A method for automatically enabling closed captioning in video
conferencing when a heavy accent is detected from a current speaker is
provided. Language background and/or ethnicity information is received as
a user preference. An acceptable accent level is determined according to
the user preference. An audio signal of a speaker speaking in a language
is received. A pronunciation of the speaker in the audio signal is
compared with standard pronunciation for the language. An accent level of
the speaker is determined, and the accent level of the speaker is
compared to the acceptable accent level. If the comparison determines
that the accent level of the speaker does not comply with the acceptable
accent level, closed captioning in enabled for the audio signal. If the
comparison determines that the accent level of the speaker complies with
the acceptable accent level, closed captioning is not enabled for the
audio signal.