Miss-Delectable
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Bill seeks to expand captioning for deaf- MassLive.com
For many years, hard of hearing and deaf individuals have used caption decoders to aid them in watching their favorite television shows. About two decades ago, the federal government required television networks to provide closed captioning for viewers with hearing loss.
More recently, the Internet has boomed, moving well past the point of only being used as a research tool to find information on numerous topics and to keep updated on local, national and world news. Not only is the Internet filled with information, it is also used as a communications tool, including e-mail, instant messaging, chat rooms and message boards.
Many people also use the Internet to view movie clips, television shows, newscasts and sporting events. However, many are not able to take full advantage of these media because of their disabilites. Democratic U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, of Malden, is sponsoring a bill that would mandate major producers of Internet videos to implement captioning and video description soundtracks on their videos. Television networks would be obligated to deliver captioning and video description tracks when streaming their shows online, along with video description tracks as well as closed captioning for traditional over-the-air broadcasts.
While there are some technological issues to overcome, such as formatting captions and video descriptions to be compatible with Windows, Macintosh and Linux computers, along with the different media players available for each computer, the industry says these concerns can be resolved and is working on them.
The captioning and video description soundtrack requirements would also apply to telephones that carry video streams. As evidence that this is feasible despite small screen sizes, advocates point to the iPhone, which already has some captioned video capability.
Markey's bill would also affect home television equipment, such as requiring audio cues to assist blind individuals using TV and digital video recorder menus.
Another provision of the bill would cover telephone handsets that are used over the Internet rather than over land lines. These "Internet phone" handsets would be subject to the same requirements that apply to land line handsets, mainly t-coil compatibility for hearing aids and TTY compatibility.
With new advances in media, we as a society have to ensure that everyone has the accommodations for complete access to all areas. If passed, this bill will realize Markey's hope that "people with disabilities are not left behind as technology changes."
For many years, hard of hearing and deaf individuals have used caption decoders to aid them in watching their favorite television shows. About two decades ago, the federal government required television networks to provide closed captioning for viewers with hearing loss.
More recently, the Internet has boomed, moving well past the point of only being used as a research tool to find information on numerous topics and to keep updated on local, national and world news. Not only is the Internet filled with information, it is also used as a communications tool, including e-mail, instant messaging, chat rooms and message boards.
Many people also use the Internet to view movie clips, television shows, newscasts and sporting events. However, many are not able to take full advantage of these media because of their disabilites. Democratic U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, of Malden, is sponsoring a bill that would mandate major producers of Internet videos to implement captioning and video description soundtracks on their videos. Television networks would be obligated to deliver captioning and video description tracks when streaming their shows online, along with video description tracks as well as closed captioning for traditional over-the-air broadcasts.
While there are some technological issues to overcome, such as formatting captions and video descriptions to be compatible with Windows, Macintosh and Linux computers, along with the different media players available for each computer, the industry says these concerns can be resolved and is working on them.
The captioning and video description soundtrack requirements would also apply to telephones that carry video streams. As evidence that this is feasible despite small screen sizes, advocates point to the iPhone, which already has some captioned video capability.
Markey's bill would also affect home television equipment, such as requiring audio cues to assist blind individuals using TV and digital video recorder menus.
Another provision of the bill would cover telephone handsets that are used over the Internet rather than over land lines. These "Internet phone" handsets would be subject to the same requirements that apply to land line handsets, mainly t-coil compatibility for hearing aids and TTY compatibility.
With new advances in media, we as a society have to ensure that everyone has the accommodations for complete access to all areas. If passed, this bill will realize Markey's hope that "people with disabilities are not left behind as technology changes."