Advanced Television (ATV), will dramatically change television technology within the coming years. ATV will also make exciting new caption features possible such as multiple caption streams (enabling viewers to select different languages or reading speeds), a wider range of character sizes, fonts, and colors, and increased flexibility regarding caption placement. ATV may also allow users to customize the appearance of captions on their television sets.
The ATV Closed Captioning Working Group was created to ensure the development of a captioning specification which best serves deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers while also serving the needs of the designers and manufacturers of the coming digital media. The ATVCC Working Group operates under the aegis of the Television Data Systems Subcommittee of the Electronics Industries Association. Key activities are funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

One of the Working Group's objectives is to involve users in the design of ATV captioning. Therefore, a key activity was to conduct market research with current and potential caption users. In January 1997, NCAM commissioned the WGBH Research Department to one phase of this market research.

The purpose of the research was to obtain input from current and potential caption users about features that may become possible with ATV. The information obtained through this research will assist receiver manufacturers in determining how to design their products to best serve caption consumers.

There were 26 participants consisting of approximately equal numbers of men and women and representing a wide range of age groups, different degrees of hearing loss, and varying levels of computer expertise. The interviews began with a written questionnaire in which participants were asked questions about their use and opinions of current captions. Upon completing the questionnaire, the participants viewed a 20-minute video tape featuring real captioned footage. The tape was divided into 21 segments, showing different styles of captioning. The segments were roughly grouped into seven categories based on the features being tested: size, font, spacing, color, window style, character edging and presentation method. After each segment, the tape was stopped and the participants were asked to rate the captions on a scale of one to 10 (with 10 being the highest score) and to comment on what they liked or disliked.
There was a high level of consensus among participants. The participants tended to favor captions in mixed case, a sans serif font, and white captions on a black background. There was also a lot of agreement among participants regarding which features they would like to control. The participants would most like to be able to adjust the caption background and control the color and size of the captions. They also expressed a strong desire to be able to move the captions or adjust the picture on those occasions when captions tend to interfere with other information.

Differences tended to occur along expected lines. Older people tended to prefer greater contrast; hard-of-hearing consumers with higher degrees of hearing tended to rate the black background lower, preferring to see more of the picture; and computer users were more particular about the font.

Because there is such variation in people's visual tastes, it is clear that a considerable amount of flexibility needs to be built into ATV closed captioning. However, it is not necessary to include an exhaustive number of features or for viewers to be able to control each of the tested features.
 
Source: ATV/WGBH