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YouTube automates sound effect captions with AI
YouTube has used algorithms to automatically caption speech for eight years now in an effort to make its billions of videos more accessible for the deaf and hard of hearing. While the feature was pretty rough at first, it has significantly improved it over time, getting "closer and closer to human transcription error rates," Google said in its developers blog. Since speech is just one part of the audio picture, though, YouTube has launched automatic sound effect captioning for the first time.
DOJ: Cinemas must offer tech for blind and deaf customers
Digital distribution means that it's no longer a chore to distribute movies with audio description and closed captioning. Despite this, some theaters have resisted offering the service, cutting out people with disabilities from enjoying the full cinema experience. That's what's prompted Attorney General Loretta Lynch to sign a final rule affirming that theaters must own, maintain and advertise disability aids for patrons.
