Captioning for deaf and hard-of-hearing members

Two ways to serve deaf and HoH members

Voco provides live captions in two ways: on a personal phone (attendees scan the QR code and read on their own device) and on a shared display screen (the display URL shown on a monitor, projector, or broadcast overlay).

For deaf and hard-of-hearing members, both approaches are useful. Phone captioning is private and self-directed. A dedicated captioning screen at the front of the room means no device is needed at all.

Setting up a captioning screen

1. 1Build the display URLOpen the event Share tab and choose the source language (same as the sermon). Set theme to high contrast, mode to full, and increase text size to 60 or above.
2. 2Open on a dedicated deviceUse a laptop or tablet connected to the captioning monitor. Keep this device separate from the streaming device.
3. 3Position the screenPlace the captioning monitor where deaf and HoH members can see it comfortably — near the front, at an angle that does not require craning a neck.
4. 4Start a Voco streamWhen the service begins, start the stream from the admin device. The captioning screen updates in real time with no attendee interaction needed.

Recommended display settings for captions

• theme=light or theme=dark depending on room lighting — high contrast helps lip-reading context.
• size=64 or larger for a monitor or projector caption display.
• mode=full to show more recent caption lines rather than just a lower-third strip.
• lines=4 for good reading flow without too much overflow.
• Use a sans-serif display theme if the room is brightly lit.

Using OBS or ProPresenter for captioning

If the church runs a production setup, the display URL can be placed as a full-screen layer on a captioning monitor output. Use ProPresenter's Stage Display or a dedicated output in OBS to send captions to a dedicated screen without affecting the main projection.

Phone captioning

Attendees who prefer to read on their own phone can scan the QR code and choose the source language. The text appears in real time — they do not need to use translation, just captions in the same language.

Encourage deaf and HoH members to increase phone text size in accessibility settings for the most comfortable reading experience.

Communicating the feature