Takao Monma

Automatic closed-caption production system on TV programs for hearing-impaired people

Increasing the number of closed-captioned television programs represents a social responsibility in the sense of providing information. In terms of the system to create closed-captioned television programs by hand, there is considerable hope that the time involved can be reduced and the burden on workers can be eased. The system the authors report on automates three processes in the creation of closed-captioned television programs: summarization, synchronization, and closed-captioned screen creation, yielding from an electronic manuscript closed-caption data applicable to current closed-captioned broadcasts. The authors created closed captions for 12 types of news programs and one documentary program, confirming that the process of creating a closed-captioned television program could be completed in three to six times the program length, excluding the process of creating the electronic manuscript and testing/editing. The authors demonstrate the validity of their system insofar as the time needed to create closed captions using their system was about 70% of the time needed to create closed captions by hand, excluding the process of testing and editing.