By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News
For the nearly 700,000 Kentuckians who are deaf or hard of hearing, breaking news stories on television, like those about the new coronavirus, are often only pictures on a screen, The fix for this problem is sometimes as easy as turning on the closed captioning option on the remote, especially in public venues.
Closed captioning displays the audio portion of a television program as text on the TV screen for those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. It can be accessed through the television's remote.
Virginia Moore, executive director of the Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, said to alleviate misinformation and fear, it is important to make sure information about the cornavirus and other breaking news is being communicated clearly, including to those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.
"If you could just imagine not being able to get the correct information and how that escalates fear," she said.
Moore said public entities, like airports, doctors offices, restaurants, and sports bars,need to do their part to make sure they are using the closed captioning option if they offer a public television, especially if there is breaking news.
"If they have breaking news, that needs to be captioned," she said."It's very easy. It's a button on your remote, push that button, have the captioning available so that those individuals with a hearing loss will be able to see the important information coming across just like everyone else who is sitting there."
She also encouraged college campuses to turn on their closed captioning, since these televisions are typically in places that are crowded and noisy and often serve a high population of people who speak English as their second language, who also benefit from the closed captioning.
And while hearing loss is often associated with aging, Moore said loud music and listening to music at unsafe volumes with ear-buds on has resulted in one in five American teens experiencing some type of hearing loss.
Moore pointed to WDRB in Louisville as a great example of a station that offers real time closed captioning. She said WDRB has been able to offer this service because of its partnership with Norton Healthcare, which underwrites the cost of it.
Because offering real time closed captioning can be costly, Moore encouraged TV stations across the state to seek out similar partnerships, calling it a "win-win," since the station gets more devoted viewers and the partner gets advertisement.
It's important to note that while some stations may have closed captioning, it is sometimes limited to whatever is on their scripts and does not include anything that is said ad-lib and some stations may not offer any captioning for live broadcast.
Kentucky Health News
For the nearly 700,000 Kentuckians who are deaf or hard of hearing, breaking news stories on television, like those about the new coronavirus, are often only pictures on a screen, The fix for this problem is sometimes as easy as turning on the closed captioning option on the remote, especially in public venues.
 |
| Closed-caption symbol (Image from Wikipedia) |
Virginia Moore, executive director of the Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, said to alleviate misinformation and fear, it is important to make sure information about the cornavirus and other breaking news is being communicated clearly, including to those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.
"If you could just imagine not being able to get the correct information and how that escalates fear," she said.
Moore said public entities, like airports, doctors offices, restaurants, and sports bars,need to do their part to make sure they are using the closed captioning option if they offer a public television, especially if there is breaking news.
"If they have breaking news, that needs to be captioned," she said."It's very easy. It's a button on your remote, push that button, have the captioning available so that those individuals with a hearing loss will be able to see the important information coming across just like everyone else who is sitting there."
She also encouraged college campuses to turn on their closed captioning, since these televisions are typically in places that are crowded and noisy and often serve a high population of people who speak English as their second language, who also benefit from the closed captioning.
 |
| Virginia Moore is a sign language interpreter who has provided this service at each of Gov. Andy Beshear's coronavirus press conferences. WKRC photo. |
Moore pointed to WDRB in Louisville as a great example of a station that offers real time closed captioning. She said WDRB has been able to offer this service because of its partnership with Norton Healthcare, which underwrites the cost of it.
Because offering real time closed captioning can be costly, Moore encouraged TV stations across the state to seek out similar partnerships, calling it a "win-win," since the station gets more devoted viewers and the partner gets advertisement.
It's important to note that while some stations may have closed captioning, it is sometimes limited to whatever is on their scripts and does not include anything that is said ad-lib and some stations may not offer any captioning for live broadcast.
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