fully engage in video conferences

By Andrea Kaneb

Video conferences have become a lifeline to family and friends. Also, they are an important tool for remote work. I really look forward to bi-weekly video meetings with my family. Before the meeting starts, I set up audio streaming to my hearing aids and captions. This ensures that I won’t miss any of the conversation. Learning to fully engage in video conferences is a challenge. There are a lot of different platforms or versions out there. Each has its own features. It is especially hard for people with hearing loss who need captions. It is a steep learning curve to set up captions when not provided with any. We all need to advocate for free captions on video conferences.

Meeting hosts should ensure:

all attendees faces should be well-lit for lip-reading
good microphone use by all attendees
turn-taking so people don’t talk over each other
mute microphone when not speaking
if ASL is present, turn off other users’ video to minimize distractions
ensure all videos have captions
turn on live captions option whenever available

Another tip is to choose the “speaker view” to read lips of the person talking. Gallery view works well when you need to see people raise their hands to speak. Also, “pin” the person you want to see all the time. Use the chat box to send private messages to others you cannot hear or see well. With practice, you can fully engage in video conferences with fulfilling results.

a look at two popular platforms

Zoom

computer screen shot of zoom live transcription icons

Zoom is the most popular video conferencing platform. Built-in live captioning (called live transcription) is very fast and also accurate if the incoming audio (speech) is clear. The captions must be enabled in advance AND at the start of the meeting. Send these instructions to your meeting host in advance. If the meeting is underway, it may be possible to request the host turn on the captions using the CC button at the bottom of your screen. Alternatively, Zoom provides a great experience when used with CART (learn more) although latency may be an issue.

What I love about Zoom:

a great gallery view
a “raise hand” feature that makes turn taking easier
ability to chat to just one other individual

What I dislike about Zoom:

captions are not automatically enabled. You need to request the host enable them in advance.
the chat box pops up over the captions unless you move/disable it

Google Meet

Google Meet has automatic, built-in captions. It works really well for a casual group. I belong to a book group of 9 people with hearing loss and we prefer automatic captions for free for our monthly meetings.

What I love about Google Meet:

fast, reliable, easy to use captions are built right in
grid view to see up to 48 people

What I dislike about Meet:

not as well known so less comfortable for others
ribbon along bottom pops up and down, making it hard to find buttons at times

Click to see my Google Meet quick user guide

Other video conferencing platforms have free built-in captions, including Microsoft Teams and Skype.

Video conferencing with Cisco Webex offers real-time meeting transcription.

3 factors that can help you fully engage

1. Hear and see others well

From other participants, you need to receive clear, audible speech and be able to read their lips and facial expressions. Encourage others in your video conference ahead of time to use headsets and to think about their lighting so their faces are well lit.

2. Deliver audio straight to both ears

Keep the audio you receive clean and strong by sending it straight to your ears. This is likely to make listening easier than audio from the built-in speakers on your device. You can use the headphone or USB jack on your device for a wired solution, use Bluetooth or do a combination of the two. Whenever possible, include a microphone in this setup.

hybrid wired and wireless solutions by plugging in a transmitter

3. Use captions to fill in the gaps

There are at least eight video conference platforms and they all have different captioning methods. Some have built-in captions while others do not. Meeting hosts don’t always know they need to set up captions ahead of time or how to do that. Be sure to request CART in advance if needed for important meetings. Automatic speech recognition (ASR) captions are also extremely helpful.

Captions and Text

captions and text fill gaps in hearing

When I struggle to follow a discussion, captions and text fill gaps in my hearing. (I wouldn't hear nearly as well without my reading glasses.) Today, captions are available in a rapidly increasing and wide variety of situations. Above all, everyone with significant hearing loss should know about a service called Communication Access Real-Time translation [...]

captions on a separate device

Set up a separate device to run a speech-to-text captioning app to get fast, reliable captions for all audio. Take control of your captions, regardless of whether the meeting host/platform provides them or not.

In this scenario, I need to split the audio from my computer so I send the sound directly to both ears and also have sound for a small speaker used by my mobile device running a speech-to-text app.

captions in a separate window

You can split your screen into two windows placed side by side, with one running the video conference and the other window running a speech-to text app like webcaptioner.com. To learn how to split your screen, google “how to use split screen on a (type of device you’re on)”

God grant me

the serenity to accept the things I cannot change:

I cannot control which platform others choose to host meetings and captions may not be on their radar.
there are at least eight video conferencing platforms. That’s a lot to learn.
features on a computer may be elsewhere on a mobile device
people are too far from their microphone
faces are too dark to lip read
my device makes me choose between speaker, Bluetooth or the headphone jack for audio output.
people use the pop-up chat box that blocks captions even if asked not to

the courage to change the things I can:

use my own captioning app that works with any platform
speak up about what I need from others, to make them more aware of mics and lighting and captions
send audio straight to my ears using wires, wireless or both
move that annoying chat box!