The benefits of captioning are manifold, however, there are a few significant advantages that every organization should keep in mind as they choose their Video Content Management System (VCMS) and lecture capture platforms.
Here are the top eight benefits of captions:
Provide Insights for Those with Disabilities
Captions can significantly help those with hearing disabilities and impairments. Captions can make verbally expressed words simpler to hear for those with hearing loss. This is because the meaning of words is affected by the hearer’s assumptions. Captions also give data about audio effects or speaker identification that may be crucial to understanding the content of the video.
Help Those in Sound-Sensitive Environments
With the help of closed captions, audiences can watch videos in places where sound is inaccessible or frowned upon. This is most true in libraries, offices, and public establishments. What’s more, auto-play on mute is a widespread trend on social media platforms. Captions can considerably improve the experience of these videos and help audiences understand the content of the videos without sound.
Having adept captions within your videos can help position your content higher on web indexes and search engines.
Improve Language Skills
Captions can play a great role in learning and improving your language abilities. Though not necessarily a surefire strategy to comprehend a foreign language, learning a language in lifelike situations through video content can definitely assist you.
According to research by the National Institute of Health, captions can help ESL students incorporate learning cognizance, acknowledgment, and maintenance when it comes to learning another language. For example, from the well-known Korean group, BTS, the lead singer, RM, has attested to learning English through watching the television sitcom “Friends” and using captions.
Boost Search Engine Ranking
Having adept captions within your videos can help position your content higher on web indexes and search engines. Through massive search engines such as Google and YouTube, your videos can be made to be more searchable and discoverable by audiences. In essence, your videos can become simpler to discover because of the wealth of information and video data that captions can provide for the content of your media.
Improve Understanding of Technical Vocabulary
Adding captions can add lucidity to your content. This is especially important for specialized language, brand name, or industry vernacular. If audiences do not understand the language being used, captions can provide the necessary clarity for watchers to appreciate and realize the content they were watching.
Understand Foreign Accents and Background Noise
With a lot going on throughout a video, captions can help audiences understand what is going on despite any background noise or side effects that are occurring. This is also true for foreign and difficult to understand accents as audiences can read along with the speaker to fully grasp the content of the video.
Increase Literacy and Comprehension Rate
Students can benefit significantly from captions. They can have the added benefit of reading while listening and giving data textually and using video is much more engaging for students. In students’ early years, utilizing captions while watching any form of video can maximize the exposure of reading and improve literacy and comprehension.
Provide Accessibility for Everyone
Accessibility is the most notable advantage of captioning. No matter the form of video, captions can make video content more accessible for a wider audience. With captions, audiences can access videos from any location. This includes sound-sensitive environments for all audiences as well as literally any location for those with hearing impairments or disabilities.
Captions significantly enhance the experience of watching videos for many people. This is especially true for those with hearing impairments, however, even those without disabilities can benefit greatly from captions. Overall, captioning videos has many benefits that can assist audiences as well as organizations who elect to use them effectively.
Editor’s Note: This is a guest blog from one one of our technology integration partners, cielo24 Learn more about how to integrate human-based captioning services to the YuJa Enterprise Video Platform.
