Please Help Hearing Impaired ATS(ers)

Hello all. I would just like to nicely point out to everyone that some people on ATS (more than you may think) are hearing impaired and when a Utube video is posted, no matter how interested in the topic they may be, it doesn't allow them to have any insight into the subject. Please besides your link to the video, post a description of what people will be seeing or your thoughts on what the video is about so that all people here can have knowledge and deny ignorance. Thank you.

EDIT for stupidity: Mods please move to appropriate area. Thank you.

[edit on 22-10-2008 by seejanerun]

I admit I hadn't thought about this, but you are of course right. I promise to remember what you are saying the next time I post a video here at ATS.

Thanks for making a good point.

In my experience with youtube videos concerning ufo sightings you're not missing much... usually people add some kind of music they think is appropriate. Some have no audio at all. Others do have audio of the people who are doing the filming, but most of these consist of variations of "OMG! WTF is that?" etc... and are usually pretty irrelevant to the video itself, unless of course you think you can derive clues as to the veracity of the vid by how the film maker/s react audibly while filming.
Other types, such as ufo conferences, 9/11 conspiracy vids etc. , may consist of long periods of people giving speeches. These are going to be problematic for you as I doubt anyone's going to go through the trouble of typing up a transcript.
The best advice I can think for you is to study the threads involved for clues to what you may have missed by not being able to hear the audio,

I do sympathize with your plight, but sincerely doubt any realistically workable solutions to it will be forthcoming.

Yeah, I have pointed that out several times before A short description would be nice for each youtube video. A few ATSers have actually attempted to subtitle few videos for me. It is a very difficult and time consuming process.

There are efforts some people outside of ATS make to make many youtube videos subtitled. I and other deaf people have raised awareness on this on youtube forum.

Thanks for raising awareness for us deaf (and hard of hearing) ATSers

reply to post by seejanerun

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that is a awesome suggestion and thank you for bringing it to my attention. The hearing impaired are a valued part of our community

Actually, his proposed solution is not only a viable solution, but one that should be followed anyway.


Terms and Conditions

There is no reason to just post a video and expect other people to do all the work for you. The intention of ATS is to encourage collaborative discussion. This means that the author of a thread needs to determine and express the course and direction a thread should go. Undoubtedly, there will be people to the dissent, but that is the point...to state your own opinion and then let the discussion go from their (in a civil manner of course).

This helps not only the hearing impaired, but those of us who are genetically unable to read the minds of people who live on different parts of the globe then us.

It is common courtesy to define what it is exactly that your thread is about and what you would like from people who read it. It is a responsibility you have to be as clear and concise as possible to aid in the comprehension of everyone---from the hearing impaired to those who do not have English as a first language.

Great Thread and Reminder, seejanerun...

What many do not know (probably logical) is that you can add subtitles to youtube videos. They are called Closed Captions. Here's an example of it...

www.youtube.com...

It can support both .srt and .sub file formats. The only problem is making them. You'll need an editor and lots of patience.

Google should enhance the subtitle making a lot. At best it should be editable by all users on youtube just like wikipedia and the editing should happen in realtime in the browser on the actual youtube flash video.

Google should really change this and make a big emphasis on this imo. All members should be motivated to sub their videos. So far I think only 1% of the videos out there use the closed caption feature.

I'm not impaired but I understand the annoyance.

[edit on 22-10-2008 by broli]

reply to post by seejanerun

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Thank you for bringing this issue up. I have a 16 year old grandson that is deaf.

The hearing impaired adjust very well. As was already said posting descriptions of videos would be helpful.

I have to take time to boast about my grandson to the whole world. He is a drama student and was in a statewide competition this weekend. He played the part of Tuck in the play Mother Hicks. His character was deaf in the play but was the main character.

My grandson was picked Best Actor out of plays by 16 schools. He was also awarded a medal for All Star Actor. Only 12 students received this honor. He does enjoy ATS when he can take a moment out of gaming.

Please forgive the ranting of a proud grandmother.

reply to post by MemoryShock

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Ahhh ty MS, apparently I'm misconstruing the OP's desire with this thread. I was thinking she was asking for a synopsis of what the audio contained, rather than a description of what the video was about or how it pertained to a particular thread. Apologies for my denseness.

Good point. I didn't think about that. I will def. do this from now on. Thanks for the insight!

Star and flag this everyone!!

Thank you Jane. That's very insightful of you, as well as a boon to all of us confronted with a video to view.

I'm completely deaf in one ear, and the other is severely damaged. I blew up my computer speakers over a month ago, and until a new friend here U2U-ed me one of their songs, I've not been compelled to get new speakers. They all sound like ant bands to me I guess I'll have to invest some serious bucks.

It's not so bad being semi-hearing. I "hear" people say all sorts of bizarre stuff -- things that my brain in its perception of patterns presents to me -- and I get to snicker to myself while I await finding out what they really said.

Thanks again. If we can keep this in mind, it'll improve the quality of all threads.

Cheers

Good point raised there SeeJanerun.

There is more to posting on a forum than meets the eye and its always worth thinking about how it will come across to all kinds of people.

Another thing to bear in mind is this from the Terms and Conditions



People shouldn't just be posting video's, they should be discussing them as well.

reply to post by argentus

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I have severe hearing loss (diving) myself and find that a really good set of headphones works best for me. You may want to invest in some good quality headphones rather than speakers.

Springer...

[edit on 10-23-2008 by Springer]

Hearing impaired or not....
Those of us with dial-up would also like to see a description of the video and a little discussion before we commit 1/2 an hour to get it downloaded.

It's very frustrating when someone posts a video with a headline that only reads "YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS".

For everyone's sake, please post a description and some commentary.

reply to post by seejanerun

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While it may not be possible to provide a complete transcript from a long video, there's no reason one can't type a brief synopsis (as MemoryShock already said)........great reminder! Flagged.

reply to post by Springer

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Excellent suggestion Springer, thanks ! I'll do just that.

Diving, huh? Y'know, when you know your ears are toast, that frees a person up to freedive insane depths I'm 50, but can easily manage 70 feet. I've been to 80, but that was a very dangerous situation. I'm going to go into hyperbaric chamber technician training here in three days. We finally got one, and now we need folks to monitor it. Y'all come down here, y'hear? (Cayman Islands, Cayman Brac in particular)

Jane, I think this thread has been important for both hearing-impaired and those that are not. As a previous poster mentioned, those on dial-up need to have a sense that the time is well spent before engaging in a video, and for myself, I want to know what the OP thinks about the video. Most times when a youtube is just posted without any input from the OP, I hardly ever look at it. I want to know why they think it is postworthy, I want to know what their feelings and analysis of the video are.

Thanks again.