Does Artificial Intelligence (AI) have a place in the Church? Countless podcasts, articles, and sermons are popping up addressing the same question. Despite the widespread discussion, many overlook how deeply AI is already embedded in our daily lives. It influences everything from manufacturing processes and automotive technology to how our food is produced, impacting many products and services we use daily.

Understanding AI: What Is It?

To tackle the question, “Does AI have a place in the Church?” let’s first understand what AI is. At its core, AI simulates human intelligence, performing tasks that typically require human intervention. In the article Artificial Intelligence, IBM explains that “On its own or combined with other technologies (e.g., sensors, geolocation, robotics) AI can perform tasks that would otherwise require human intelligence or intervention”.

Think of AI as a modern tool designed to handle tedious, repetitive, and data-intensive tasks efficiently. For Christians, AI should be considered like any other tool, such as the internet. It’s a resource that, when used wisely, can enhance our practices and outreach without compromising our core values or mission.

Concerns and Fears about AI in Churches

The fear of AI has led some people to strongly believe that the world will be overtaken by it. This reaction is understandable, as AI has quickly evolved from a science fiction concept to a societal staple. Major news outlets continuously report on various issues related to AI. Hollywood produces big-budget movies and TV shows about AI taking over the world, while authors write extensively about its potential aftermath and impact.

Those influences have changed how the Christian views AI. 52% of Christians in the U.S., when polled in the Barna Group’s research How U.S. Christians Feel About AI & the Church, said they would be disappointed if their church used AI. Moreover, less than 25% of those polled view AI as good for the Church.

Several reasons contribute to why many Christians are hesitant about incorporating AI into the church, including:

• Ethical issues: Plagiarism will lose the congregation’s trust. 
• Creative bypass: Deeply emotional worship can feel false.
• Theological concerns: Concepts require the nuance of human interpretation.
• Loss of critical thinking: Pastors can become apathetic and lethargic.
• Loss of human connection: Sermons, studies, and classes become non-familial.

One scholar, Dr. Cory Marsh, on the episode Christians and AI talked on the topic and stated that the major concern of many Christian Pastors, from the list of concerns, is the loss of critical thinking. When crafting a sermon, study, or class the major component of the process is critical thinking so when pastors take that away, other items on the list, such as theological concerns and loss of human connection, quickly follow. It’s completely rational why the church is concerned about the rise of AI and the use of AI-enabled products.

Moving past these concerns, it's also important to recognize how AI can positively impact church operations, especially by enhancing the inclusivity of services.

AI & Accessibility: Enhancing Inclusivity

The pace of technological change is relentless, and the need for inclusive communication solutions in ministries is no different. To meet the ever-growing demand for accessibility, ministries require a diverse toolkit. One tool that has been transformed by the artificial intelligence boom is Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR).

Programs like Dragon NaturallySpeaking or your phone’s Speech-to-Text are examples of ASR technology. The IBM article What is Speech Recognition explains, in simple terms, that this tool converts spoken words into text. Although ASR systems initially have a limited vocabulary, they can be significantly enhanced by integrating resources like Large Language Models (LLMs) and Deep Learning. These advanced technologies improve the quality, accuracy, and efficiency of captions, transcriptions, and translations, making ASR tools more effective and reliable.

Unlike sermon content creators, ASR does not add interpretation or creativity to your content; it simply converts your speech to text, word for word.

Embracing AI: A Path to Greater Accessibility in the Church

While AI poses certain ethical and practical challenges within the church context—ranging from concerns about authenticity in worship to the potential for diminished human connection—its benefits, particularly in enhancing accessibility and inclusivity, cannot be ignored. Tools like Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) exemplify how AI can serve the church by broadening access to religious services for those with hearing impairments or language barriers. As technology continues to evolve, it’s important for church leaders to critically evaluate the opportunities available that do not compromise the spiritual integrity of their mission.

Discover how Aberdeen’s ASR solution offers a cost-effective approach to closed captioning. Learn more here: Aberdeen ASR Closed Captioning.

Closed captioning serves as a powerful tool that extends its impact far beyond aiding the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. Its significance transcends age, abilities, and background, making it an invaluable resource for both educators and learners. In the digital age, closed captioning has emerged as a transformative resource, with research revealing that students, English language learners, and children with learning disabilities who watch programs with closed captioning turned on improve their reading skills, increase their vocabulary, and enhance their focus and attention.

