Your 7-step plan to becoming
a successful captioner

Build a skill that opens doors, meets industry standards, and serves real audiences

  1. Transcribe the dialogue
  2. Identify speakers
  3. Describe how characters speak
  4. Describe plot-pertinent sounds
  5. Describe music and lyrics
  6. Mark accents and foreign speech
  7. Put it all together

Who is this course for?

Your pathway to professional captioning starts here

  • Subtitlers aiming to expand their expertise into SDH and closed captioning

  • Translators seeking to diversify their services by adding captioning to their portfolio

  • Linguists interested in applying their language skills to media accessibility

  • Language Service Providers looking to train their teams in professional and creative captioning practices

  • Content owners and localisation buyers who need to ensure their content meets accessibility standards across markets

  • Localisation professionals managing multilingual workflows and responsible for regulatory compliance

Accessibility regulations and compliance

Captions may be required by law


Accessibility requirements are tightening in both the European Union and the United States, and captions are increasingly treated as part of formal accessibility compliance for video content. In Europe, the European Accessibility Act applies from 28 June 2025, including to services providing access to audiovisual media services.

In the United States, the Department of Justice’s 2024 rule under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act sets enforceable web and mobile accessibility requirements for state and local governments, including standards that cover captions for video, with compliance deadlines starting in April 2026.

In practical terms, compliance isn’t achieved by “dialogue-only” captions. SDH requires captions that are accurate, readable and well-timed, with speaker identification and meaningful non-speech information (sound effects, music cues, tone). 

This course shows you how to produce SDH captions that hold up in professional, compliance-aware workflows.

What you will get from this course

  • 7 steps to follow to become a successful captioner

    A masterclass in subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing & closed captioning consisting of several modules broken down into detailed micro-lessons

  • Hands-on exercises with a key

    Practise subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing & closed captioning by watching screencasting video tutorials and doing our practical subtitling exercises

  • Access to professional subtitling software

    Save money! Get exclusive 90-day access to professional subtitling software (OOONA and EZTitles)

  • Downloadable resources

    Download our checklists and style guides for future use in your subtitling projects

  • Social media learning community

    Gain unlimited access to our private Facebook group to engage in discussions with your fellow students

  • Discounts on professional software

    After completing the course, you will be eligible for a discount to purchase OOONA and/or EZTitles

  • One-year course access

    Access the course for 365 days from the date you buy it

  • Access on any device

    Access the course content on your computer, tablet, or mobile phone

What our students are saying

Susana Serrão

5 star rating

“This SDH course by AVT Masterclass is a delight. Everything is thoroughly explained, with fellow professionals giving their input. And the materials to work with? Little film and TV gems. You will get to know several SDH conventions, and work with...”

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“This SDH course by AVT Masterclass is a delight. Everything is thoroughly explained, with fellow professionals giving their input. And the materials to work with? Little film and TV gems. You will get to know several SDH conventions, and work with industry software. I wholly recommend it!”

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Susana Lino

5 star rating

“The SDH course is great. It includes plenty of content and opportunies to put theory into practise using professional tools. The interviews are one of the details I liked the most, as they provide very relevant insights about the needs of deaf and...”

→Read More

“The SDH course is great. It includes plenty of content and opportunies to put theory into practise using professional tools. The interviews are one of the details I liked the most, as they provide very relevant insights about the needs of deaf and hard of hearing viewers as well as great input from professionals. Thanks, AVT Masterclass!”

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Cecile Pasquet

5 star rating

“I would strongly recommend this course to anyone interested in SDH. The course is very accurate, extremely insightful, and contains extra bonus sections, such as videos with professionals, practical exercises, useful guidelines and recommendations...”

→Read More

“I would strongly recommend this course to anyone interested in SDH. The course is very accurate, extremely insightful, and contains extra bonus sections, such as videos with professionals, practical exercises, useful guidelines and recommendations. A must-have, well-designed course.”

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Simone Taylor

5 star rating

“I love the way the course focused on the audience and what they would like to see in captions, then contrasting this view with the technical challenges we face to produce such captions. ”

“I love the way the course focused on the audience and what they would like to see in captions, then contrasting this view with the technical challenges we face to produce such captions. ”

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Maryline Caujolle

5 star rating

“If you want to know the main guidelines for subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing, this is the course you are looking for. It provides useful information, exercises, and even interviews with deaf and hard of hearing viewers.”

