Zoom Live Transcription Feature

AUTOMATIC LIVE TRANSCRIPTION 

Zoom recently launched an automatic live transcription service that will live caption speech in Zoom. Automatic live transcription is not ADA compliant, meaning students with documented accommodations may still require separate supports arranged through Disability Services. However, this feature can provide a more accessible environment for many students, including English language learners, students who are undiagnosed or don’t have access to approved accommodations for any reason, and students who may need to lower or turn off their volume if they have to join class from a less comfortable environment. 

There are a few other limitations to this feature:

• Privacy: Anyone on the call — host and participants — can view and save a transcript. Because the host cannot moderate access to the feature, it is possible that some users could have their conversations transcribed and saved without their knowledge. 
• Uneven transcription quality: You may find that some voices are more reliably transcribed than others, and some voices may be more reliably recognized as a particular speaker than others. Auto-transcription is especially known to be less reliable when representing non-native English speakers, and those who speak with some regional dialects or accents.

If you want to enable automatic live captioning, start by selecting “Live Transcript” in the Zoom menu bar.

From the captioning menu, select “Enable Auto-Transcription.” 

Once Auto-Transcription is enabled, you can select the small arrow next to “Live Transcript” in the menu bar to see other options.

“Hide Subtitle” allows you to remove the auto-captioning from your screen. “View Full Transcript” opens a window panel that displays the full transcript and allows you to save the transcript. “Subtitle settings” allows you to change the appearance of the subtitles on your screen.