Radiolab The Echo in the Machine
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May 23, 2025 
In this engaging discussion, Simon Adler, a Radiolab producer, and Greg Leibach, a deaf attorney and activist, dive into the groundbreaking history of speech recognition and closed captioning. They explore the pivotal 1988 Gallaudet University protest that demanded deaf leadership and sparked nationwide discussions on representation. The duo also highlights early speech recognition technology's struggles and triumphs, emphasizing its impact on accessibility today. Humorous anecdotes enrich the conversation, shedding light on the relationship between humans and evolving tech.
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Deaf President Now Protest
- In 1988, Gallaudet University students protested the appointment of a hearing president, demanding a deaf president instead.
- They locked gates and blocked entrances in a peaceful but powerful demonstration called Deaf President Now.
Captioning Legal Mandates
- Laws like the Decoder Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act mandated built-in closed captioning in TVs.
- Closed captioning eventually became required on nearly all English broadcast television by the early 2000s.
Birth of Voice Writing
- Meredith Patterson experimented with early speech recognition called the "Black Box" to create captions.
- She discovered "voice writing," repeating broadcast speech to produce captions, despite software limitations.