“If you want to know the main guidelines for subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing, this is the course you are looking for. It provides useful information, exercises, and even interviews with deaf and hard of hearing viewers.”

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Tiffany Cândido

5 star rating

“A self-paced course lectured by some of the best AVT professionals, that offers the trainee the chance to work with ultimate softwares, as well as the most pertinent and useful tips to the translators who would like to pursue a carreer in the audi...”

→Read More

“A self-paced course lectured by some of the best AVT professionals, that offers the trainee the chance to work with ultimate softwares, as well as the most pertinent and useful tips to the translators who would like to pursue a carreer in the audiovisual field. The fact that every lesson includes an exercise helps knowledge consolidation and makes a complete difference!”

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Fatima Saab

5 star rating

“I really enjoyed watching the first part of this course. The instructor is very clear, I am excited about the coming parts.”

“I really enjoyed watching the first part of this course. The instructor is very clear, I am excited about the coming parts.”

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Dylan Camilleri

5 star rating

“A professional course intended to all those who would like to become captioners or for SDH subtitlers who would like to improve their skills. The step by step approach of this course to SDH, helps the student to fully get to grips with the topic. ...”

→Read More

“A professional course intended to all those who would like to become captioners or for SDH subtitlers who would like to improve their skills. The step by step approach of this course to SDH, helps the student to fully get to grips with the topic. The interviews, quizzes, exercises and downloadable material make it worthwhile.”

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Inna Myhyrych

5 star rating

“Very informative course! I couldn't even imagine that I would learn so many differences between subtitles for hearing viewers and SDH. Each part is described in detail, plus exercises with the keys.”

“Very informative course! I couldn't even imagine that I would learn so many differences between subtitles for hearing viewers and SDH. Each part is described in detail, plus exercises with the keys.”

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Karina Wargula

5 star rating

“Your course made me feel a bit like I'm back on Uni! I really enjoyed clear way in which the material is presented. The greatest thing though is that interviews and videos included give insight into the world of deaf and hard of hearing people. ”

“Your course made me feel a bit like I'm back on Uni! I really enjoyed clear way in which the material is presented. The greatest thing though is that interviews and videos included give insight into the world of deaf and hard of hearing people. ”

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Kwiryna Proczkowska

5 star rating

“This SDH course is a true mine of information! Besides information on basic subtitling rules and different style guides, you also get interviews with SDH users and researchers that provide valuable insights into what constitutes good-quality SDH s...”

→Read More

“This SDH course is a true mine of information! Besides information on basic subtitling rules and different style guides, you also get interviews with SDH users and researchers that provide valuable insights into what constitutes good-quality SDH subtitles. There are very diverse videos provided in the exercise sections, which, for me, were the highlight of this course. I found them really interesting and challenging! Describing music and sounds seemed a bit daunting at first, but thanks to a cheat sheet with sample sound descriptions and keys to exercises, it got easier over time! I definitely recommend this course!”

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Paola Porciello

5 star rating

“No stone is left unturned in this amazing journey through closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing. You won't just find precise and complete technical information to get started, you'll also be given the possibility to put the things you...”

→Read More

“No stone is left unturned in this amazing journey through closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing. You won't just find precise and complete technical information to get started, you'll also be given the possibility to put the things you're learning to the test as you move on through the course. What I liked best about this course is that SDH subtitling is not a perfect science, but rather something that requires creativity, sensitivity and good sense. Highly recommended! ”

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By the end of this course, you'll learn to...

  • create subtitles which help deaf and hard of hearing viewers access TV shows and other audiovisual content

  • master the creation of subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing using two professional state-of-the-art subtitling tools: OOONA and EZTitles

  • add plot-pertinent sound identifiers to your subtitles to help deaf and hard of hearing viewers recognize the source of the sound

  • identify characters in a film by adding speaker labels and colours

  • describe mood music and song lyrics using different strategies

  • use appropriate subtitling formats to export subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing and closed captions

  • conform standard subtitles for hearing viewers to subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing, and vice versa

Our guarantee

We are confident in the quality of our courses, which has been confirmed by many satisfied students. That’s why we are able to offer a 100% money-back guarantee.

