Ohio State to Begin Captioning on Video Boards Saturday – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Fans attending the remaining home football games at Ohio State will notice captioning on the video boards and on 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 experience for people who are deaf or hearing impaired or any other fan who has difficulty hearing the announcers.
“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 currently 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.
The televisions in the concourse areas will carry the video board feed and will include the captioning seen in the stadium.
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 of Columbus, Ohio, will provide the captioning service for the Ohio State Department of Athletics.
