Experimental audio description as a means of enhancing the cinematic experience of sighted viewers

Visual impairment is a consequence functional loss of vision which includes partially sighted low vision, legally blind and totally blind. To watch a movie is a challenge for the sight impaired people because most of the scenes are not verbally described in order to understand and have a full view of the program content. Due to this, it narrows down the opportunity of the sight impaired to access interactive learning in order to acquire knowledge and skills for independent learning. This paper presents the use of narration i.e., through spoken words and language in order to represent the visual content of chosen movie cartoons. To represent the visual content, an audio video description has been developed. Two cartoon movies were chosen. A user acceptance test was also conducted with two types of user groups. One group consists of 16 sighted students who were blindfolded to mimic the condition of visual impaired while the other group consists of 6 visual impaired adults. A set of questionnaire on the usability of the audio video description was distributed to the first users once they have completed reviewing the 2 movies. While the second group, was interviewed using the questionnaire as guide. Then, the 2 movies with audio descriptions were reviewed by 8 visually impaired children. Results have shown that the use of narration for audio video description can potentially be an avenue for the visually impaired to enjoy and experience a movie. The audio video description gradually can eliminate the dependence of the sight impaired individuals to their sighted companion who explains enough parts of the movie to them. Finally, the narrated audio video description will be another avenue for the sight impaired to access information through the use of multimedia.

Video gaming has become a widely popular form of entertainment globally. However, visually impaired individuals frequently encounter challenges when trying to access most games. Audio description (AD) provides a solution by converting visual elements into spoken words, thus making content accessible to those with vision loss. While recent studies suggest translating audio description scripts for films and TV as a cost-effective strategy across languages and cultures, audio descriptions for video games remain relatively underexplored. This paper presents the findings of the TransAD4Games project, which examined whether translating audio descriptions from English is more time and cost-efficient than creating audio descriptions from scratch in Spanish, and also explored the differences between the two versions. Focusing on the game Before I Forget (3-Fold Games, 2020), audio descriptions were translated into Spanish by a professional translator, while another describer generated audio descriptions in Spanish from the ground up. Interviews with both the translator and the describer gathered their insights on the process and the challenges encountered. A subsequent comparison of the two versions highlighted the differences. After outlining the current state of audio description in video games and providing a brief review of existing scholarly discussions on the translation of audio description scripts, the research design and principal findings are shared. The study indicates that translating audio descriptions is faster and more cost-effective than creating it from scratch in Spanish, although the originally crafted Spanish audio descriptions offer greater detail. Future research involving a larger corpus would be essential to validate the findings of this study.

Audio description is in its infancy in China, both in terms of the provision of the service and as an academic object of study. This article provides a useful insight into what Chinese audio description users think of this access service and how they consume it. This information was gathered through two different questionnaires, mostly distributed in the city of Shanghai, although not exclusively. The results show what the profile of the audio description user is, how satisfied they are with the service that is currently available and their expectations for the future. Only after identifying the areas that matter to users the most can both science and industry contribute to guaranteeing their rights in the best possible way. Points of interest Media accessibility, specifically audio description, is in its infancy in Mainland China as an academic object of study. This study contributes to start bridging this research gap. Regarding their access to information and culture, the voices of Chinese persons with sight loss are hardly heard. This is the first study that takes into consideration their opinion and experience with audio description. The results of this study have had a direct impact on how audio description is delivered in Shanghai. The comparison between China and Europe indicates where audio description in China is in relation to countries in which this access service has already come of age. The results of this study are key to developing audio description in Mainland China following the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ slogan: ‘nothing about us without us’.

The aim of this study is to analyse the prosodic features of a corpus of audio descriptions in Spanish to determine the user preferences, both sighted and persons with sight loss. The analysis is contextualised by a thorough review of the guidelines and recommendations on voicing audio description. The corpus analysis is based on 10 audio descriptions produced by Spanish professionals. The audio descriptions are analysed in terms of duration, pitch and amplitude. Then a perception test involving 60 participants (31 persons with sight loss and 29 sighted persons) is carried out, using both male and female voices. This research has provided new knowledge in this field and has shown how preferences correlate with certain prosodic values. The results provide food for thought for service providers when selecting the most suitable voices for audio description.

