{"id":"AIBD-1000","title":"The FCC certifies ClearCaptions' automatic captions after its test lab measured fewer word errors and shorter delays than in human-assisted captions","summary":"In the FCC's test lab, ClearCaptions' automatic captions had median word error rates of 3.5% to 14.8%, against 8.9% to 19.5% for assisted providers. The FCC fully certified the service in 2023.","date_observed":"2021-04-13","date_basis":"source publication","date_precision":"day","benefit_status":"reported","source_collection":null,"source_entry":null,"account":"ClearCaptions provides captioned telephone service for people with hearing loss, and its communications assistants already worked with a form of speech recognition. In September 2020 it asked the FCC to let it caption some calls with automatic speech recognition alone, at first only when no assistant was free. The FCC's National Test Lab, run by MITRE, tested the platform. Its median word error rates of 3.5% to 14.8% compared with 8.9% to 19.5% on average for assisted providers. Its median caption delays were 2.8 to 6.1 seconds, against 5.2 to 17.8 seconds. ClearCaptions reported similar results from its own tests and from a consulting firm that it hired. On 13 April 2021 the FCC's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau granted conditional certification for two years. On 4 April 2023, after reviewing annual reports and the service in operation, the Bureau certified ClearCaptions through 3 April 2028 to caption calls with assistants and speech recognition. That order gives no figures for the automatic captions. The FCC does not name the vendor or show that its recognizer learns from data.","category":"aggregate result","unexpected":false,"purpose":"ClearCaptions built its fully automatic mode, on a speech-to-text vendor's platform, to caption calls for people with hearing loss when no communications assistant is free.","system":"ClearCaptions fully automatic (ASR-only) Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service (IP CTS)","model_version":null,"developer":"ClearCaptions, LLC, on the platform of a speech-to-text vendor that the FCC does not name","deployer":"ClearCaptions, LLC","location":"United States","domain":"Telecommunications relay services / accessibility for people with hearing loss","segment":null,"benefit_type":"Improved Task Accuracy","work_activities":["4.A.3.b.6"],"taxonomy_note":"The captions serve people with hearing loss. The FCC measured their accuracy and delay in its lab, and its 2023 order found the service compliant in operation without giving figures.","registry_ids":{},"ratings":[{"group":"personal","depth":null,"reason":"The FCC measured accuracy and delay on test calls and later found that the service met its minimum standards in operation, but it reports no outcome for users."}],"ai_role":{"status":"assessed","statement":"The National Test Lab measured the automatic captions against those of human-assisted providers on the same call scenarios, which isolates the recognizer's output. ClearCaptions' own assistants also work with speech recognition. The FCC does not name the vendor or show that the recognizer learns from data, and its 2023 order gives no figures for automatic captions in use."},"evidence":[{"kind":"regulatory document","citation":"Federal Communications Commission, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. Memorandum Opinion and Order, DA 21-419, CG Docket No. 03-123 (conditional certification of ClearCaptions, LLC to provide IP CTS on a fully automatic basis). Adopted and released 13 April 2021.","title":"Memorandum Opinion and Order, DA 21-419 (ClearCaptions, LLC)","url":"https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-21-419A1.pdf","date":"2021-04-13","written_by":"independent","quote":"In recent testing by the National Test Lab, ClearCaptions' median Word Error Rate in various call scenarios ranged from 3.5% to 14.8%, while CA-assisted providers' median Word Error Rate averaged from 8.9% to 19.5%."},{"kind":"regulatory document","citation":"Federal Communications Commission, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. Order, DA 23-291, CG Docket No. 03-123 (full certification of ClearCaptions, LLC to provide IP CTS). Adopted and released 4 April 2023.","title":"Order, DA 23-291 (ClearCaptions Internet-Based TRS Certification Application)","url":"https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-23-291A1.pdf","date":"2023-04-04","written_by":"independent","quote":"Based on our review and investigation of the December 2022 Application, the applications previously filed, ClearCaptions's annual reports, and other relevant information regarding ClearCaptions's actual provision of IP CTS, we find that ClearCaptions will provide IP CTS in compliance with the applicable mandatory minimum TRS standards."},{"kind":"other","citation":"ClearCaptions. About us (clearcaptions.com), company timeline. Accessed 1 November 2026.","title":"About us","url":"https://www.clearcaptions.com/about-us/","date":null,"written_by":"makers","quote":"2021 – Increased call captioning speed and accuracy with Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR)."}],"replication":{"produced_by":["When no assistant was free, the other party's audio went to a speech-to-text vendor, which returned the captions.","ClearCaptions chose its vendor after long testing of how few words the platform inserted, substituted or deleted.","ClearCaptions planned to test each vendor's captions manually and algorithmically."],"must_hold":["Neither ClearCaptions nor its vendors may keep captions, call audio or call content after a call ends.","Emergency calls go to an assistant when one is free.","The service must keep meeting the FCC's minimum standards, which the FCC may check by monitoring and unannounced visits."],"echoes":[]},"paired_incident":null,"headline":"*ClearCaptions*' automatic captions beat assisted ones in FCC lab tests","metric":"median word error rates of 3.5% to 14.8%","comparator":{"against":"Median word error rates of CA-assisted providers, on average, on the same call scenarios","before":"8.9% to 19.5%","after":"3.5% to 14.8%","basis":"measured","quote":"In recent testing by the National Test Lab, ClearCaptions' median Word Error Rate in various call scenarios ranged from 3.5% to 14.8%, while CA-assisted providers' median Word Error Rate averaged from 8.9% to 19.5%.","url":"https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-21-419A1.pdf"},"later":{"status":"persisted","date":"2023-04-04","note":"Two years after the conditional grant, the FCC certified ClearCaptions through 3 April 2028 to caption calls with assistants and speech recognition.","quote":"Therefore, we certify ClearCaptions as eligible to receive compensation from the Fund for the provision of IP CTS using CAs and ASR","url":"https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-23-291A1.pdf"},"value":null,"developer_country":null,"deployer_country":null,"unrated_because":"The FCC reports test-call results and a finding of compliance after operation, but no outcome for callers.","brief_notes":null,"brief":null,"revisions":[{"date":"2026-11-01","change":"Added the record from the finding of the FCC.","source":"https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-21-419A1.pdf","editor":"AIBD"}],"confidence":"found","shade":"high","claim_status":"Found by a regulator","claim_basis":"Sources: two independent regulatory documents and the makers' other source. 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