Captions return to Spaces
Why audio accessibility should be a priority
Stop. Rewind. Play. is brought to you by Big Tent Media - we make audio content easy.
Sick of spending hours editing? Does your podcast need a refresh? or perhaps you have an idea but have yet to hit record. From podcasts to game audio, repurposing content to creating accessible white papers and reports. We can help. Get in touch.
Captions have returned to Twitter Spaces… well, on mobile at least. The disappearance of captions has been mystifying and frustrating. Why remove a feature that allows more people access to the content?*
For platforms utilising audio, captions and transcripts should not be an additional feature. They are integral to creating accessible audio content, not an after-thought or a nice-to-have.
It’s not just the hard of hearing or disabled who make use of captions and transcripts. They are useful for anyone wanting to access the content with ‘sound off’, for those learning a language or for non-native speakers.
For podcasters and social audio hosts tools such as Otter.ai and Descript are making it easier than ever to turn your audio into text. Not only does this create an instant blog or social media post, but if you add it to your website it also makes the content of your audio searchable online. Where Google can not search an audio file, it can crawl the text version of the content.
✂️ Cut The Tape
Making audio content accessible and inclusive for all is essential, and transcripts and captions play a crucial role in achieving this.
Creating transcripts and captions for audio content can be done through manual transcription or automated software.
Reddit users discuss adding transcripts and timestamps | r/podcasting
*With the original Spaces tech team gone and tech support stripped to next to nothing I guess removing anything that might break was a priority - and that meant no more captions.
🎧 #Podcasting
YouTube and music streaming losing listening time to podcasts according to new survey from iHeart | Inside Radio
Audacy State of Audio Spring 2023 report | Audacy
Cumulus Media Audioscape 2023 report | Cumulus Media
Bloomberg’s Ashley Carmen says ‘nobody is listening’ to network show posting static images on YouTube | Bloomberg
🎶 #SoundDesign
Marvel video game sound designer Gary Miranda reveals his approach to creating worlds with sound | Magnetic Mag
How sound design can be strategic | LBB Online
Ben Burtt breaks down iconic Star War sound design | CDM Create Digital Music
🔮 #AudioFuture
Is Bot DJ FM coming for radio? | Hypebot
Amazon to boost podcast discoverability with purchase of Snackable AI | TechCrunch
Grimes gives access to all you need to ‘Grimesify’ your vocals | Musicradar
AudioGPT? | Medium
Pros and cons of token-gated streaming | NFT Now
🗣 #SocialAudio
Clubhouse and the challenge of asynchronous social audio | Tekedia
Spotify Live’s last day | @morqon
Hear what BBC North America Tech journalist James Clayton had to say about THAT Spaces interview with Elon | BBC
This week on #AllThingsAudio we talk about Clubhouse is cutting staff by 50%. The official line is that is more about streamlining a global remote team to ship Clubhouse 2.0, than it is financials. We hear from regular contributor and Michael Sterling on this and the announcement that monetisation trials on the app are being put on hold.
Follow All Things Audio wherever you listen to podcasts to make sure you never miss an episode. Leave a rating and/or review to help more people find us.
The podcast episode that changed everything for me. Twenty Thousand Hertz features acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton. His un-erring determination to capture the sounds of nature, undisturbed by noise pollution is so inspiring. In this episode he talks about what it takes to become a good listener and how he is learning to live with hearing loss.
To see how a transcript should be done here is a first-class example. The transcript for ‘Sound Escapes’ on the 20kHz website includes simple formatting and thoughtful sfx description to bring the text version to live.
“Silence is not the absence of something but the presence of everything… Silence is the moonlit song of the coyote signing the air, and the answer of its mate. It is the falling snow that will later melt with an astonishing reggae rhythm so crisp that you will want to dance to it. It is the sound of pollinating winged insects vibrating soft tunes as they defensively dart in and out of the pine boughs to temporarily escape the breeze…”