would ask deaf people – even after some deaf people ask them to write down or type what they say. However, it’s one of the MAJOR pet peeves of many deaf/hoh people when it comes to communicating with hearing people. This question gives the impression...
Fri, Mar 08 2013

Hearing Loss and Stigma
Audio Accessibility There are 48 millions of deaf and hard of hearing people in the USA or 20% of the total USA population, but only 1 in 5 of people who could benefit from hearing aids use them. The major reasons are the stigma associated with hearing loss and the financial issues. When people experience hearing loss,...
Mon, Feb 25 2013

Videos for Valentine’s Day
Audio Accessibility Love does not care if you have hearing or not, and it also does not care if you can communicate verbally. I would like to show three videos to demonstrate that. Enjoy the videos and Happy Valentine’s Day! SIGNS Short … Continue reading The post Videos for Valentine’s Day appeared first on Audio Accessibility.
Thu, Feb 14 2013