The scholarly article, Closed Captioning Matters: Examining the Value of Closed Captions for All Students (Smith 231) states that “Previous research shows that closed captioning can benefit many kinds of learners. In addition to students with hearing impairments, captions stand to benefit visual learners, non-native English learners, and students who happen to be in loud or otherwise distracting environments. In remedial reading classes, closed captioning improved students’ vocabulary, reading comprehension, word analysis skills, and motivation to learn (Goldman & Goldman, 1988). The performance of foreign language learners increased when captioning was provided (Winke, Gass, & Sydorenko, 2010). Following exams, these learners indicated that captions lead to increased attention, improved language processing, the reinforcement of previous knowledge, and deeper understanding of the language. For low-performing students in science classrooms, technology-enhanced videos with closed captioning contributed to post-treatment scores that were similar to higher-performing students (Marino, Coyne, & Dunn, 2010). The current findings support previous research and highlight the suitability of closed-captioned content for students with and without disabilities.”

Reading Rockets, a national public media literacy initiative provides resources and information on how young children learn and how educators can improve their students’ reading abilities. In the article, Captioning to Support Literacy, Alise Brann confirms that “Captions can provide struggling readers with additional print exposure, improving foundational reading skills.”

She states, “In a typical classroom, a teacher may find many students who are struggling readers, whether they are beginning readers, students with language-based learning disabilities, or English Language Learners (ELLs). One motivating, engaging, and inexpensive way to help build the foundational reading skills of students is through the use of closed-captioned and subtitled television shows and movies. These can help boost foundational reading skills, such as phonics, word recognition, and fluency, for a number of students.”

Research clearly demonstrates that “people learn better and comprehend more when words and pictures are presented together. The combination of aural and visual input gives viewers the opportunity to comprehend information through different channels and make connections between them” (The Effects of Captions on EFL Learners’ Comprehension of English-Language Television Programs).

From bolstering reading skills, to enhancing focus and language comprehension, the benefits of closed captioning are numerous. We at Aberdeen Broadcast Services are committed to providing quality closed captions for television (TV) and educational programming.

Here is the public service announcement (PSA) we released in 2016 on local broadcast stations, emphasizing how closed captioning can enhance children's literacy skills.

In today's consumer-driven world, companies are constantly seeking ways to increase their revenue. One approach that has gained traction is the addition of service fees to services that were once at no additional charge to the consumer. While this might seem like a beneficial move for businesses, it often raises concerns among users and can have negative implications such as a loss of trust, user abandonment, competitive disadvantages, and negative publicity.

One case that illustrates this trend is the recent development in the live captioning industry. EEG Enterprises, the leading manufacturer of closed captioning encoders and the creator of the iCap Cloud Network software was acquired by AI Media Technologies in 2021. Subsequently, AI Media Technologies has announced its intention to impose fees for accessing the EEG encoders through the iCap Network, which many agencies, including Aberdeen, have endorsed for more than two decades.

Beginning November 1, 2023, AI Media Technologies will institute a fee for accessing the iCap Network. This change necessitates all agencies, including Aberdeen, to agree to the new terms and conditions, which state that "If you reject the new iCap Terms, your ability to access the iCap Network will cease from October 1st, 2023." (now pushed out to November 1st, 2023). Many agencies express concerns about this new fee, asserting that it will inflate their operational costs and potentially hinder their ability to offer cost-effective captioning services to their clientele. Conversely, AI Media Technologies justifies the fee, citing the growing demands for data protection, privacy, security enhancements, and the need for a robust and stable network. They emphasize their commitment to investing significant capital and resources into the iCap network.

Read the full iCap Network Access Agreement here.

How the new fee will impact the captioning industry and whether it could lead to higher prices for consumers remains to be seen. However, it is clear that clients, who in most cases own the already high-cost encoders, will bear the brunt of the additional costs. Thus, while introducing service fees for existing services can provide short-term financial gains, companies should carefully consider the potential consequences before implementing such changes. Prioritizing customer satisfaction and the perceived value of services should always be a top priority when adjusting pricing structures.

On June 8, 2023, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Report and Order, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, aiming to further ensure accessibility for all individuals in video conferencing services. The action establishes that under Section 716 of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (CVAA), video conferencing platforms commonly used for work, school, healthcare, and other purposes, fall under the definition of "interoperable video conferencing service."

