Live Captioning

Live captioning powered by AI provides an easy and affordable way to increase accessibility and engagement at meetings and events.

What is Live Captioning?

Live captioning, also known as real-time captioning or live transcription, is the process of providing a text-based summary of spoken words during a live event or webinar. This service is particularly beneficial for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as those who may have difficulty understanding spoken language. Live captioning is also a great option to offer for attendees who prefer to read captions while listening to a presentation similar to how they stream tv shows and movies.

Live captioning is commonly used in various contexts, including:

  • Live Events: Conferences, seminars, workshops, and other live presentations can have live captioning to ensure that participants with hearing impairments can follow along with the spoken content.
  • Broadcasting: Live captioning is often used in television broadcasts, webinars, and live streaming to make the content accessible to a broader audience.
  • Meetings and Video Conferencing: Virtual meetings and video conferences can include live captioning to facilitate communication for participants with hearing disabilities.
  • Educational Settings: Live captioning may be used in classrooms or online courses to make educational content accessible to students who are deaf or hard of hearing.
  • Public Events: Live captioning can be provided at public events such as city council meetings, sporting events, concerts, and performances to ensure that everyone, regardless of their hearing ability, can fully engage with the event.

Live captioning can be generated through various methods. One common approach is to use stenographers or captioners who transcribe the spoken words in real-time. Additionally, automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology powered by artificial intelligence can be employed to provide instant captions. AI is making the process easier to implement and much more affordable. The captions are typically displayed on a screen, integrated into video streams, or made available through meeting and event platforms, ensuring that individuals who prefer written text for comprehension can access the information in real time.

Example of Live Captioning at a Live Presentation

When is Live Captioning Required?

Live captioning may be required to make audio information and communication accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing in a wide range of situations.

Many organizations have obligations under civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination and require the provision of accommodations, such as live captioning, to ensure equal access, an equal opportunity to participate, and effective communication with people who are deaf or hard of hearing.  These organizations may have obligations under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and other laws.

Live captioning may be required to provide access to any services that are open to the public, from government meetings, concert venues and university lectures to employment, healthcare, and legal services.

For live presentations, live captioning, or CART captioning, may be required to ensure effective communication with individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing in those settings. In general, wherever an organization may be required to provide the services of a qualified sign language translator, CART should also be considered. The decision of which accommodation to provide should be based on the needs of the people making the request.

Why Offer Live Captioning

If you’re hosting live events, you should consider providing live captions for many reasons:

  • Live captions increase accessibility for viewers who are deaf and hard-of-hearing
  • Live captions boost attendee engagement, comprehension, and learning
  • Live captions can help you comply with legal requirements for reasonable accommodations
  • Live captions enable attendees who prefer to read whilst listening to presentations better understand the content, and be more engaged

Wordly Live Captioning Solutions

Wordly offers live captioning and live subtitling which provides a high quality and affordable solution to help organizations meet accommodation requests as well as provide a more engaging experience for all attendees.

Wordly is powered by AI and converts audio into live captions in real time. An event attendee can access AI captioning on their mobile phone by scanning a QR code - or on a computer by visiting a website.

Attendees can also access the live captions displayed on a monitor next to the stage - or as an overlay on the presentation screen.

Example of Live Captioning at the Salesforce Dreamforce Event

Wordly also offers real-time translation into dozens of languages, enabling attendees to read translated captions. Each event attendee can select their own language. This provides an affordable solution that is easy to implement and a replacement for sign language translation.

The AI Translation solution is available 24/7 and sessions can be set up and live in just a few minutes - enabling you to add both captions and translated subtitles to events with minimal planning.

English, Spanish, and Japanese Translation

Wordly Live Captions Sample in 3 Languages

Wordly enables organizations to unlock the potential of their multilingual teams and global markets by removing language barriers, increasing inclusivity, engagement, productivity, and attendance.

Customers include small and large businesses, universities, nonprofit organizations, industry associations, and local governments.

Wordly is used by over 1,000 organizations and 2 million users for a wide range of use cases, including industry conferences, customer webinars, sales kickoff meetings, partner training, employee onboarding, government meetings, church services, and much more.

Wordly Live Captioning Packages

We make it easy to add live translation and captioning to your meetings and events with a comprehensive package that includes live AI translation along with customized support and training to get you up and running quickly.

You can purchase by the event - or purchase an annual subscription to cover your needs for 12 months and benefit from our volume discounts.

Each translation and captioning package includes:

Live AI Translation and Captioning - You get live translation of your events into both audio and text output - attendees can choose whether they want to listen and / or read. You also get full text transcripts from every session.

Extensive Language Options - Each attendee can select their preferred language from dozens of options which come standard with every Wordly subscription. Since Wordly provides multi-directional translation, we can support 2,000+ language pairs (e.g., English to Spanish, Spanish to Vietnamese, French to Spanish, etc.). You can conduct the meeting in English, Spanish, or dozens of other Wordly supported languages. See all language interpretation options.

Customizable Glossaries - Create a customized glossary of names and other important terminology unique to your organization that you want to make sure are translated correctly.

Flexible Delivery Formats - Offer Wordly both for in-person and virtual attendees via Zoom or other video platforms - there is no additional charge for using multiple formats to support hybrid sessions.

Personalized Onboarding - We assign a Customer Success team member to guide you through the onboarding process. This includes account setup, admin training, integration assistance, translation glossary creation, dress rehearsal tests, presenter coaching, and technical support as needed.

Easy Setup - Once you are onboarded, it takes less than 10 minutes to set up Wordly each meeting. The process is similar to creating an event in your online calendar.

Easy Access - Attendees can access Wordly in 2 easy steps. For in person events, they scan a QR code with their mobile phone, select their language, and then have instant access to live audio and text output. For virtual events, they click a link on their computer, select their language, and then have instant access to live audio and text output. You can also choose to have the captions displayed on monitors at your events so people can follow along without using their phones.  

No Special Equipment - Since Wordly is powered by AI, there is no special equipment required. Attendees use their personal phone or computer and headphones. The sound system is connected to the Wordly translation and captioning cloud through a web browser or the Wordly translation app. Setup for an in person event takes about 10 minutes per stage.

Sign Language Alternative - In addition to enabling attendees to participate in their preferred language, Wordly also provides a good alternative to sign language for people who may need hearing assistance since they can read the live captions.

Affordable Pricing - Pricing is based on the number of hours you purchase and the number of users. You get audio and caption output for all Wordly supported languages, along with text transcripts, for one fixed price. We offer volume discounts and non profit / educational organizations qualify for discounts off our standard prices.

Since Wordly is powered by AI, you do not need to hire individual interpreters for each language. You can save 50-90% or more versus the cost of hiring human translators.

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