🔠Closed Captions and Live Transcription

Whether you have a court hearing or meeting with an attorney, you can turn on closed captioning or live transcription on your video meeting. This can be helpful if you are hard of hearing. The meeting host needs to enable closed captions for the meeting, but there are ways you can request them if they have not yet been set up.

Zoom

Ask for live transcription

If live transcription is not enabled, you can ask the host enable for this meeting without interrupting them directly.

1. Click Live Transcript (CC). You will be prompted to confirm your request to have live transcription enabled by the host.

2. (Optional) Click Ask Anonymously to make this request without your name tied to it. The host will just be notified that a participant in the meeting would like this feature enabled.

3. Click Request to confirm. If the host approves the request, live transcription will begin.

Adjust the caption size

1. Next to Start Video / Stop Video, click the up arrow ^

2. Select Video Settings, then click Accessibility.

3. Under Closed Captions, move the slider to adjust the caption size.

When a participant or attendee requests live transcription be enabled, you will be prompted with the request. This request can be made anonymously, so you may not see the name of the participant requesting this feature.

1. Choose one of the following options:

• Enable: Enables live transcription for use of anyone in the meeting or webinar.

• Decline: Decline this request to have live transcription enabled. Other participants will be able to make their own requests.

• Decline and don't ask again: Decline this and all future requests to have live transcription enabled.

Setting up live closed captions

Before closed captions can be turned on, they must be enabled in the meeting. If closed captions are not enabled in your meeting, contact the meeting organizer. If you are the meeting organizer, you can enable or disable closed captioning. Learn more about how to set up live closed captions.

Limitations of real-time closed captions

Live transcription currently only supports English and the accuracy of the feature depends on many variables, such as but not limited to:

• Background noise

• Volume and clarity of the speaker’s voice

• Speaker's proficiency with the English language

• Lexicons and dialects specific to a geography or community

Starting Closed Captions in a Zoom Meeting

1. The meeting host should click Closed Caption (CC)

2. Select one of the following options:

   • Assign a participant to type: Assigns a participant to type closed captions during the meeting.

   • I will type: Opens the closed captioning window for you to manually type closed captions.

   • Copy the API token: Copy the URL that you can provide to a third-party closed captioning service to integrate the service with your meeting.

   • Enable Auto-Transcription: Allows the system to start providing live transcription. Participants will be notified that this service is available. This option is only available if enabled in web settings.

Learn more about the closed captions option in Zoom with their help article.

Teams

Live captions

Enabling live captions allows you to read the words that are spoken during calls and meetings in Microsoft Teams (free). Learn more about turning on live captions here.

1. During a call or meeting, select More actions .
2. Select Turn on live captions . You'll receive a notification showing your set language. Live captions will then be shown towards the bottom of the call screen and will only be visible to you.
3. You can turn live captions off at any time from More actions .

Note: The audio call data will be processed by Microsoft Speech Services to transcribe the spoken language

Start Live Transcription

1. Go to the meeting controls and select More actions .
2. Choose Start transcription.

   

Tip: If you also want to record the meeting, select More options again and choose Start recording.

All participants see a notification that the meeting is being transcribed. The transcript appears on the right side of your screen. Learn more about turning on live transcription during a meeting here.

Change the transcript language

The transcript language must be the same as the language being spoken in the meeting. To change the language setting:

1. You'll see the live transcription on the right side of your screen. At the top right of the transcript window, select Transcript settings .
2. Select Change spoken language.
3. You'll be prompted to choose the language everyone in the meeting is speaking. Select the applicable language, and then click Confirm. The transcript will now display in this language.

Important: When you change the spoken language setting (there are 34 different language options), it affects everyone. The transcript language (as well as that of the captions) will change for all meeting participants.

Hide or show live transcription

1. Go to the meeting controls and select More actions .
2. Choose Hide transcript or Show transcript.

Note: Obscenities are obscured by asterisks.

Stop live transcription

The meeting organizer and presenters can stop and restart transcription during the meeting. (For info about organizer and presenter roles, see Roles in a Teams meeting.)

1. Go to the meeting controls and select More actions .
2. Choose Stop transcription or Stop recording (if a recording is in progress).

The transcription stops automatically when all participants leave the meeting.

Download the transcript

When the meeting is over, the transcript is immediately available in the meeting event on the calendar. Meeting participants can download it as a .docx or .vtt file.

1. Select Calendar on the left in Teams.

2. Open the meeting event and select the transcript.

3. Above the transcript, select Download and then choose the file type you want.

Tip: After the meeting, along with the transcript, any other available meeting-related items (attached docs, meeting notes, the recording) will also be available from the Details tab when you open the meeting event.

Share the transcript with mobile participants

Uploading the transcript to chat makes it available to meeting participants who joined from a mobile device.

1. Download the transcript to your computer.

2. In the meeting chat, select Attach beneath the compose box and then upload the transcript.

Webex

Show automated closed captions

Note: If your site doesn't support automated closed captions without Webex Assistant, the host needs to turn on Webex Assistant to turn on automated closed captions. Webex Assistant is not available for Webex for Government.

To show captions, click Show closed captions in the lower left of the screen.

• To show more or fewer lines of text at a time, resize the closed captions box. Point to any edge of the box and drag the resize handle. To return the box to its original size and position, click More > Back to default position and size.
• If no one's speaking, the last caption disappears after 4 seconds.

Learn more about showing or hiding automated closed captions during a meeting.

Turn on recording transcripts

Note: Meetings, webinars, or events must be recorded in order to transcribe them.

Learn how to turn on recording of transcripts during a meeting. Automatic transcription of the audio for all recorded meetings, webinars, and events, is turned on by default. You can turn it back on if it has been turned off, or you can turn it on only for specific users.

The transcripts appear during recording playback. Users can search for text in the transcript to verify what was said and when.

The transcripts are available in English and only support transcribing the English audio.

Once the recording is complete, the transcript takes approximately twice the duration of the meeting to be produced.

When the transcript is available, it appears at the side of the recording.

CourtCall

Interpretation In The Courtroom

CourtCall provides remote interpretation for defendants, witnesses and other participants requiring interpretation. You will need to request a Virtual Remote Interpreter (VRI) prior to your meeting. Learn more about remote interpretation.