Under Section 716 of the CVAA, Advanced Communications Services (ACS) and equipment manufacturers are required to make their services and equipment accessible to individuals with disabilities, unless achieving accessibility is not feasible. ACS includes interoperable video conferencing services such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and BlueJeans. The FCC previously left the interpretation of "interoperable" open, but in this latest report, it adopted the statutory definition without modification, encompassing services that provide real-time video communication to enable users to share information.

In the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the FCC seeks public comments on performance objectives for interoperable video conferencing services, including requirements for accurate and synchronous captions, text-to-speech functionality, and effective video connections for sign language interpreters.

The FCC's actions on this item are an important step toward ensuring that people with disabilities have equal access to video conferencing services. The Report & Order will help to make video conferencing more accessible and promote greater inclusion and participation of people with disabilities.

This article was co-written with the help of both ChatGPT and Google Bard as a demonstration of the technology discussed in this article. You can also read along with Aberdeen's President, Matt Cook in the recording below - but not really, this is Matt's voice cloned using a short clip of Matt's voice given to AI.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized numerous industries, and its influence on language-related technologies is particularly remarkable. In this blog post, we will explore how AI is transforming closed captioning, language translation, and even the creation of cloned voices. These advancements not only enhance accessibility and inclusion but also have far-reaching implications for communication in an increasingly globalized world.

AI in Closed Captioning

Closed captioning is an essential feature for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, enabling them to access audiovisual content. Traditional closed captioning methods rely on human transcriptionists, however, AI-powered speech recognition algorithms have made significant strides in this field.

Using deep learning techniques, AI models can more accurately transcribe spoken words into text, providing real-time closed captioning. This is not up to the FCC guidelines for broadcast but is oftentimes good enough for other situations where the alternative is to have no closed captions at all. These models continuously improve their accuracy by analyzing large amounts of data and learning from diverse sources. As a result, AI has made closed captioning more accessible, enabling individuals to enjoy online videos with greater ease.

Our team is working hard to develop and launch AberScribe, our new AI transcript application powered by OpenAI, sometime in mid-2024. From any audio/video source file, the AberScribe app will create an AI-generated transcript that can be edited in our online transcript editor and exported into various caption formats. AberScribe will also have added features for creating other AI-generated resources from that final transcript. Resources like summaries, glossaries of terms, discussion questions, interactive worksheets, and many more - the possibilities are endless.

Sign up to join the waitlist and be one of our first users: https://aberdeen.io/aberscribe-wait-list/

AI-Driven Language Translation

Language barriers have long hindered effective communication between people from different linguistic backgrounds. However, AI-powered language translation has emerged as a game-changer, enabling real-time multilingual conversations and seamless understanding across different languages.

Machine Translation (MT) models, powered by AI, have made significant strides in accurately translating text from one language to another. By training on vast amounts of multilingual data, these models can understand and generate human-like translations, accounting for context and idiomatic expressions. This has empowered businesses, travelers, and individuals to engage in cross-cultural communication effortlessly.

In addition to written translation, AI is making headway in spoken language translation as well. With technologies like neural machine translation (NMT), AI systems can listen to spoken language, translate it in real-time, and produce synthesized speech in the desired language. This breakthrough holds immense potential for international conferences, tourism, and fostering cultural exchange.

Cloned Voices and AI

The advent of AI has brought about significant advancements in speech synthesis, allowing for the creation of cloned voices that mimic the speech patterns and vocal identity of individuals. While cloned voices have sparked debates regarding ethical use, they also present exciting possibilities for personalization and accessibility.

AI-powered text-to-speech (TTS) models can analyze recorded speech data from an individual, capturing their vocal characteristics, intonations, and nuances. This data is then used to generate synthetic speech that sounds remarkably like the original speaker. This technology can be immensely beneficial for individuals with speech impairments, providing them with a voice that better aligns with their identity.

Moreover, cloned voices have applications in industries like entertainment and marketing, where celebrity voices can be replicated for endorsements or immersive experiences. However, it is crucial to navigate the ethical considerations surrounding consent and proper usage to ensure that this technology is used responsibly.

Conclusion

Artificial Intelligence continues to redefine the boundaries of accessibility, communication, and personalization in various domains. In the realms of closed captioning, language translation, and cloned voices, AI has made significant strides, bridging gaps, and enhancing user experiences. As these technologies continue to evolve, it is vital to strike a balance between innovation and ethical considerations, ensuring that AI is harnessed responsibly to benefit individuals and society as a whole.

