  Real-time captioning is a critical accessibility tool for many d/Deaf and
hard of hearing (DHH) people. While the vast majority of captioning work has
focused on formal settings and technical innovations, in contrast, we
investigate captioning for informal, interactive small-group conversations,
which have a high degree of spontaneity and foster dynamic social interactions.
This paper reports on semi-structured interviews and design probe activities we
conducted with 15 DHH participants to understand their use of existing
real-time captioning services and future design preferences for both in-person
and remote small-group communication. We found that our participants'
experiences of captioned small-group conversations are shaped by social,
environmental, and technical considerations (e.g., interlocutors'
pre-established relationships, the type of captioning displays available, and
how far captions lag behind speech). When considering future captioning tools,
participants were interested in greater feedback on non-speech elements of
conversation (e.g., speaker identity, speech rate, volume) both for their
personal use and to guide hearing interlocutors toward more accessible
communication. We contribute a qualitative account of DHH people's real-time
captioning experiences during small-group conversation and future design
considerations to better support the groups being captioned, both in person and
online.
