Using Automatic Transcription Services (How-to)

Automatic Transcription Services use a form of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR). ASR services can be used to help participants who are hearing impaired more fully participate in virtual meetings and recorded content. ASR services are machine created and closed captioning services are performed by live trained professionals. Enabling ASR in virtual meetings can provide a near immediate translation of what is spoken during a meeting. ASR transcriptions are at best 70% - 75% accurate, whereas closed captioning services have an accuracy rate of 99%. For a good explanation on the differences please see this article from Panopto. While the name of the service may differ from platform to platform, the services are equivalent.

ASR services are available are available on Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Panopto. See below for information and instructions for each.

1. Zoom Live Transcriptions

Live Transcriptions must be enabled by the host of a meeting. With our campus licensing, only one host is allowed per meeting. Once enabled by the meeting host, each participant can display or hide the live transcriptions.

1. Enabling Live Transcriptions in a Zoom Meeting

1. Select the Live Transcript option in the tools section of your meeting.
2. From the Live Transcript option, select Enable Auto-Transcription.

2. Using Live Transcriptions

3. Enabling or Disabling Live Transcriptions as a participant

If you are a participant in a Zoom meeting and Live Transcriptions have been enabled by the host, you have the ability to show or hide them as desired.

1. Select the Live Transcript option from the choices at the bottom of the meeting window.
2. Choose either Hide Subtitle or Show Subtitle.

2. Microsoft Teams Live Captions

1. Enabling Live Captions in a Teems Meeting

In a Teams meeting each participant can enable captions for themselves. Enabling Live Captions in Microsoft Teams only enables it for the individual and not for other meeting participants.

1. Begin by selecting the More actions ellipses from the upper right of a meeting window.

1. Select Turn on live captions from the drop down menu.

2. Verifying Live Captions Have Been Enabled

1. Once Live captions have been enabled in a Teams meeting, they will appear at the bottom of the meeting window.

3. Using ASR Services for Recorded Content in Panopto

While both Zoom and Teams meetings can be recorded, neither platform will embed or burn the the transcript into the recording. If you need to enable transcription in recorded content, you will need to use Panopto.

1. Automatic Captions in a Panopto Video

Automatic captions are enabled for content recorded or uploaded to Panopto automatically. This includes videos recorded in other systems such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams.

If you have not used Panopto previously see these Knowledge Base articles to help you get started. If you are familiar with Panopto but are unsure on how to upload content, see Uploading Videos to Panopto Video Library (How-to).

2. Using Automatic Captions in a Panpto Video

Once a video has been recorded or uploaded, the Panopto service will begin the process of automatically transcribing the video. It may take a bit of time for the captions to fully complete.

1. Once you can see the CC icon, in the lower right portion of the playback window, under the video. The user can click this icon to turn on the captions.

1. Users can view a time based transcript which will advance as the video plays. To view the transcripts, select the Captions option from the menu in the upper left portion of the playback window.