Broadcast Captioning
Broadcast captioners, also called stenocaptioners, use court reporter skills on the stenotype machine to provide captions of live television programs for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers through realtime technology that instantly produces readable English text.
Captions are displayed to any handheld device, laptop computer or HDTV
Online (realtime) captions is used primarily for live broadcasts, such as news, entertainment programs and sporting events. This style of captioning requires a skilled steno machine writer with a Total Accuracy Rate of over 98% and may be performed at speeds up to and possibly exceeding 300 wpm.
Realtime broadcast captioning has traditionally been used by the deaf and hard-of-hearing to allow viewers to read what is being spoken. In addition to this core audience, viewers who benefit from broadcast captioning include those learning English as a second language; children learning to read or improving their reading skills; patrons of restaurants, bars, health clubs, airports or other public facilities who are not able to hear the TV audio due to background noise; anyone living in a noisy area such as near a busy street; and anyone wishing to view a program without using audio. _________________________________