This chapter discusses audio description (AD), which is an audiovisual translation method whereby images are translated into words. AD is primarily created with blind and visually impaired persons in mind, though it can also benefit people with no sight loss. The chapter starts with the definition of AD and its typologies, as well as with the discussion of its primary and secondary target audiences. This is followed by presentation of the main AD types: screen AD, (semi-)live AD and museum AD. Next, a short historical overview is offered, followed by the theoretical foundations and research which includes text-based, reception and experimental studies. The chapter ends with some didactic implications and an attempt to predict some future trends including those related to the Universal Design (UD) paradigm and the idea of an inclusive society.

Access to culture and information is recognized by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ratified by China in 2008. Access services like audio description facilitate the consumption of audio-visual products such as films by those who suffer from sight loss. This paper attempts to contextualize this access service in China and focuses on those in charge of preparing it – audio describers. In order to provide a profile of these audio describers, a questionnaire was distributed in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. The results show that an overwhelming majority of those audio describing are volunteers aged 20-50, and most have a university education background which is not related to Audiovisual Translation. They come from a varied professional background, most have only been audio describing for a few years, they lack formal training in audio description and mainly audio describe films in Standard Chinese.

Since 2007, there has been a systematic research conducted in the field of Audiovisual Translation (AVT) at ISCAP/ Porto Polytechnic Institute. At the time we embarked on a research endeavor focusing on audio description (AD), with the intent of systematizing AD guidelines, improving the AD process and reflecting on teaching/learning methods. This study presented at the Media For All conference, Antwerp, in 2009, aims to contribute to this project by focusing on issues linked to the generalized view that AD language should be ‘objective’ and therefore referential in nature, as stated in several guidelines. Indeed, the audio describer is even warned against expressing emotions or personal points of view. How seriously is this advice taken? Is this in fact what we should be teaching and doing? Are there identifiable common language functions in AD and are these clearly portrayed in the existing guidelines? In order to answer these questions, we assess the BBC Guidelines on the provision of television access services; the Audio Description International’s AD Guidelines Draft; the American Council of the Blind’s Audio Description Standards; the now extinct ITC Guidance on Standards for Audio Description; the Audio Description Coalition Guidelines for Audio Description, listing and contrasting their recommendations as to the ‘how’ and the ‘what’ of AD. Next, we compare these findings with randomly selected audio described feature films pertaining to the genres of drama, action, and suspense, namely Blindness, Revolutionary Road, The Happening, Body of Lies, The Eye, and Hancock. After analyzing both AD segments and movie clips in terms of visual rhetoric and Jakobson’s language functions, we propose that described movies stretch the concept of intersemiotic translation.

Film audio description recounts the visual content of the film and it is primarily intended for the visually impaired audience. However, when used by sighted viewers, it provides an extra channel of communication which is reinforced by the simultaneous picture. Consequently, this combination of the visual input and language may facilitate the process of learning vocabulary in the second language (Paivio’s theory of dual-coding, Kress’ theory of multimodal teaching and learning). This paper presents the results of a pilot study investigating the effects of film audio description on incidental learning of English in sighted speakers of Polish. The aim of this pilot study was twofold: firstly, to verify if learning vocabulary in English can be enhanced by the use of film audio description and secondly, to test the research method. The study was carried out on a group of 120 learners of English. The participants were divided into four groups (two control groups and two experimental groups). The research instruments included: pre-tests, watching an excerpt of a film with audio description (experimental groups) and without audio description (control groups), repeated post-tests and oral performance (only in Control 2 and Experimental 2). Preliminary observations suggest that audio description may stimulate vocabulary learning in the second language, but there are still certain issues to be considered: the frequency of exposure to the audio described material, the type of the audio described material, the vocabulary type and size, and the number of participants.

