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The importance of accessible podcasts

Written by Cheryl Swan on

Podcasts have never been so popular, but are you sure that your engaging discussions are accessible for everyone to enjoy? This blog provides considerations that can ensure they are inclusive.

A mobile phone is standing upright against a white background. Displayed on the screen is a podcast. Underneath are large audio waves, which are surrounding a black pair of headphones.

Podcasts cover almost every topic imaginable on the internet, giving primary advice and guidance, over both audio and video formats. However, if content isn’t created to be digitally accessible, millions of people might be missing out on your insightful information.

Following our inclusive tips below can help you to:

  • Gain a greater reach of listeners.
  • Enhance your audience’s experience.
  • Not exclude disabled people from engaging with your content.

Include a transcript with all podcasts

One of the main things to do in order to create accessible podcasts, is including a transcript with your content. Without having a written transcript of your spoken audio, the Deaf community and people who are hard of hearing will be shut out from being able to engage with your content. 

Everyone digests content in different ways, so including a transcript can actually help a lot of your listeners all round. They are also especially useful for reference purposes, like with tutorial podcasts. So, it’s a win win. 

Luckily, it doesn’t take a lot of time to create as well. When using editing software, like Adobe Premiere Pro or uploading onto YouTube, similarly to adding captions with videos, audio can be automatically transcribed. It’s just important to remember to double-check the accuracy when doing so. 

Audio considerations

To enhance the user experience for everyone, having high-quality, optimised audio is crucial. It is certainly necessary for people with hearing loss to enjoy your podcasts. 

To do so:

  • Use microphones and recording software.
  • Record in a room that is isolated from all external sounds, when feasible.
  • Make the background volume at least 20 decibels lower than the foreground spoken content. 
  • Speak clearly and slowly.
  • Give people time to process information by pausing in between topics.

Speak in user-friendly language

Everyone wants to be able to understand what you are discussing.

Steering away from the use of jargon, acronyms, and technical speak can help to eliminate any confusion for your listeners. When it’s unavoidable to use complex terminology, take a few seconds to explain it in a simple format. 

Inclusive video considerations

Many podcasts nowadays are presented in video form. If choosing this format instead of audio, here are a few tips on how to make them inclusive:

  • Like a transcript, captions are needed to help Deaf people or viewers with low hearing to understand your content. In fact, captions aids with accessibility as a whole, for example when someone is using public transport.
  • To be inclusive for blind or visually impaired people, it’s important to describe any visual information you may be presenting, such as a graph or image. This information also needs to be included within your transcript. 
  • Enable media controls to ensure users can adjust audio levels or be able to pause media.  
For more tips, read our guide to inclusive video creation

Advertise podcasts in an accessible way

When it comes to promoting your new podcast on social media, there are a few simple adjustments required to enhance your marketing:

  • Write accessible hashtags. Use #PascalCase or #camelCase, otherwise, these won’t be read aloud correctly to blind or visually impaired followers who use a screen reader. 
  • Add an alt text description with any imagery you are using for publicity purposes. 
  • Include captions on video adverts.
  • Be careful if using emojis in your posts, these are read out by screen reader software and often don’t make any sense, causing confusion.  

The need for inclusive podcasting

Making these simple adjustments to your content has vast benefits for you and your online audience. Fostering inclusivity will allow the content that you worked hard to create to reach out to millions more listeners. Not only that, by considering items, such as the language used or including captions, can actually enhance the user experience for everyone listening. 

If you need further advice with how to create inclusive content, we have a range of handy guides that you can find in our news section or you can sign up for our accessibility training.