Instagram brought in captions to their stories in May 2021. Users were able to add them into a story they’d created. However, they’ve now stepped up their game even further and made the app more suitable for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. Now, you’ll be able to add auto-generated captions for videos.
Instagram have recently announced they will be adding auto-generated captions to their videos. This is part of their aim to make their app more accessible. The new feature will involve all Instagram videos on the home page. The captions will be available in 17 languages to start with. However, Instagram have said they plan to expand them even further within time. Hopefully these new features will prove to be popular and Instagram can work on speeding their expansion up.
All users will have the option to turn them off or on, so you can customise the app even further to support your needs. The overall experience for those who rely on captions will drastically be improved. They’re far more likely to be able to watch more videos than before. For those hard of hearing, they may rely on using headphones. Although without having access to headphones, or in a noisy environment they need more than this. That’s why captions are the best possible option.
Within the US alone, 48 million people are deaf or hard of hearing. Imagine the numbers across the rest of the world. It’s surprising Instagram have waited this long. However, thankfully they are moving in the right direction. All social media platforms should work on being more accessible for everyone. Without captions, many videos are simply off limits. Meaning those who are deaf have to miss out. It’s a shame that in 2022 with technology at its strongest, that this could even be the case.
