Circus O'Donnell and the Ed Miller band aren't for the hard of hearing

Some well-known figures have been incorrectly quoted and named in subtitles while TV programmes have been transmitted

ARE you a fan of the Ed Miller Band? Did you know that the government is busy "making holes for surgeons" or are you worried that something in the air may be causing "planes to cough"?

Confused? Then it could all make sense if you follow the news with the help of subtitles.

If you do, you may also know that people are now wearing puppies on their lapels for Remembrance Day and that the rights of scholars at university are being looked after by the National Union of Stew Departments.

Subtitle errors on 24-hour news channels have been highlighted in the normally serious journal the New Scientist and show how difficult it can be to keep pace with real-time speech.

While some news items are scripted and pre-recorded, live broadcasts need to transmit the printed words simultaneously. This is done by a combination of speed typists and voice recognition software, but both human and machine error can creep in.

Hence the Labour leader can sound as if he is head of a rock group and those holes for surgeons were actually the government "making helpful decisions".

The subtitlers got in a stew over the National Union of Students and spluttered over the coughing aircraft which was a story where "planes took off".

Mr Milliband was not the only name to get mixed up. The civil service chief Sir Gus O'Donnell was referred to as "Circus O'Donnell", while former chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson became "Silly and Admundsen". "The Office of Nursed All Statistics" was the subtitled name of the Office of National Statistics and the phrase "principally chemical and biological weapons" was corrupted to the darker "Prince of Chemical and Bionicle Weapons", the New Scientist revealed.

And it is not just news. Live football commentary is also subtitled which has resulted in former Liverpool keeper Jerzy Dudek becoming "Dudeback".

According to the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), one million people rely on subtitles and a further four million use them regularly. Since the development of subtitles in the early 1980s, it has been one of a number of organisations, to have campaigned extensively for increases in subtitling, and for more promotion and easier access to the service.

Following a RNID campaign, Ofcom now require 80 television channels to subtitle some programmes. The major TV channels already have to subtitle 80 per cent of their output. The BBC now subtitles all programmes on its main channels, and ITV has pledged to increase the amount of subtitling on ITV2, 3 and 4.

A survey in 2009 of more than 400 members showed that 55 per cent thought subtitles could be better, 30.6 per cent found them unsatisfactory and only 11.2 per cent said they were satisfactory.

However, the RNID said most people are not aware how live subtitles are produced so may have unrealistic expectations of them being error-free and in perfect synchronisation with the original soundtrack.RNID-Action on Hearing Loss Scotland director Delia Henry said: "Unfortunately, with the technology available at the moment, it's very difficult to always accurately subtitle live TV shows.

"But we are urging the industry to invest in finding out new ways to improve live television subtitling.

"Thanks to RNID campaigning, the BBC now subtitles all programmes on its main channels and ITV has increased the amount of subtitling on all its channels.

"However, there is still a long way to go to make TV fully accessible to all people who are deaf or hard of hearing."

A BBC spokeswoman said live news subtitling on BBC channels is carried out by a combination of broadcast stenography and a process known as "re-speaking". Broadcast stenographers listen to the audio of the programme and render it as subtitles using a phonetic keyboard.

With re-speaking, a subtitler listens to the audio and "re-speaks" both it and any punctuation into a microphone in real time. This is then displayed as subtitles on screen.

The spokeswoman added: "Achieving 100 per cent accuracy in subtitles on all stories across the BBC's programmes is a very challenging task and occasionally mistakes do occur."

EXAMPLES

Ed miller band to start Making holes for surgeons

(Ed Miliband to start making helpful decisions)

Former Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudeback

(Former liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek)

Former chief medical officer Silly and Admundsen

(Former Chief Medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson)

Planes to cough on time from Heathrow

(Planes took off on time from heathrow)