Been tasked with figuring out how to implement closed captions in your video library? The process can be overwhelming at first. While evaluating closed captioning vendors, it’s good to understand the benefits of captioning, who your audience is, what to consider when it comes to quality, and what to expect from a vendor.

There are several things that an organization should consider and evaluate before choosing a closed captioning vendor. Some of the most important factors include:

Benefits of Closed Captioning

• Accessibility: First, and most importantly, closed captioning makes videos more accessible to people with hearing impairments. This can help to level the playing field and ensure that all viewers have the opportunity to enjoy the content.
• Non-native English speakers: Closed captioning can be helpful for non-native English speakers. It can help them to understand the content of videos even if they are not fluent in English.
• People in noisy environments: Closed captioning can be helpful for people who are in noisy environments. It allows them to watch videos without having to worry about missing any of the audio.
• Engagement: Closed captioning can help to keep viewers engaged in videos. When viewers can read along with the audio, they are more likely to stay focused and understand the content.
• Comprehension: Closed captioning can help viewers to better understand the content of videos. When viewers can see the words that are being spoken, they are better able to process the information and remember it.
• SEO: Closed captions can help to improve the search engine optimization (SEO) of videos. This is because search engines can read the text of captions, which can help to improve the ranking of videos in search results.

Overall, closed captioning is a valuable tool that can benefit a wide range of audiences. It makes videos more accessible, engaging, and comprehensible for everyone.

Evaluating Vendors

By considering these factors, organizations can choose a closed captioning vendor that will meet their needs and provide a high-quality service:

• Accuracy: The captions should be accurate and error-free. This is important for all viewers, but it is especially important for people with hearing impairments.
• Timeliness: The captions should be delivered on time. This is important for live events, as well as for pre-recorded videos that are being released on a tight schedule.
• Format: The captions should be delivered in a format that is compatible with the organization's equipment. This may include closed captions for live events, or subtitles for pre-recorded videos.
• Cost: The cost of closed captioning services varies depending on a number of factors, including the length of the video, the number of viewers, and the turnaround time required.

What to Expect in the Process

• Start early: Closed captioning can take time, so it is important to start the process early. This will help to ensure that the captions are accurate and delivered on time.
• Test the captions: Once the captions are complete, it is important to test them to make sure that they are accurate and error-free. This can be done by having a few people watch the video with the captions turned on.
• Provide feedback: If there are any errors in the captions, or if the captions are not formatted correctly, it is important to provide feedback to the closed captioning vendor. This will help to ensure that the captions are of the highest quality.

Use these tips when evaluating closed captioning vendors and you’ll ensure that their videos are accessible to everyone and that they provide a positive viewing experience for all viewers.

In 2022, just days before winning the primary to become the Democratic candidate for the Senate in Pennsylvania, John Fetterman suffered a stroke. Like many stroke victims, he experienced a loss of function that persisted long after his recovery, including lingering auditory processing issues that made it challenging for him to understand spoken words. In interviews in the months that followed, John Fetterman relied on closed-captioning technology to help him comprehend reporters' questions and assist in his debates against his primary opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz.

Upon being elected to serve in the US Senate, closed-captioning devices were installed both at his desk and at the front of the Senate chambers to facilitate his understanding of his colleagues as they spoke on the Senate floor. John Fetterman serves on several committees, including the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; the Committee on Environment and Public Works; the Joint Economic Committee; and the Special Committee on Aging. Closed-captioning has proven invaluable, benefiting both John Fetterman and his constituents in Pennsylvania, extending its utility beyond merely enabling him to watch TV at night or understand reporters.

With the assistance of closed-captioning technology, John Fetterman has been able to serve the people of Pennsylvania at the highest levels of government. During a hearing with the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Fetterman himself expressed gratitude for the transcription technology on his phone, stating, "This is a transcription service that allows me to fully participate in this meeting and engage in conversations with my children and interact with my staff." He later added, "I can't imagine if I didn't have this kind of bridge to allow me to communicate effectively with other people."

Captioning and transcription efforts extend well beyond being a mere requirement for broadcasting a program. As captioning technology continues to advance, an increasing number of individuals, like John Fetterman, will have the opportunity to participate in public life, even at the highest levels of government. They will serve others, even as transcription and captioning technology serves them.

Take a look at his setup in action here. Dedicated monitors with real-time captions displayed are becoming an increasingly popular setup at live events. Alternatively, explore the convenience of live captioning on mobile phones, making captions accessible from any seat in the venue. Either option is easily achievable — contact one of our experts to find out more.