If you buy the course and find that you did not learn anything new or that you think the course is not in line with its description or syllabus, we will refund you 100% of what you paid. [See “Terms of use” for details.]
We offer 100% money-back guarantee.

Course curriculum

    1. Welcome to the course!

      FREE PREVIEW

    2. How to use this course

      FREE PREVIEW

    3. AVT Masterclass Style Guide

      FREE PREVIEW

    4. Glossary of AVT terms

      FREE PREVIEW

    1. Types of SDH: subtitles and captions?

      FREE PREVIEW

    2. Types of SDH: pre-recorded, semi-live and live

      FREE PREVIEW

    3. How is SDH different?

      FREE PREVIEW

    4. Quiz on SDH

      FREE PREVIEW

    5. What is good quality captioning? (Interview)

      FREE PREVIEW

    6. Four Principles of Closed Captioning (Interview)

      FREE PREVIEW

    1. Who benefits from subtitles?

    2. Why it won't help to turn up the volume

    3. Interview with a hard of hearing viewer

    4. Interview with deaf viewers

    5. Quiz on target viewers

    6. Captioning and universal design principles

    1. Let's get your tools ready!

    2. Subtitling tools in this course

      FREE PREVIEW

    3. How to get access to OOONA and/or EZTitles

    1. Introduction to EZTitles Basic Course by EZTitles Development Studio

    2. Get your own EZTitles license

    3. Understand the EZTitles workspace (sightseeing tour)

      FREE PREVIEW

    4. How to define project settings

      FREE PREVIEW

    5. How to customise layout

    6. How to work with videos?

    7. How to time your first subtitles

    8. Automatic fixes

    9. How to remove a keyboard shortcut?

    10. EZTitles User Guide

    11. Where to find more info?

    1. Introduction to OOONA Tools

      FREE PREVIEW

    2. Workspace and project settings

      FREE PREVIEW

    3. How to edit the layout

    4. How to time your subtitles

    5. How to export a subtitle file

    6. How to save projects

    7. How to use tags?

      FREE PREVIEW

    8. How to use short forms

    9. How to recut subtitles

    10. How to convert frame rate

      FREE PREVIEW

    11. Where to get help

About this course

  • €399,00
  • 102 lessons
  • 4 hours of video content

Meet your instructors

Prof. Agnieszka Szarkowska is a researcher and translator trainer, academic teacher and audiovisual translation consultant. Agnieszka works in the Institute of Applied Linguistics at the University of Warsaw, leads the research group Audiovisual Translation Lab (AVT Lab), and is also an Honorary Research Associate at University College London. With over 20 years of hands-on teaching experience, Agnieszka has trained hundreds of students internationally to become high-quality professionals in the audiovisual translation industry. Agnieszka is the author of over 70 publications on audiovisual translation and principal investigator of several research projects. She is also a member of the European Association for Studies in Screen Translation (ESIST), European Society for Translation Studies (EST) and an honorary member of the Polish Audiovisual Translators Association (STAW).

Agnieszka Szarkowska

AVT Masterclass Co-founder

Meet your instructors

Agnieszka Walczak, PhD, is a translator, translator trainer and media accessibility expert. She holds a Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Warsaw. She graduated with honours, defending the first thesis in Poland on text-to-speech audio description. She has also completed postgraduate studies on audiovisual translation at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. Defended at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Agnieszka’s doctoral dissertation focused on the reception of audio description and was produced within the framework of the European Project Hybrid Broadcast Broadband for All. She is a former member of the TransMedia Catalonia Research Group and a current member of University of Warsaw Audiovisual Translation Lab (AVT Lab). Agnieszka is the author of over 15 publications on audiovisual translation. University lecturer for almost 10 years (Autonomous University of Barcelona, University of Warsaw, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, University of Łódź, SWPS University). Agnieszka combines her academic expertise with experience in the audiovisual localization industry. She has been working as a freelance subtitler and audio describer for various linear and non-linear providers for over 10 years. She has also experience from working with global media production and post-production companies. Member of European Association for Studies in Screen Translation (ESIST) and Polish Audiovisual Translators Association (STAW).

