YouTube adds auto-captioning option to videos

YouTube has expanded its auto-caption functioning to make it easier for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals to access content on the website.

Previously available only in beta, auto-captioning will use the same speech-to-text engine available in Google Voice to transcribe the words spoken in YouTube videos. There are some early drawbacks to this method similar to the comically bad Google Voice transcription. Speech-to-text has difficulty deciphering accents and some technological terms get jumbled when converted (in a demo, the phrase “SIM card” became “Salmon). There will also be problems if a video has background noise or music that may make it difficult to recognize speech patterns.

Google thinks the new caption function will be especially useful for educational purposes. Universities have already participated in the beta of captions, and it has proved valuable to deaf users. The closed captioning currently supports only English, but will eventually support other languages and transcribing from English to other tongues.

Important notes from Google’s conference and blog announcement

• YouTube users will be able to search for specific content with auto-captioning
• YouTube search will have a filter to deliver only results that have captions
• Video owners can upload their own captions with a written transcript to ensure accuracy and decrease processing time

Read [YouTube Blog]