Captions are the "audio" for deaf and hard of hearing people. Captions is basically another word for "words," and they are usually placed at the bottom portion of the screen. Captions enable deaf and hard of hearing people to understand and enjoy the dialogue the same way hearing people do. Captions also help improve literacy for all populations.

Captioning formats are the kinds, or types, of captioning. These include captioning such as:

1. open
2. closed
3. subtitles for deaf and hard of hearing persons
4. off-line
5. on-line
6. real-time
7. digital

1. Open-captioning
   Similar to subtitling, open captions are always visible; they are "burned" onto the videotape and no decoder or a built-in TV decoder chip is needed to view them. They are usually white letters with a black rim or drop shadow. A wide variety of fonts is available for open-captioning, allowing the use of upper- and lower-case letters with descenders that drop below the baseline. The options for caption placement are great, permitting location anywhere on the screen.
   
2. Closed-captioning
   Closed captions are not normally visible; a decoder or television with a decoder chip is necessary to view them. They are generally white capital letters encased in a black box. However, newer technology will soon allow color text and color background, as well as latitude in the type of fonts that can be used and where captions can appear.
   
3. Subtitling
   Subtitles are a form of open captions where the spoken dialogue in one language is translated and captioned in another.
   
4. Off-line captioning
   Off-line captioning is the preparation of captioning for prerecorded programs. At time of playback, captions are part of the video and may be "open" or "closed." The captioning method normally used is "pop-on". Off-line captioning is highly accurate and can include descriptive captions as well as dialogue.
   
5. On-line captioning
   On-line captioning is provided at the time, or "live" television program origination. These captions are "closed." The captioning method normally used is "roll-up".
   
6. Real-time captioning
   Real-time is a method of on-line captioning that attempts to provide simultaneous, word-for-word transcription of a speaker's words. It is typically used for live programs such as a presidential speech, sporting event, newscast, or other events that do not allow time to prepare prerecorded captions. These captions are "closed." Real-time captioning is performed by a trained steno-captioner. Real-time captioning is less accurate and often not synchronized with the visible speech.
   
7. Digital captioning Digital captioning is a developing captioning technology, which permits access to DVDs, CD-ROMs, and the Internet. This technology will allow developers of Web pages and multimedia software to incorporate captioning into their products. These captions may be "open" or "closed."

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1. pop-on
2. roll-up
3. paint-on

1. Pop-on captions
   Pop-on captions are usually one or two lines of captions that appear onscreen and remain visible for one to several seconds before they disappear. A few frames of videotape are left without captions before the next line(s) of captions "pop-on."
   
2. Roll-up captions
   Roll-up captions are usually verbatim and synchronized. Captions follow double chevrons ("greater than" symbols), and are used to indicate different speaker identifications. Each sentence "rolls up" to about three lines. The top line of the three disappears as a new bottom line is added, allowing the continuous rolling up of new lines of captions.
   
3. Paint-on captions
   Paint-on captions are similar to roll-up captions. Paint-on captions are when individual words are "painted on" from left to right, not popped on with all captions at once, and usually are verbatim.

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• Computer-Assisted Notetaking involves making lecture (or speech) notes for helping deaf and hard of hearing people follow those discussions. The notetaker heavily abbreviates, summarizes, and types on the computer whatever is being said. No attempt is made to faithfully reproduce all utterances of the speakers.
  
• Computer-Assisted Realtime (CART) is usually used for live (in-person) events, especially in schools and meetings. The CART approach doesn't require television-style video at all. The computer program that generates the text displays it on the computer's screen with no video picture behind it. It can be displayed in whatever fonts and sizes the computer allows, and can fill the entire screen rather than just a few lines.
  
• Electronic Newsroom Captioning (ENR) is used primarily for local newscasts, and relies on an interface between an electronic newsroom and the encoding device. Yet, ENR cannot caption material which is unscripted or not entered into the newsroom's computer system before broadcast. The optimum display speed for prompted script is often too fast for caption display.
  
• Live-display captioning is sometimes used by television stations, through their teleprompter, to provide captioning. The scripts that the anchors read from are identical to the caption output. However, the entire program is not captioned. For example, if there is a story that was prepared shortly before air time, or a live story , then the captioning does not appear on the screen for the viewer. Weather and sports may not be done either. The captions can appear many sentences ahead or behind what is actually occurring, possibly making it confusing for the viewer to follow the captions and the story.

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This material was adapted from:

"Captioning Formats and Methods" (NADH-38)
A publication of the Captioned Media Program
National Association of the Deaf
1447 east Main Street
Spartanburg, SC 26307
800-237-6213 VOICE
800-237-6819 TTY
800-538-5636 FAX
info@cfv.org
www.cfv.org