Text transcription/live captioning on voice chat

Pear
  • Edited

Text transcription is when you're taking speech and converting it into text (like closed captions, but live). There are several third-party services that could probably work with Discord, but most of them are either a hassle to setup or cost money (putting most disabled users at a disadvantage). It would be amazing if Discord implemented their own version of this to benefit those with hearing loss (like me!) or don't have a headphone and need to join in a voice chat without disturbing their surrounding environment. Also, seeing that Discord has a text-to-speech feature (/tts <message>), I think this is something that the developers can easily do.

Now, for the GUI part, there should be a new button along with the others in the call GUI. The chat could appear as a "pop-out" window and would probably look similar to a regular text chat, but without the option to type in that window. Here's a possible concept (next to the red button):

Additionally, some settings in the Voice & Video would be nice.

I apologize in advance if this was posted to the wrong section, but I felt that it was more of an accessibility feature than a voice chat thing.

TOO LONG DIDN'T READ (TLDR); Live closed captioning on voice chat so I can join in and read what people are saying

528

Comments

144 comments

Date Votes
  • poloniumcat

    This is already a native feature in Google Hangouts and Skype, it should definitely be implemented here, or at the very least make it easier to link in a service like Web Captioner in the meantime. Native captioning on each person, under their video or an option to just view captions only (like a running script) would be amazing. 

    7
  • Tony H

    Adding my voice to the chorus. This is a fantastic idea, and it seems quite doable.

    4
  • GKRevy

    Holy crap. Yes, this, please!

    3
  • Clonemep

    Any update to this? Awesome idea!

    3
  • dunnoson

    I totally agree in favor of this addition, as I am deaf myself and I have trouble understanding what is being said.

    3
  • avid-dabbler

    100% support!

    3
  • Cordelya

    Yes please!

    3
  • omenkitten

    This is a need for sure!

    3
  • Franz K

    I'm a deaf/hoh person myself and the lack of accessibility stops me from using Discord much. I'd like to see AI auto-transcribing for both voice and video calls.

    3
  • michaelrkn

    Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom all have this feature. Please add it so that we can include our deaf and hard-of-hearing friends and colleagues in our voice and video conversations.

    2
  • Pear

    Clonemep michaelrkn Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything from Discord about this. If the rumors of Microsoft buying them out are true, then hopefully they can bring their technology to here. Thank you guys for supporting this petition.

    2
  • Pear

    Bumping. Discord added a new type of voice chat called stage, which is supposed to be some type of 1 speaker vs several audience. Text transcription would really help for those that are deaf or hard of hearing.

    3
  • Refined Twitchy

    Bump, I am dhoh myself and struggle on voice calls

    2
  • mei

    Let's open-source it and make it happen! 

    2
  • Sage

    Been waiting far too long for this- this needs to happen

    1
  • simin

    As a person who is HoH, this would greatly help me engage better!

    1
  • lea108

    A pop-out window is a nice bonus, but minimum caption text like on TV, YouTube or Google Hangouts would be useful. With settings to configure your font-size, text color and backgroud color/opacity.

    When just talking, the captioning on video is likely enough, but when someone stream a game, having a pop-out may be handy so you can move it around and not have it over the game menu which is often in the bottom of the screen.

    1
  • M00N 🌙
    • Edited

    One of our admins is deaf and I would absolutely love for her to be able to participate in voice meetings. This would be amazing to implement.

    2
  • yen

    Agree!! This platform needs voice chat to be accessible. Has this been done yet?? We are about to have a big meet up but will have to move it to another platform if there’s no captioning available yet

    1
  • itsyaboifranzi

    yeah it'd be a great feature to add

    1
  • Gander
    • Edited

    Scriptly does this feature amazingly, at least for the time while we wait for this to be implemented.
    https://scriptly.xyz/invite 

    Here is one of their demo gifs:

    They also have a premium version with way better transcription that is perfect for users who need and use this on a daily basis.

    9
  • yadavravi

    waw awesome idea.

    1
  • Pear

    Gander Thank you for letting me know about the bot. I had no idea it existed and joined their server.

    0
  • F0X

    Fully deaf - this is needed for servers that offer seminars

    1
  • yahumno

    Absolutely agree that this is needed.

    1
  • Tal

    This is a great idea! The only time I move from discord voice chat is to use google meet autocaptioning, and this would be an excellent accessibility feature.

     

    3
  • ThePlaidFox

    Yes please!

    1
  • princeaidan

    This is a great idea!

    1
  • Evo Terra

    Podcaster with hearing loss here who also runs a discord server… yes, please!

    1
  • pocceto

    That would be amazing!

    1

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