When was closed captioning invented? Given its current stature, it would be difficult to guess that this breakthrough solution is merely a few decades old and has reached its refined level only in the last few years.
Sectors like education have been experiencing a significant shift towards audiovisual content, and even the best learners can find jargon difficult to digest without proper captioning. We can only guess how difficult it must be for deaf and hard-of-hearing or language-learner students to consume visuals without appropriate captions. That is why many education institutes are fast deploying software solutions with closed captioning capabilities to make education more accessible and less cumbersome to consume.
Now that we know how important closed captioning is let's take a walk down memory lane to understand the emergence and evolution of captions.
The Early Years: Silent Films and Intertitles
Silent Films and Intertitles
Before answering when was closed captioning invented, let’s understand the role silent films played in its development. In the 1800s, inventors like Thomas Edison and the Lumiere Brothers pioneered the development of machines with image-projecting capabilities. This soon led to a growing interest in this field, and the invention of motion-picture cameras in the 1890s paved the way for silent films.
With no audio, captions (termed 'intertitles') became an integral part of these movies, as certain parts still needed explaining. Unlike the modern subtitles, these intertitles came between scenes to ensure the audience kept up with the plot. Directors James Stuart Blackton and Robert W. Paul led the way towards their integration, and the first use of intertitles dates back to 1903 (The movie's name - Uncle Tom's Cabin). Edwin S. Porter also gained popularity for his innovative use of creative titles in the early 1900s.
Talking Films
Even though experiments in synch-sound motion pictures date back to 1896 in the Edison lab, it took a few years before the film industry could use it for their production endeavors. The first known use of sound in films dates back to 1929, and it was made possible through the Vitaphone system. Sound added a vibrant element to filmmaking and led to intertitles' redundancy. The inclusion of audio eliminated the gap that intertitles previously filled in films.
The role of Emerson Romero also needs highlighting while discussing the advent of closed captioning. Romero was a deaf actor in the early 1900s who was out of work because Hollywood introduced 'talkies' (which negatively affected the silent film market).
Romero took it upon himself to make movies more accessible to the deaf and hard-of-hearing community and began experimenting with the technicalities of filmmaking. He soon started buying film reels and used innovative ways to make cinema more accessible. Romero eventually created the first captioning for a sound film in 1947, but the industry panned his idea because of its contrasting thoughts on accessibility. But through it, the initial signs of transformation were laid in the caption industry.
The Inception of Closed Captioning
The 1950s Beginning
Following Emerson's footsteps, J. Arthur Rank, a British producer, found another way to include captions—glass slides with captions. These slides appeared on a smaller screen, different from the main screen, and were placed in the lower-left corner. Rank's method of captioning gained a lot of traction, as his film, ‘Dawn Departure,’ had hundreds of deaf and hard-of-hearing people lining up for tickets.
The innovations continued and filmmakers in Belgium found a more meaningful way to include captions in movies. They began etching captions directly onto the finished print of the film, which laid the foundation for captioning implementation, as we see today. In 1951, ‘America the Beautiful’ became the first American film to have captions using the Belgian technique.
During the same time, Dr. Edmund Boatner, Superintendent of the American School for the Deaf, Connecticut, also played a pivotal role in the invention of closed captions. The baffled reaction of the deaf students while watching a movie without captions propelled him to find a solution. So, he partnered with Clarence O'Connor, Superintendent of the Lexington School for the Deaf, New York, to set up a captioned film facility for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. They started captioning feature films, but the unavailability of educational films left a lot to be desired.
The First Closed Captioning Demonstration
Image Source - DCMP
Hence, Edmund and Clarence actively sought funds and secured federal legislation for these movies. They found the support of Mary Switzer, Director of the Vocational Rehabilitation division of the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and William Purtell, a US Senator. A bill for establishing federal funding for captioned movies for people who are deaf or hard of hearing was soon passed. In 1960, 'Rockets - How They Work' became the first educational movie to be captioned and released. The Captioned Films Act was modified in 1962, which allowed the program to expand its initiatives, and captioned films continued to gain popularity in the next few years.
Another parallel innovation that had been slowly going mainstream since the 1950s was the television (TV) set, and it played an instrumental role in the mainstream adoption of closed captioning. TVs remained beyond the reach of deaf audiences in the next few years, but people started understanding the need for them to be more accessible. The major change came in 1971 when a specially equipped TV set was used to present captions for the ‘The Mod Squad’ TV show at Gallaudet University.
Key Milestones in the 1970s
Release of 'The French Chef'
Image Source - PBS
In the 1970s, TVs started becoming a norm for the deaf community, too. It began with Malcolm Norwood (popularly known as the "father of closed captioning") becoming the Chief of Media Services of the Captioned Films Branch at the US Office of Education. In 1971, a Caption Center was established in Boston, and the first-ever National Conference on Television for the Hearing Impaired took place in Memphis.
'The French Chef,' a PBS program hosted by Julia Child, became the first TV show to air with open captions in 1972. The show was broadcast throughout the US, and captions were imprinted on the film itself, which helped it gain popularity. ABC also began airing its 6:30 world news with captions. But that captions couldn't be turned off or resized meant that the solution needed rethinking. So, the government came into the picture and formed a technical committee to assess the viability of closed captioning.
