Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Football for all: the quality of the live closed captioning in the Super Bowl LII

  • Long Paper
  • Published:
Universal Access in the Information Society Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the U.S., new programming broadcast on television needs to be accessible to the hearing-impaired, and closed captioning is the tool most frequently used to provide such access. From all the audiovisual content available to viewers, live programs pose the greatest challenge to captioners, who, in this scenario, are required to provide accurate subtitles that reach the viewers with as limited delay as possible. Due to the difficulties involved in the production of real-time subtitles, research exploring the quality of live captioning is not yet abundant. However, having precise insights on this matter could help improve current practices and better accommodate the users’ needs. Drawing on existing literature from the field of Media Accessibility, this article presents the main findings of a study exploring the quality of the live closed captioning delivered during one of the most widely followed televised events of 2018 in the U.S.: the Super Bowl LII. The parameters that the Federal Communications Commission identifies with quality (completeness, placement, synchronicity and accuracy) were analyzed. The results point at completeness as the trait with more room for improvement and show that captions achieved impeccable placement, a commendable average latency and very high accuracy rates.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The authors tried to contact the broadcaster to confirm this information, but their attempts were unsuccessful. The assumption that these subtitles were most likely produced by stenocaptioners stemmed from the kinds of errors identified, which did not seem to resemble the recognition errors typically found in respoken live subtitling. Additionally, their latency was lower than that usually reported for respeaking.

  2. Refer to the first note.

  3. The authors are well aware of the terminological discussion around the terms “subtitling” and “closed captioning.” In this paper, the former will be used to refer to studies undertaken in Europe, while the latter will refer to those carried out in North America. Nevertheless, the term “subtitles” will sometimes be used to describe “captions” in order to avoid unstylistic repetitions.

  4. Black Box was developed in 2012 by David González-Iglesias González. It is intended as a tool to analyze technical features of subtitling files, such as subtitling speed, length or pause between subtitles.

  5. The reduction rate was estimated by calculating the difference between the total number of words in the audio of the Super Bowl and those included in its live captions.

  6. Non-verbatim captions were those that had been correctly edited by the captioner, those that showed one or more errors, or those that featured both correct editing and errors. This last scenario was observed in captions such as the following: “Barner, whose causer is (…)” instead of “Barner, the guy whose cousin is (…).” This subtitle was included in the group of captions that showed correct editing (because the deletion of “the guy” did not alter the meaning of the caption) and it was also accounted for in the group of captions featuring errors (because “causer” did not make sense in the subtitle). This occurred in a small number of captions (1.15% of the whole sample) and explains the fact that when adding the subtitles with errors (9.25%) to those with correct editing (6.09%), the result is slightly higher than the percentage of non-verbatim captions in our sample (14.19%).

  7. Captioning speed is defined in this paper as the speed value that subtitling software (Black Box) shows for each caption when existing .srt files are loaded.

  8. The captioning speed values obtained in this research will be provided in cps and wpm to facilitate comparison with previous and future studies. All the speed values cited in this section are exact, which means that calculations in cps and wpm were performed independently to obtain precise speed measurements.

  9. Roll-up captions appear on screen line by line. They typically display 2 to 3 lines, and every time a new line is shown at the bottom of the captioning area, the previous lines scroll up until they eventually disappear.

References

  1. AENOR: Subtitulado para personas sordas y personas con discapacidad auditiva. AENOR, Madrid (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Apone, T., Brooks, M., O’Connell, T.: Caption Accuracy Metrics Project. Caption Viewer Survey: Error Ranking of Real-time Captions in Live Television News Programs. The WGBH National Center for Accessible Media. http://ncam.wgbh.org/file_download/131 (2010). Accessed Dec 2018

  3. Apone, T., Botkin, B., Brooks, M., Goldberg, L.: Caption Accuracy Metrics Project. Research into Automated Error Ranking of Real-time Captions in Live Television News Programs. The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media at WGBH. http://ncam.wgbh.org/about/news/ccm-research-report (2011). Accessed Dec 2018

  4. Bisson, M.J., Van Heuven, W.J.B., Conklin, K., Tunney, R.J.: Processing of native and foreign language subtitles in films: an eye tracking study. Appl. Psycholinguist. 35, 399–418 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act (2005). 47 U.S .C. §503(b)(2)

