2.3 Making auditory elements accessible

There are two common ways to make audio elements accessible to those who cannot or who do not wish to listen to them. With videos, the most common technique is to add subtitles or closed captions.

In some cases it may be more appropriate to provide a separate text transcript. This can work very well for audio, or for some videos such as interviews where the visual element isn’t essential to understanding the content. If the video content is more complex, remember that it may be difficult to read a transcript and watch a video at the same time.

In either a transcript or subtitles, it can be important to describe any meaningful sounds, not only the spoken words.

Be aware that if you use an automatic captioning tool, such as the one provided by YouTube, you must check and edit the captions it has provided to ensure accuracy. The output created by these tools is often inaccurate but can be improved manually.