On October 11, 2022, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released the latest CVAA biennial report to Congress, evaluating the current industry compliance as it pertains to Sections 255, 716, and 718 of the Communications Act of 1934. The biennial report is required by the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), which amended the Communications Act of 1934 to include updated requirements for ensuring the accessibility of "modern" telecommunications to people with disabilities.

FCC rules under Section 255 of the Communications Act require telecommunications equipment manufacturers and service providers to make their products and services accessible to people with disabilities. If such access is not readily achievable, manufacturers and service providers must make their devices and services compatible with third-party applications, peripheral devices, software, hardware, or consumer premises equipment commonly used by people with disabilities.

Accessibility Barriers

Despite major design improvements over the past two years, the report reveals that accessibility gaps still persist and that industry commenters are most concerned about equal access on video conferencing platforms. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of accessible video conferencing services for people with disabilities.

Zoom, BlueJeans, FaceTime, and Microsoft Teams have introduced a variety of accessibility feature enhancements, including screenreader support, customizable chat features, multi-pinning features, and “spotlighting” so that all participants know who is speaking. However, commentators have expressed concern over screen share and chat feature compatibility with screenreaders along with the platforms’ synchronous automatic captioning features.

Although many video conferencing platforms now offer meeting organizers synchronous automatic captioning to accommodate deaf and hard-of-hearing participants, the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy (DHH CAO) pointed out that automated captioning sometimes produces incomplete or delayed transcriptions and even if slight delays of live captions cannot be avoided, these captioning delays may cause “cognitive overload.” Comprehension can be further hindered if a person who is deaf or hard of hearing cannot see the faces of speaking participants, for “people with hearing loss rely more on nonverbal information than their peers, and if a person misses a visual cue, they may fall behind in the conversation.”

Automated vs. Human-generated Captions

At present, the automated captioning features on these conference platforms have an error rate of 5-10%. That’s 5-10 errors per 100 words spoken and when the average conversation rate of an English speaker is 150 words per minute, you’re looking at the possibility of over a dozen errors a minute.

Earlier this year, our team put Adobe’s artificial intelligence (AI) powered speech-to-text engine to the test. We tasked our most experienced Caption Editor with using Adobe’s auto-generated transcript to create & edit the captions to meet the quality standards of the FCC and the deaf and hard of hearing community on two types of video clips: a single-speaker program and one with multiple speakers.

How did it go? Take a look: Human-generated Captions vs. Adobe Speech-to-text

Open captions and closed captions are both used to provide text-based representations of spoken dialogue or audio content in videos, but they differ in their visibility and accessibility options.

Here's the difference between closed and open captions:

Open Captions

• Open captions, also known as "burned-in" or "hardcoded" captions, are permanently embedded in the video itself.
• They are visible to all viewers and cannot be turned off or disabled.
• Open captions are typically added during the video production process and become a permanent part of the visual content.
• They are useful when the video is intended for a wide audience, including individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, or when the video will be played in noisy environments where audio may not be easily heard (e.g. a museum).

Closed Captions

• Closed captions are separate text tracks that can be turned on or off by the viewer.
• They are not visible by default but can be enabled through the video player's settings or options.
• Closed captions provide flexibility for viewers who may not need or want the captions.
• They are commonly used in broadcast television, streaming platforms, and online videos to cater to diverse audiences and comply with accessibility regulations.
• Closed captions can be generated in real-time using a live writer or automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology or added manually during post-production.

Feature	Open Caption	Closed Captions
Visibility	Permanently embedded in the video	Separate text track that can be turned on or off
Accessibility	Cannot be turned off	Can be turned on or off by the viewer
Applications	Wide audiences, noisy environments	Diverse audiences, compliance with accessibility regulations
Creation	Added during video production	Generated in real-time or embedded manually during post-production or uploaded as a sidecar file

Both open and closed captions serve the purpose of making videos accessible to individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, those who are learning a new language, or those who prefer to read the text alongside the audio.

The choice between open or closed captions depends on the specific requirements and preferences of the content creators and the target audience.

This article is current as of February 4th, 2022.

A few months ago, Zoom announced that auto-generated captions (also known as live transcription) were now available for all Zoom meeting accounts. The development has been a long-awaited feature for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.