  6. Burnham, D., Leigh, G., Noble, W., Jones, C., Tyler, M., Grebennikov, L., Varley, A.: Parameters in television captioning for deaf and hard-of-hearing adults: effects of caption rate versus text reduction on comprehension. J. Deaf Studi. Deaf Educ. 13(3), 391–404 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB).: Closed captioning standards and protocol for Canadian English language television programming services. http://www.cab-acr.ca/english/social/captioning/captioning.pdf (2008). Accessed Dec 2018

  8. Chafe, W.: Linguistic differences produced by differences between speaking and writing. In: Olson, D., Torrance, N., Hildyard, A. (eds.) Literacy, Language, and Learning: The Nature and Consequences of Reading and Writing, pp. 105–122. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1985)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel.: Charte relative à la qualité du sous-titrage à destination des personnes sourdes ou malentendantes. Paris: CSA. http://www.csa.fr/en/Espace-juridique/Chartes/Charte-relative-a-la-qualite-du-sous-titrage-a-destination-des-personnes-sourdes-ou-malentendantes-Decembre-2011 (2011). Accessed Dec 2018

  10. de Korte, T.: Live inter-lingual subtitling in the Netherlands. Historical background and current practice. inTRAlinea. http://www.intralinea.org/specials/article/1692 (2006). Accessed Dec 2018

  11. De Linde, Z., Kay, N.: The Semiotics of Subtitling. St Jerome Publishing, Manchester (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Eugeni, C.: Respeaking the TV for the deaf: for a real special needs-oriented subtitling. Stud. Engl. Lang. Lit. 21, 37–47 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Federal Communications Commission (Online) Closed Captioning on Television. https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/closed-captioning-television. Accessed December 2018

  14. Federal Communications Commission.: Closed Captioning of Televised Video Programming, 47 C.F.R. § 79.1. https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retrieveECFR?gp=&SID=593e565eefc5d514f3204a8626ab5bdc&mc=true&n=pt47.4.79&r=PART&ty=HTML#se47.4.79_11 (2014). Accessed Dec 2018

  15. Federal Communications Commission.: Report and Order, Declaratory Ruling, and Further Notice Of Proposed Rulemaking. https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-14-12A1.pdf (2014). Accessed Dec 2018

  16. Fresno, N.: Of bad hombres and nasty women; the quality of the live closed captioning in the 2016 US Final Presidential Debate. Perspectives 27(3), 350–366 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2018.1526960

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Jelinek Lewis, M.S., Jackson, D.W.: Television literacy: comprehension of program content using closed captions for the deaf. J. Deaf Stud. Deaf Educ. 6, 43–53 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Jensema, C.J.: Viewer reaction to different television captioning speeds. Am. Ann. Deaf 143(4), 318–324 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Jensema, C.J., Danturthi, R.S., Burch, R.: Time spent viewing captions on television programs. Am. Ann. Deaf 145(5), 464–468 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Jordan, A.B., Albright, A., Branner, A., Sullivan, J.: The State of Closed Captioning Services in the United States an Assessment of Quality, Availability, and Use. The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Miquel-Iriarte, M.: The Reception for Subtitling for the Dead and Hard of Hearing: Viewers’ Hearing and Communication Profile & Subtitling Speed of Exposure. Dissertation, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Accessed December 2018 (2017)

  22. National Association of Broadcasters.: In the Matter of Closed Captioning of Video Programming: Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc. Petition for Rulemaking. Comments of the NAB. https://www.nab.org/documents/filings/ClosedCaptioningQualityFNComments070914.pdf (2014). Accessed Dec 2018

  23. National Football League.: Super Bowl LII. National Football League Game Summary. http://www.nfl.com/liveupdate/gamecenter/57500/NE_Gamebook.pdf (2018). Accessed Dec 2018

  24. Ofcom.: Measuring live subtitling quality. Results from the third sampling exercise. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/40774/qos_3rd_report.pdf (2015). Accessed Dec 2018

