Captioning Live Events

Setting up Captions as an Accommodation

If there is an official accommodation need, then a live captioner may need to be hired for synchronous web conferencing sessions. Please read the Penn State Knowledge Base article on setting up closed captioning for a Zoom meeting Links to an external site.. 

Contact the World Campus HelpDesk by phone (814-865-HELP (4357)) or email (ITServiceDesk@psu.edu) and provide the following information to get a captioner appointed to your meeting:

• Name of the event
• Name of the meeting host
• The host’s contact information (be sure to include a phone number)
• The URL for the session
• Event date
• Event start and end times
• Name of the student who needs captioning

Setting up Automated Captions for All

Closed captions are useful to everyone. In addition to helping viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing, captions can help students: 

• maintain focus 
• retain more information 
• overcome poor audio 
• watch in noisy or sensitive environments (e.g., library, public transportation) 
• understand speakers with accents 
• understand difficult vocabulary 
• who are not native English speakers    

Penn State Knowledge Base article on setting up closed captioning for a Zoom meeting Links to an external site. will provide instructions for meeting set up.