Agnieszka Walczak

AVT Masterclass Co-founder

Meet your instructors

Łukasz Dutka is an audiovisual translator, subtitling trainer and expert in media accessibility. He's one of the founders of AVT Masterclass, a former director of the Global Alliance of Speech-to-Text Captioning, and a member of the Management Board of Dostepni.eu, an accessibility services provider. He studied applied linguistics as well as comparative literature. In 2012, he became an in-house subtitler for Polish public broadcaster and was responsible for SDH subtitling and semi-live subtitling of news broadcasts. As a member of Dostepni.eu team, he pioneered live subtitling through respeaking in Poland with the first accessible political and social events in 2013, first interlingual live subtitling in 2015 and first Polish television broadcast with live subtitling through respeaking in 2017. Since 2012, he has worked as a freelance subtitler and QC'er for leading localization companies, including working on many high-level titles. In 2019, he helped set up a live subtitling unit for Polsat, a leading TV broadcaster in Poland. He has nine years of experience in running training programmes for companies as well as teaching university-level courses on audiovisual translation, subtitling, subtitling for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and interpreting. He is a member of the Polish Association of Audiovisual Translators, the University of Warsaw Audiovisual Translation Lab (AVT Lab), European Society for Translation Studies (EST) and European Association for Studies in Screen Translation (ESIST). Born by the mountains, he now lives by the ocean in a multilingual family that speaks Polish, English, Spanish, Italian, Swedish and Portuguese. He's a passionate movie-goer, reader, swimmer, chocolate-eater and a coffee addict.

Łukasz Dutka

AVT Masterclass Co-founder

Pick the option that works best for you

Standard, Premium, or Bundle - you choose


The SDH course is available in two editions: Standard and Premium. 

The Premium edition includes 90 minutes of individual coaching, giving you personalised feedback and guidance as you work through the material. 

You can also choose the bundle "Become a Captioner", which combines the SDH course with Timing 101. The bundle is available in a Premium version too. 

For extra flexibility, the standard SDH course can be purchased in three instalments.

Choose your payment plan

Pay the full amount or in three instalments

If you also want to learn to time subtitles, choose our bundle "Become a captioner"?

Choose the premium version for individual coaching sessions

Showcase your skills

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION

When you finish the course, you’ll receive an official Certificate of Completion. It’s a clear way to show you’ve built practical, professional skills in SDH and closed captioning. Share it with clients, employers, or colleagues – or add it to your portfolio or LinkedIn profile to highlight your expertise.
A woman holding a university diploma

Get 50% discount on annual subscription of OOONA

Save up to 300 dollars!

Get 10% discount on the EZTitles licence

Exclusive deal for AVT Masterclass students

After completing this course, you will be eligible for a 10% discount on a licence of EZTitles professional subtitling software. You can save up to 238 euros!
EZTitles logo

Ready to get started?

Learn to create subtitles for deaf and hard of hearing viewers!
Become a captioner

FAQ

Any questions?

  • What is the difference between standard and premium editions of AVT Masterclass courses?

    The premium edition of the AVT Masterclass courses includes up to 90 minutes of one-on-one coaching with our trainers. The trainers can also check your course assignments and provide individual feedback.

  • How much time do I need to complete the course?

    Usually the students need 20-30 hours to complete the course, but it's up to you - the duration of the course depends on your individual needs and the time you have. Please remember that by signing up, you get a one-year access to the course and lifetime access to our social media learning community. This course includes access to subtitling software for 90 days. Ready for your subtitling challenge?

  • Will I have to attend regular online classes?

    No, this course is self-paced, which means you can do as much as you want at a time. You're in full control of your learning process. You're welcome to join our Facebook group to continue discussions with your fellow students. If you need more individual support, check out the Premium Edition of this course for details.

  • What kind of materials are included?

    The course includes a variety of resources, downloadable materials and exercises: video lessons, screencasting tutorials, quizzes, videos to be subtitled, subtitling files for revision exercises, checklists and style guides as well as key to all exercises (guided step-by-step explanations and files with correct answers).

  • Is tax included in the price of the course?

    Yes, the tax is always included in the course price. You will never be required to pay more on top of the regular price of the course.

  • Can I get an invoice for the course with my company/organization details?

    Sure! All you need to do is send us your organization details (name, address, VAT number) at [email protected]. Our accounting team will be back with the invoice.