  25. Office of Communications (Ofcom).: Ofcom’s Code on Television Access Services. London: Ofcom. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/97040/Access-service-code-Jan-2017.pdf (2017). Accessed Dec 2018

  26. Rajendran, D.J., Duchowski, A.T., Orero, P., Martínez, J., Romero-Fresco, P.: Effects of text chunking on subtitling: a quantitative and qualitative examination. Perspectives 21(1), 5–21 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Robert, I., Remael, A.: Assessing quality in live interlingual subtitling: a new challenge. Linguistica Antverpiensia New Series: Themes in Translation Studies 16, 168–195 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Romero-Fresco, P.: More haste less speed: edited vs verbatim respeaking. Vigo Int. J. Appl. Linguist. 6, 109–133 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Romero-Fresco, P.: Standing on Quicksand: viewers’ comprehension and reading patterns of respoken subtitles for the news. In: Díaz-Cintas, J., Matamala, A., Neves, J. (eds.) New Insights into Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility, pp. 175–195. Rodopi, Amsterdam (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Romero-Fresco, P.: Quality in live subtitling: the reception of respoken subtitles in the UK. Approaches Transl. Stud. 36, 111–131 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Romero-Fresco, P.: Final thoughts: viewing speed in subtitling. In: Romero-Fresco, P. (ed.) The Reception of Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Europe, pp. 335–342. Peter Lang, Bern/Berlin (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Romero-Fresco, P.: Accessing Communication: the Quality of Live Subtitles in the UK. Lang. Commun. 49, 56–69 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Romero-Fresco, P.: Respeaking. Subtitling through speech recognition. In: Pérez-González, L. (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Audiovisual Translation, pp. 96–113. Routledge, London/New York (2018)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  34. Romero-Fresco, P., Martínez, J.: Accuracy rate in live subtitling—the NER model. In: Díaz-Cintas, J., Baños-Piñero, R. (eds.) Audiovisual Translation in a Global Context: Mapping an Ever-Changing Landscape, pp. 28–50. Palgrave, London (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Sandford, J.: The impact of subtitle display rate on enjoyment under normal television viewing conditions. Inst. Eng. Technol. 7, 62–67 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  36. Szarkowska, A., Krejtz, I., Klyszejko, Z., Wieczorek, A.: Verbatim, standard, or edited? Reading patterns of different captioning styles among deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing viewers. Am. Ann. Deaf 156(4), 363–378 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Szarkowska, A., Krejtz, I., Pilipczuk, O., Dutka, Ł., Kruger, J.L.: The effects of text editing and subtitle presentation rate on the comprehension and reading patterns of interlingual and intralingual subtitles among deaf, hard of hearing and hearing viewers. Across Lang. Cultures 17(2), 183–204 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Taylor, C.R.: Red alert: on the need for more research on corporate social responsibility appeals in advertising. Int. J. Advert. 37(3), 337–339 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. The Nielsen Company.: Tops of 2018: television. https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2018/tops-of-2018-television.html (2018). Accessed Dec 2018

  40. The Nielsen Company.: Super Bowl LII Draws 103.4 Million TV Viewers, 170.7 Million Social Media Interactions. https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2018/super-bowl-lii-draws-103-4-million-tv-viewers-170-7-million-social-media-interactions.html (2018). Accessed Dec 2018

  41. Van Es, K.: The Future of Live. Polity Press, Cambridge (2016)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research has been conducted within the framework of the research group GALMA (Galician Observatory for Media Accessibility), leader of the EU-funded Project ILSA: Interlingual Live Subtitling for Access (2017-1-ES01-KA203-037948).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Writing and Language Studies, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, 1 W University Blvd, Brownsville, TX, 78520, USA

    Nazaret Fresno

  2. Department of Sociology, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, 1 W University Blvd, Brownsville, TX, 78520, USA

    Katarzyna Sepielak

  3. Austin, TX, USA

    Maciej Krawczyk

Authors
  1. Nazaret Fresno
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Katarzyna Sepielak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Maciej Krawczyk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nazaret Fresno.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fresno, N., Sepielak, K. & Krawczyk, M. Football for all: the quality of the live closed captioning in the Super Bowl LII. Univ Access Inf Soc 20, 729–740 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-020-00734-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-020-00734-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation