When you start captioning public meetings, one of the first questions is whether captions should always be on screen or something viewers turn on. That's the open vs. closed captions decision, and for most agencies the answer is “both, in different places.”
Open vs. closed captions: the definitions
- Open captions are always shown. Everyone looking at the screen sees them, and no one can turn them off. A caption display on the TV in the council chamber is open captioning.
- Closed captions are something the viewer turns on. The captions travel with the video, and each person decides whether to display them. The CC button on YouTube is closed captioning.
Neither is “better.” They solve different problems, and a meeting has more than one audience.
Where open captions work best
In the chamber and lobby
People in the room can't press a CC button on the dais. If a resident who is hard of hearing comes to a meeting, an always-on caption display lets them follow without asking for anything. The SentraCaptions chamber screen is a full-screen caption display for the TV in the chamber or lobby. It can show one language or several side by side, along with the meeting title, a clock and a QR code. See our chamber screen setup guide.
Overflow rooms
When a hearing fills the chamber, an overflow room with a TV is a natural place for open captions, since the room audio is often harder to hear.
Things to watch
- Place the screen where people in the public seats can read it, not just staff.
- Check readability from the back row before your first meeting.
- Open captions are visible to everyone, so be clear they're automatic. Every SentraCaptions screen labels captions as automatic and says they may contain errors.
- Pause during recess and closed session. While paused, nothing is captioned, translated, stored or billed, and the screen shows “Paused.”
Where closed captions work best
Your livestream
Viewers at home have their own preferences, and some find captions distracting. Closed captions let each viewer choose. SentraCaptions can send captions in one language to your YouTube Live stream, where viewers turn them on with the CC button. YouTube shows one caption language per stream, so translations are on the chamber screen and phone page.
Posted recordings
After the meeting, you can download transcripts in every language as SRT subtitle files and attach them to the recording as closed captions. Viewers can then turn them on, and depending on your video platform you may be able to offer more than one language. Remember that a transcript from captions is not the official minutes, though it can help staff prepare minutes.
The phone page: a third option
The phone page doesn't fit neatly in either box. Residents scan the QR code on the chamber screen and read along on their own phone, in their language, at their own text size, with no app and no sign-in. Like closed captions, it's opt-in and personal. Like open captions, it works in the room, where nobody has a CC button.
It's especially useful when you offer live translation: the chamber screen can show English and one or two other languages, while each resident picks any of the up to 8 languages running that meeting on their phone. More in captions on residents' phones.
What the accessibility rules say about captions
The ADA Title II web rule (DOJ, April 2024) requires state and local government web content and mobile apps to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA. WCAG asks for captions for live audio in synchronized media (SC 1.2.4, Level AA) and captions for prerecorded video, such as posted meeting recordings (SC 1.2.2, Level A). In April 2026 DOJ extended the compliance dates by one year, to April 26, 2027 for public entities with a population of 50,000 or more and April 26, 2028 for smaller entities and special districts. The extension doesn't change the standard, and the ADA's general obligations still apply.
The rule has exceptions, such as certain archived content, and how it applies to your streams and recordings is a question for your city attorney or county counsel. See WCAG live captions explained and ADA Title II deadlines.
Also keep in mind that automatic captions, open or closed, don't replace CART in every situation. If a deaf resident requests CART as an accommodation, consider that request under the ADA's effective communication rules.
Putting it together
A simple setup that covers both
- Add SentraCaptions as a destination on your existing encoder (Pearl, OBS, vMix and others) over RTMP or SRT.
- Put the chamber screen on a TV in the room for open captions.
- Add the QR code to the agenda so residents can use the phone page.
- Turn on captions for your YouTube Live stream in your main language.
- After each meeting, attach the SRT files to the posted recording.
With CivicCA, captions also show on the CivicCA dais display and public portal, and transcripts and subtitle files can go with the meeting video.