Since first emerging in the 1970s, captions have evolved to serve an ever-broadening array of people and institutions well beyond the deaf and hard of hearing. Broadcasters, corporates, governments and even YouTubers are now using live, often multi-lingual captions to not only make their content accessible, but also more engaging and to expand its reach globally.
Event organisers are following the lead of other content creators by enhancing their event broadcasts with captions. Here’s why.
How captions go beyond simply providing accessibility for event broadcasts
Given that over five per cent of the world’s population has significant hearing loss, event organisers have long adopted live captions to provide accessibility to their virtual or in-person event broadcasts. And in the process, many have discovered unexpected benefits of captioning.
One of the biggest is that captions improve comprehension and information retention, not only for those watching in their non-native language, but for people with high literacy levels, too. So if you want attendees leaving your event recalling key information, captions are the answer.
Sometimes, however, captions provide enhanced engagement in simpler ways. For instance, at an in-person event like a trade show. Often, streaming content on a screen within a trade booth in a loud, busy environment means that those who visit the booth or pass by will have trouble hearing the content. By adding captions, the audience can easily engage with and comprehend the content.
Captions also allow event organisers more flexibility in the way they broadcast events. For instance, if an event has several broadcasts taking place in separate breakout rooms, you can stream these broadcasts to multiple screens in a common area. With captions added to each of these screens, those viewing can easily follow each broadcast, without audio.
And perhaps the greatest flexibility captions provide is for event attendees, who can engage with broadcasts even if they’re in a public setting where sound isn’t an option, like while on the train or in a noisy (or quiet) environment.
Expanding event audiences with live multi-lingual captions
One of the greatest innovations of modern captioning is the ability to translate audio into a variety of languages. Live multi-lingual captions allow event organisers to break down language barriers and reach previously untapped global audiences.
For instance, a virtual event broadcasting in English can use live multi-lingual captions to make the content accessible to those in other countries – regardless of what language they speak. Or if a multi-national corporation is broadcasting a town hall meeting for the entire business, live multi-lingual captions can make the broadcast intelligible to all.
How can you enhance event broadcasts with live captions and translations?
If you’re looking to seamlessly integrate captions into your event broadcasts, Ai-Media can help. Our end-to-end hardware and software solutions make event broadcast captioning and translations easy – whatever your requirements, video format or output display. Trusted by broadcasters globally, our solutions offer proven reliability, security and interoperability.
Whether you need a solution for a large high-end event with multiple speakers and languages, or you’re after a low touch self-managed set-up for smaller events, Ai-Media has a solution to meet your needs. Contact us today to discover how you can boost your events by increasing accessibility, enhancing engagement and expanding your audiences.
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