Provide Captions for Live Audio in Videos

Disabilities Affected: Hearing

Success Criterion: 1.2.4

Level: AA

Captions must be provided for all live audio content in synchronized media (e.g., live video webcasts, presentations).

Why It Matters

Just like prerecorded video, live video with audio needs captions for people who are deaf or hard of hearing to understand the content in real-time.

Fixing the Issue

Providing live captions typically requires specialized tools or services. Options include:

Using real-time captioning services (CART – Communication Access Realtime Translation) where a human stenographer types captions that are streamed alongside the video.
Employing integrated live captioning features available in some web conferencing or streaming platforms (often using ASR – Automatic Speech Recognition, which may vary in accuracy).
Ensuring the chosen platform supports the display of live captions and that they are reasonably accurate and synchronized.

Good Code Example

(Conceptual) Embedding a live stream player known to support live captions:

Markup

<div id="live-stream-player-container">
  <iframe src="https://platform.example.com/live/stream123?captions=on" ...></iframe>
</div>
<p>Live captions are available for this stream. Use the player controls to toggle them.</p>

Bad Code Example

A live video stream with audio but no mechanism for captions:

Markup

<div id="live-stream-player-container">
   <iframe src="https://platform.example.com/live/stream456" ...></iframe>
</div>

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