Closed captioning (CC) and subtitling are both processes of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information. Both are typically used as a transcription of the audio portion of a program as it occurs, sometimes including descriptions of non-speech elements. Other uses have included providing a textual alternative language translation of a presentation's primary audio language that is usually burned-in to the video and unselectable.
A subcarrier is a sideband of a radio frequency carrier wave, which is modulated to send additional information. Examples include the provision of colour in a black and white television system or the provision of stereo in a monophonic radio broadcast. There is no physical difference between a carrier and a subcarrier; the "sub" implies that it has been derived from a carrier, which has been amplitude modulated by a steady signal and has a constant frequency relation to it.
Low-power broadcasting is broadcasting by a broadcast station at a low transmitter power output to a smaller service area than "full power" stations within the same region. It is often distinguished from "micropower broadcasting" and broadcast translators. LPAM, LPFM and LPTV are in various levels of use across the world, varying widely based on the laws and their enforcement.
Second audio program (SAP), also known as secondary audio programming, is an auxiliary audio channel for analog television that can be broadcast or transmitted both over-the-air and by cable television. Used mostly for audio description or other languages, SAP is part of the multichannel television sound (MTS) standard originally set by the National Television Systems Committee (NTSC) in 1984 in the United States. The NTSC video format and MTS are also used in Canada and Mexico.
Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" and "indirect access" meaning compatibility with a person's assistive technology.
A broadcast flag is a bit field sent in the data stream of a digital television program that indicates whether or not the data stream can be recorded, or if there are any restrictions on recorded content. Possible restrictions include the inability to save an unencrypted digital program to a hard disk or other non-volatile storage, inability to make secondary copies of recorded content, forceful reduction of quality when recording, and inability to skip over commercials.
A telecommunications relay service, also known as TRS, relay service, or IP-relay, or Web-based relay service, is an operator service that allows people who are deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, or have a speech disorder to place calls to standard telephone users via a keyboard or assistive device. Originally, relay services were designed to be connected through a TDD, teletypewriter (TTY) or other assistive telephone device. Services gradually have expanded to include almost any real-time text capable technology such as a personal computer, laptop, mobile phone, PDA, and many other devices. The first TTY was invented by deaf scientist Robert Weitbrecht in 1964. The first relay service was established in 1974 by Converse Communications of Connecticut.
Audio description, also referred to as a video description, described video, or more precisely visual description, is a form of narration used to provide information surrounding key visual elements in a media work for the benefit of blind and visually impaired consumers. These narrations are typically placed during natural pauses in the audio, and sometimes during dialogue if deemed necessary. Occasionally when a film briefly has subtitled dialogue for a character speaking a different language in the film such as in the 1977 film, Star Wars: A New Hope with Greedo's confrontation with Han Solo, the narrator will read out the dialogue in character.
Within the field of human–computer interaction, game accessibility refers to the accessibility of video games. More broadly, game accessibility refers to the accessibility of all gaming products, including video games, tabletop RPGs, board games, and related products. Video game accessibility is considered a sub-field of computer accessibility, which studies how software and computers can be made accessible to users with various types of impairments.
Subtitles are text representing the contents of the audio in a film, television show, opera or other audiovisual media. Subtitles might provide a transcription or translation of spoken dialogue. Although naming conventions can vary, captions are subtitles that include written descriptions of other elements of the audio like music or sound effects. Captions are thus especially helpful to people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Other times, subtitles add information not present in the audio. Localizing subtitles provide cultural context to viewers, for example by explaining to an unfamiliar American audience that sake is a type of Japanese wine. Lastly, subtitles are sometimes used for humor, like in Annie Hall where subtitles show the characters' inner thoughts, which contradict what they were actually saying in the audio.
Multichannel television in the United States has been available since at least 1948. The United States is served by multichannel television through cable television systems, direct-broadcast satellite providers, and various other wireline video providers; among the largest television providers in the U.S. are DirecTV, Altice USA, Charter Communications, Comcast, Dish Network, and Verizon Communications. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 defines a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) as "a person such as, but not limited to, a cable operator, a multichannel multipoint distribution service, a direct broadcast satellite service, or a television receive-only satellite program distributor, who makes available for purchase, by subscribers or customers, multiple channels of video programming", where a channel is defined as a "signaling path provided by a cable television system."
VITAC is a Canonsburg, Pennsylvania-based provider of audio transcription services. It provides services such as closed captioning, dubbing, and audio description services.
AMI-tv is a Canadian, English-language, digital cable specialty channel owned by the non-profit organization Accessible Media. AMI-tv broadcasts a selection of general entertainment programming with accommodations for those who are visually or hearing impaired, with audio descriptions on the primary audio track and closed captioning available across all programming.
AMI is a not-for-profit media company that entertains, informs, and empowers Canadians who are blind or partially sighted. The company operates three broadcast services: AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French. AMI's vision is to establish and support a voice for Canadians with disabilities, representing their interests, concerns, and values through accessible media, reflection, and portrayal.
Selectable Output Control (SOC) is a content protection Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology that is incorporated into approved devices that enables the Multichannel Video Programming Distributor to disable non-secure audio-video output by encoding the video with a specific signal. In practice, SOC aims to limit the output of high definition video over non-secure analog outputs such as component video connections. When enabled, SOC will only output high definition content over a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) to devices that are High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) approved. This means that when SOC is enabled for a program, older televisions that do not have an HDMI port or are not HDCP compliant will not be able to view content. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has, until recently, had a ban on the use of SOC.
AdapTV is the world's first dedicated to the mobility impaired, hearing impaired, and visually impaired. AdapTV initially launched as a network of low power broadcasting stations (LPTV) that all carried the same programming, with the flagship station being KALTV in St. Louis, MO.
AMI-télé is a Canadian, French-language digital cable specialty channel owned by the non-profit organization Accessible Media Inc. (AMI). AMI-télé is a French version of AMI's English-language service AMI-tv, and broadcasts a selection of general entertainment programming with accommodations for those who are visually or hearing impaired, consisting of described video on the primary audio track and closed captioning available across all of its programming. The channel also broadcasts series on accessibility- and disability-related topics.
Assistive Technology for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is special technology built to assist those who are deaf or suffer from hearing loss. Examples of such technology include hearing aids, video relay services, tactile devices, alerting devices and technology for supporting communication.
Joshua A. Miele is an American research scientist who specializes in accessible technology design. Since 2019, Miele has been Principal Accessibility Researcher at Amazon Lab126, a subsidiary of Amazon that works on hardware products. Before joining Amazon, Miele conducted research on tactile graphics and auditory displays at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in California for fifteen years. He has been blind since early childhood.
WAWW-LD is a low-power television station licensed to serve Rochester, New York, United States. The station is owned by Squirrel Broadcasting Company, a joint venture of James Smisloff and New York radio and TV station owner Craig Fox. Its lone subchannel broadcasts HSN.
