Podcasts for the deaf

If you’re deaf, hard of hearing, or sometimes need a little help to understand the spoken word, you might think that podcasts are entirely unavailable to you. However, over the past few years, podcasts have become much more accessible, thanks in part to a court case against SiriusXM.

Apple Podcasts has full transcripts for all podcasts, so you can read along. (You’ll occasionally get gaps as you listen - it doesn’t produce transcripts for some advertising breaks).

Transcripts for every show are also now available in podcast app Pocket Casts on iPhone, Android and the web. Shows like ours, because we publish transcripts, will have a creator-produced transcript available for everyone; otherwise, you may need to become a Plus member to gain access to transcripts for some shows who aren’t publishing any.

Many other apps, like Spotify, Podcast Addict and AntennaPod, offer transcripts for selected shows but not all of them.

Then, there’s the option of live captions, which are available on the Chrome browser (on Windows, Mac, Linux or Android) for any audio (including podcast websites). iPhone has Live Captions available in many languages; and some Android phones also offer live captions as you listen.

Finally, if you have some hearing but find it hard to hear the voices in podcasts, Apple Podcasts has a new “enhance dialogue” feature coming in the next version of iOS, which makes voices clearer; Overcast and Pocket Casts already have similar features - and if you know someone who has lost hearing in one ear but not the other, you can make all their devices play back audio in mono which will help.