As popular and ubiquitous Zoom has become, it can be overwhelming to understand its multiple meeting features and options – especially in regards to closed captioning. Here at Aberdeen Broadcast Services, we offer live captioning services with our team of highly trained, experienced captioners with the largest known dictionaries in the industry. CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) captioning is still considered the gold standard of captioning (See related post: FranklinCovey Recognizes the Human Advantage in Captioning). Our team at Aberdeen strives to go above and beyond expectations with exceptional captioning and customer service.

Whether you choose to enable Zoom’s artificial intelligence (AI) transcription feature or integrate a 3rd-party service, like Aberdeen Broadcast Services, the following steps will help ensure you’re properly setting up your event for success.

Step 1: Adjust Your Zoom Account Settings

To get started, you'll need to enable closed captioning in your Zoom account settings.

• Go to the Zoom Web Portal – zoom.us.
• Sign in with the account that will be used for your event.
• From the My Account homepage, look to the lefthand panel under “Personal” and select Settings.
• In the Meeting tab, choose the In Meeting (Advanced) group of settings.

Scroll down to the “Closed captioning” options.

In the top right, enable closed captions by toggling the button from grey to blue to “Allow host to type closed captions or assign a participant/3rd-party service to add closed captions.”

Below is a detailed description of the additional three closed captioning options here in the settings...

Allow use of caption API Token to integrate with 3rd-party Closed Captioning services

This feature enables a 3rd-party closed captioning service, such as Aberdeen Broadcast Services, to caption your Zoom meeting or webinar using captioning software. The captions from a 3rd-party service are integrated into the Zoom meeting via a caption URL or API token that sends its captions to Zoom. For a 3rd-party service, such as Aberdeen, to provide captions within Zoom, this feature must be enabled.

Allow the live transcription service to transcribe the meeting automatically

As mentioned earlier in this post, auto-generated captions or AI captions became available to all Zoom users in October 2021. Zoom refers to auto-generated captions as its live transcription feature, which is powered by automatic speech recognition (ASR) and artificial intelligence (AI) technology. While not as accurate, ASR is an acceptable way to provide live captions for your Zoom event if you are not able to secure a live captioner. If you will be having a live captioner through a 3rd-party service in your meeting, do NOT check “Allow live transcription service to transcribe meeting automatically.”

Unless you expect to use Zoom’s AI live transcription for most of your meetings, it is best to uncheck or disable live transcription, as Zoom’s AI auto-generated captions will override 3rd-party captions in a meeting if live transcription is enabled.

Allow viewing of the full transcript in the in-meeting side panel

This setting gives the audience an additional option to view what is being transcribed during your Zoom meeting or webinar. In addition to viewing captions as subtitles at the bottom of the screen, users will be able to view the full transcript on the right side of the meeting.

Save Captions

The meeting organizer or host can control permission of who can save a full transcript of the closed captions during a meeting. Enabling the Save Captions feature grants access to the entire participant list in a meeting.

Transcript options from 3rd-party services may vary. At Aberdeen Broadcast Services, we provide full transcripts in a variety of formats to fit your live event or post-production needs. For more information, please see our list of captioning exports or contact us.

Step 2: Start your meeting and obtain the caption URL (API token)

Once the webinar or meeting is live, the individual assigned as the meeting host can acquire the caption URL or API token.

As the host, copy the API token by clicking on the Closed Caption or Live Transcript button at the bottom of the screen and selecting Copy the API token, which will save the token to your clipboard.

By copying the API token, you will not need to assign yourself or a participant to type. Send the API token to your closed captioning provider to integrate captions from a 3rd-party service into your Zoom meeting. We ask that clients provide the API token at least 20 minutes before an event (and no earlier than 24 hours) to avoid any captioning issues.

Step 3: Test Your Captions and Go!

Once the API token has been activated within your captioning service, the captioner will be able to test captions from their captioning software.

A notification in the Zoom meeting should pop up at the top saying “Live Transcription (Closed Captioning) has been enabled,” and the Live Transcript or Closed Caption button at the bottom of the screen will appear for the audience. Viewers can now choose Show Subtitle to view the captions.

Viewers will be able to adjust the size of captions by clicking on Subtitle Settings...

Can you also caption breakout rooms in Zoom?

Yes! Captioning multiple breakout rooms occurring at the same time is possible using the caption API token to integrate with a 3rd-party, such as Aberdeen Broadcast Services. Zoom's AI live transcription option is currently not supported in multiple Zoom breakout rooms, which is why it is important to consult with live captioning experts to make that happen. Contact us to learn more about how it works.

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