Setting the standard for exceptional captioning solutions using speech AI

Background

In the US, The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Rehabilitation Act, and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) require closed captioning for television and online services to ensure that every deaf or hard of hearing viewer has full access to all programming. The captioning provided is expected to be accurate, synchronous, complete, and properly placed for maximum quality as regulation standard.

The Company

3Play Media offers premium video accessibility to the masses, providing captioning, subtitling and transcription services as tools for seamless delivery of video content. 3Play Media delivers an exceptional and reliable service which enables their customers to meet their regulatory requirements with ease.

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) is the first step in 3Play Media’s process to enable the most accurate, consistent, and efficient captioning solutions. Having the best possible ASR technology at the outset enables human editors to then seek out the nuances of captions, ultimately leading to a higher quality product. Using a combination of ASR, human editing, and human QA, 3Play Media has a measured accuracy rate of 99.6%.

The Challenge

3Play Media focuses on always providing the best service despite the ever-changing industry, and to do that they must constantly be in front of the latest captioning trends and advances in ASR technology. Ethically speaking, it is only right that people who utilize captioning receive information that is correct and equal to that of their hearing counterparts. Further, high quality captioning benefits all viewers, including those in sound-sensitive environments, and has been proven to improve retention, comprehension, and focus.

The Solution

3Play Media recognized that accuracy is of critical importance when it comes to ASR for captioning and wanted to find the best provider on the market. 3Play Media identified Speechmatics’ highly accurate speech-to-text technology to be the best after vigorous competitor benchmarking and able to address the goals of regulatory compliance. 3Play Media and Speechmatics have been partnered for a number of years to ensure audiences are getting the best captioning and transcription possible through improved video accessibility.

A spokesperson for Speechmatics said: “3Play Media are leaders in captioning, subtitling and transcription offering seamless delivery of video content to audiences. We, at Speechmatics, are delighted to be partnered with one of the best media companies in the USA and I can’t wait to see the latest real-time product from 3Play Media using our live speech recognition technology. 3Play Media continue to push the boundaries of innovation and the adoption of speech technology to enhance the products for end-users.”

Delivering the highest level of transcription and captioning for live and pre-recorded formats Roger Zimmerman, Chief of R&D at 3Play Media said: “3Play is providing captions for the widest possible array of domains – from well-recorded, scripted, single-speaker content, to multi-speaker, distant microphone, spontaneous discussions that include plenty of background music and noise."