Overview
When we talk about accessibility, we are referencing a commitment. It is a commitment by you, the podcast creator, to provide access and opportunity for listeners of all varieties to engage in your content. We are collectively responsible for assuring that the content we make using the tools and technologies we choose to use are ultimately accessible by all. We don’t know who we might be excluding if we don’t make our content accessible. Podcast transcripts help non-native speakers better understand your content, people who might not be able to listen in a particular environment, folks who have a preference for reading rather than listening and listeners who may have poor connections or bandwidth. Making a transcript for your podcast is an issue of equity and usability.
How do you make a podcast accessible?
The most impactful thing you can do to make your podcast accessible is to include a transcript. By including a transcript, you drastically improve access to your content. Without one, deaf and hard-of-hearing members of your audience may never know about your awesome discussion with your colleagues or the life-changing interview you conducted with a community member. An audio editing tip: export your podcast file with mono audio. Why? Stereo sound splits your audio into separate left and right channels. While this might give you a desired “surround sound” feeling, you have to take your listeners into account. Some listeners may be hard of hearing in one particular ear, or may choose to listen to your podcast with only one earbud.
What resources are available to help?
- You could use a platform like otranscribe to type everything out by hand. When doing a transcript on your own, it’s helpful to slow down playback speed to about 50% or lower.
- Another hack is to generate a transcript through YouTube’s auto-transcribe feature. To do this, you would use your resulting podcast audio in a video-editing platform, pair it with some static image, and upload the resulting video to YouTube. YouTube will then do it’s magic and generate a transcription file that you can download and edit locally. It’s not the most elegant solution, but it works!
- You can even use Google Docs for transcribing, but this method is also painstaking.
- There are also a transcript style guidelines that might be helpful. The Bello Collective’s guide to transcribing audio includes one such style guide.
No matter how you provide a transcript, it’s a good idea to remember that transcripts promote inclusivity and benefit everyone.