Most of us think of closed captioning as something we use only in our private residences, whether such captioning is a need or simply a convenience.
But under Title III of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), sites classified as "public accommodations" must avail themselves to those who the act protects.
While this law physically manifests itself in a greater number of architectural access points, like wheelchair ramps and handicapped bathroom stalls, what about the millions of Americans disabled with hearing impairments? These people are instead helped out in public placed by open or closed captioning.
Open captions are burned onto the video, whereas closed captions may be turned on and off.
Granted, most public accommodations will have no occasion to feature open or closed captioning, since captioning is inherently a feature of video.
But there are many, particularly educational institutions, where captioning is a daily sight.
Take, for example, museums.
Museums of history or science may play several different videos per exhibit; all must feature open or closed captioning for their hearing impaired visitors.
Even art museums are part of the trend, with more and more special exhibitions featuring education video - all of these must include open or closed captions.
Libraries, especially on college campuses, are another class of public accommodations that have come to show more videos with closed captions.
The days of libraries stocking only books are long gone! It began with VHS tapes and now most libraries maintain an extensive selection of DVDs as well.
In order to comply with the ADA and to provide full access to the deaf and hard of hearing, for many years the American Library Association has recommended that all newly acquired video assets contain closed captions.
Depending on the availability of funds, many libraries have also paid to have their existing video assets closed captioned as well.
For collegiate libraries, a university knows who its hearing impaired students are and must provide them with the captioning they need.
Employing close captioning technology may also be a cost savings to the institution, as it will not have to hire a signer full-time; the hearing impaired student instead can watch a video with closed captions.
Although the ADA does contain provisions for televised closed captioning, it is most publicly seen in the use of open and closed captions in public institutions.
Today, if you step into a museum, library, or other accommodation with video playing, you will likely see open or closed captions playing along with it.
Even if captioning is not something you personally need, there are many others who would be lost without it.
Closed captioning companies like Video Caption Corporation in New York diligently provide closed captioning for both broadcast and public accommodations.