Jennie Bourgeois» Jennie Bourgeois

September 25, 2009

Update: Captioning at Ohio State University Football Games

September 25th 2009 Posted to Deaf Info/Resources

: Image via Wikipedia

9/25/09

For Immediate Release:

http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=0&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=204801606

Fans attending the remaining home football games at Ohio State will notice captioning on the video boards and on select televisions throughout the concourse area, Gene Smith, Ohio State associate vice president and director of athletics, said Friday.

The captioning will include public address announcements and play descriptions along with the calls made by the on-field officials.

The initiative is designed to enhance the Fan experience, particularly those are deaf or hearing impaired.

“The university is constantly looking for ways to make experiences on the Ohio State campus better,” Smith said. “Whether it’s the experience of our students, visitors to the campus or fans at our athletic events, we are looking for opportunities to improve our services. With the advances in technology, captioning our football games is another way to enhance our fan experience.”

Captioning falls in line with procedures already practiced across campus. Universal Design, a philosophy already used in new construction and academic initiatives, looks for ways to make facilities and services accessible and useful for every member of the campus community.

Starting with the football game vs. Illinois Saturday, a line of text will be visible on the video boards in the south and north ends of Ohio Stadium. The text will appear along the bottom of the video boards. The north board, a new addition to Ohio Stadium this season, is a smaller mirror of the much larger south endzone board.

About half of the televisions in the concourse areas will carry the video board feed and will include the captioning seen in the stadium. The remaining televisions in the concourse will carry the network television broadcast without audio.

Captioning will originate in the video control room at the Schottenstein Center. All audio announcements made at the game over the public address system will be transferred to text at the Schottenstein Center and displayed on the video boards at the stadium.

Central Captioning is the company hired by the Ohio State Department of Athletics to provide the captioning service for the remainder of the 2009 season.