Federal Funding and Technical Advances
PBS was also actively working on improving captioning and incorporating it directly into television broadcasts and the breakthrough eventually came in 1973. After extensive research, two closed-captioning techniques were selected and evaluated - Line 21 and another system that suggested broadcasting captions off the screen's edge
PBS selected Line 21, a concept still in use today and a vital captioning component during the shift from analog (hard-coded) to digital broadcasting. The format developed by the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) allowed more precise synchronization between the visible text and the corresponding audio. It also allowed users flexibility in styling their captions—from color to size—ensuring easier adoption.
Founding of the National Captioning Institute (NCI)
While the user support was on their side, securing network support was difficult, primarily because of the cost constraints. So, after multiple rounds of discussions, ABC came forward with the idea of establishing a nonprofit, freestanding captioning institute that would share the cost with the government. The idea was well-received and led to the formation of the National Captioning Institute (NCI) to caption TV programs and produce TV decoders in 1979. Closed captioning was no longer an afterthought now.
The Breakthrough: 1980s and Beyond
The Introduction of TeleCaption Adapter I
Image Source - Henry Ford Museum
The early 1980s were the formative years of closed captioning as we know it today. On March 6, 1980, the NCI introduced a series of closed-captioned TV programs. Shows with closed captions like 'Semi-Tough,' 'Son of Flubber,' and 'Masterpiece Theatre' became the first to feature on ABC, NBC, and PBS, respectively.
However, users needed to connect their TVs with a special decoder box to decode the captioning information. NCI introduced the TeleCaption Adapter I, developed and sold by Sears, for $250, which would seamlessly connect to the TVs and convert the captioning information for the viewers. The introduction of closed captions on fan-favorite shows was a significant moment in history as it was pivotal in breaking down barriers and making information and entertainment more accessible.
This turnaround was followed by the release of the first closed-captioning children's TV program, 'Sesame Street' in 1981, with the first open-captioned theatrical movie release, 'Amy' following. Now that there was no looking back, the Academy Awards and ABC's World News Tonight had real-time closed captioning for the first time in the following year. Sports did not have to wait long as the 'Sugar Bowl' aired with closed captioning in 1982.
Legislative Milestones
The next few years saw several marked improvements, beginning with the introduction of videocassettes and closed-captioned music videos. In 1990, the Television Decoder Circuitry Act made life easier for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community by mandating TV producers have built-in decoders for all 13-inch TVs (or wider) starting from 1993. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 further mandated all TVs to have decoding capabilities.
Modern Developments and Technological Innovations
The Early 2000s
The first decade of the 21st Century was about continuous improvements and ensuring greater availability. In 2001, full-length open-captioned classic movies and TB programs were made available on the Internet. In the subsequent year, over 400 open-captioned educational videos were uploaded on the Internet for the first time.
In 2008, the Captioning Key was completely revised, and a new set of guidelines and preferred techniques for captioning educational content was released. In 2009, The Twenty-First Century Communications and Accessibility Act mandated broadcasters to provide closed captioning for television programs redistributed on the web. It also necessitated the need for HDTV decoding boxes to feature a closed captioning button.
2012 saw the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopting rules that required consumer electronics to have built-in captioning access to ensure universal accessibility. Since then, Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP), formerly CFD, has been successful in making closed captioning a more complete offering than it was a few decades back. It included developing a new transcript tool, allowing direct access to students to its described and captioned media content, and even launching a channel on Roku. In 2015, it even developed a native iOS app, ‘DCMP’, for Apple users, which is free to download for DCMP members.
Image Source - Apple App Store
EL.AI's Role In Modern-day Closed Captioning
Modern-day closed captioning has benefited heavily from recent technological advancements. The induction of AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning) has ushered in a new era of closed captioning. The usage of AI and computer vision has allowed for a more immersive viewing experience for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community and enabled them to make the most of educational and other audiovisual content.
It has also brought about the development of several solutions that strive hard to steer the growth of closed captioning. Today, closed captioning is a vital aspect not only for the film industry but sectors like education, are reaping benefits via its usage, too. With the education world fast moving towards increased use of audiovisual content, closed captioning will be one of the vital cogs for the transition. Countries like the USA have become the hub of education and closed captioning would not only benefit the deaf and hard-of-hearing students, it also makes content more accessible for language learners.
Manual closed captioning is cumbersome and costly, which propelled a search for its more feasible alternatives. The last few years have seen a lot of software (primarily AI-powered) grow through the ranks and become a core component of audiovisual-based education.
For example, EL.AI is a modern-day closed captioning software that seeks to make education accessible for everyone. Their Echo Labs Captioning Platform is a breakthrough in how the deaf community perceives education.
Conclusion
Closed captions play a vital role in content consumption—they improve comprehension and help overcome language barriers. Initially developed for films, they quickly pivoted to educational content and are today playing a key role in making learning accessible for all. While the first two decades were all about slow growth, the rapid improvements in technology in the last few years mean that captioning is evolving faster than before.
Educational institutes could have found it difficult to encash and make the most of these changes. The rise of software solutions like EL.AI has helped them grow parallel instead of playing the catch-up game. Closed captioning through EL.AI is super useful for the hearing-impaired community. Educational institutes are also using it to impart quality content to language learners and neurodiverse students, attracting quality talent sans any boundaries.
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