Google+ Hangouts get live captions

Google is looking to make Google+ more accessible to users with hearing-impairments. Today, they announced a new app that makes Google+ Hangouts more accessible to hearing-impaired users at the National Association of the Deaf’s annual conference in Louisville, KY. The app, named Hangout Captions, does exactly what its name suggests, creates a chat transcript for the deaf while in a Hangout on Google+.

Hangout Captions allows two options of transcription. The first is professional transcription through StreamText, and the second is basic transcription which you do yourself by typing on the keyboard. I am sure that machine-powered transcription is on the way, but for now the two options should suffice. Naomi Black, the leading developer for Hangout Captions, has posted a video which describes the functionality of the app. Kudos to Google for making its social network more accessible to those with handicaps.