These instructions explain how to automatically generate live captions in your web browser for any audio/video that is playing on your computer, including people speaking in a live Collaborate session. These instructions are currently for Windows only, and you
Requirements
- Windows (the instructions don't cover macOS at the moment but it does work there)
- Google Chrome web browser
- You must have administrator permissions on your computer
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- and be able to install software on your computer
Privacy
Your recorded audio is sent to Google's speech-to-text service and the captions are sent back to your browser. At no point does your audio pass through Web Captioner servers. For more info read Web Captioner's privacy page.
Overview of the Process
The first step is to install a program called VB-Cable. We use VB-Cable allows programs to access system audio (any audio produced by your computer) by selecting it as a microphone while also allowing you to hear the audio through your speakers or headphones. Once VB-Cable is installed and configured, the website webcaptioner.com will be used to listen to the system audio (as a microphone) and automatically generate and display the captionsto take your computer audio and turn it onto a virtual microphone. Next we will use a free website, Web Captioner, to listen to the virtual microphone and automatically generate live captions and display them in your web browser. To put this another way, Web Captioner will listen to your computer's audio and automatically caption what it hears. Web Captioner is a website, you will grant permission for Web Captioner to listen to your audio, and once you've closed the browser tab that runs Web Captioner it can no longer listen to your audio (until you re-open it).
Once you've completed this process you will need to manually set your microphone in any program you use (e.g., Collaborate) and if you want to change the speakers you're using (e.g., change from desktop speakers to headset) you will need to manually make that change (you may be used to it automatically changing when you plug in a device such as your headphones).
If you don't like the changes and don't wish to continue using live captioning, there are simple instructions at the bottom to essentially turn it off and go back to how things were.
Steps
Download the VB-CABLE Driver. (if you want more info on what this is you can find it here).
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