The need for audio description (AD) is growing rapidly due to the increasing number of people who suffer vision loss. Unfortunately, the producers of movie, shows and other TV programmes view AD as a costly service with no revenue potential. Since cost-effectiveness of AD was never argued, the producers hesitate to expand the service beyond mandatory requirements imposed by the regulatory agencies. This paper develops a cost model and a decision support system that can be used to examine the cost-effectiveness of AD production. AD expansion is examined using a case study, in which the three types of producers: a production studio, an independent film and a broadcaster audio, describe a 30-min TV show. The expansion is analysed under the following conditions: (1) the descriptions are produced by a full-time AD crew instead of being outsourced to a third party, (2) AD production is supported by technology to reduce the time required to record and synchronise narrations and (3) a rich programming mix that includes: shows, movies and other TV programmes is described. The results are promising. For example, if a rich programming mix is described by a broadcaster, AD expansion will become feasible.

O Brasil apresenta um contingente de mais de 6,5 milhões de pessoas com deficiências visuais, sendo 582 mil cegas e 6 milhões com baixa visão. Neste universo, poucas iniciativas educacionais em geociências são identificadas, e, em geral, não fazem uso de vídeos educativos. O presente estudo tem como objetivo a apropriação do recurso da audiodescrição em vídeos educativos, com foco no ensino de ciências, especificamente, conteúdos relativos às geociências e meio ambiente. A produção de materiais de divulgação científica para deficientes visuais, com foco na educação básica, carece de recursos didáticos, tal como a audiodescrição, que auxiliem ao professor e propiciem ao aluno com deficiência visual acesso a vídeos encontrados no YouTube. A audiodescrição (AD) baseia-se em técnicas de transformação do visual em verbal, abrindo-se um leque de possibilidades de acesso à cultura e à informação, promovendo a inclusão social, cultural e escolar de indivíduos com deficiências visuais, e pode ser aplicada em espaços formais e não formais de educação. A audiodescrição, por se tratar de uma temática muito recente no campo social e científico, e que envolve a educação inclusiva, necessita de pesquisas sistemáticas, para que se possa desenvolver normas de audiodescrição que uniformizem a técnica em diferentes países em que a AD é aplicada. Assim, as atividades que permearam esse estudo foram efetivadas no âmbito do projeto “Cinco Pedrinhas”, componente do Programa Espaço Ciência Cultura Educação (ECCE), da Escola de Artes, Ciências Humanidades (EACH-USP). A audiodescrição foi desenvolvida para ser incorpora ao vídeo em stop motion publicado no YouTube, “Cinco pedrinhas saem em aventura”, propiciando assim uma narração descritiva em áudio. Para compor essa audiodescrição foram utilizadas referências nacionais e internacionais de técnicas que permitiram o desenvolvimento dos textos, além do acompanhamento de um audiodescritor para correção e direcionamento do trabalho, e estudos de campo por meio do acompanhamento de peças teatrais e musicais nas quais a audiodescrição estava disponível.

Audio description (AD) in cultural heritage settings serves as an accessibility service that enables blind and partially-sighted visitors to interact with the diverse visual content in museums and galleries. With the growing need to provide enabling services for a broader audience in audio-visual media, the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) tools has become significant in cultural heritage contexts as well. In this context, the current study evaluates the applicability of Large Language Models (LLMs) and artificial intelligence (AI) tools through generating ADs of selected static artworks. It does so by implementing a corpus based linguistic analysis of AD texts that are produced by three modalities: (1) a Human-Authored AD Corpus; which consists of AD texts written by experts, (2) a Baseline AI AD Corpus which is a compilation of texts that an untrained AI model generates, and (3) a Trained AI AD Corpus in which AD texts are generated through an AI model that is specifically trained with domain-specific datasets. The results of the corpus analysis are presented and discussed within the framework of adherence to the characteristics of museum AD. As part of a vast doctoral research project, this study is the first attempt to investigate the linguistic attributes of Turkish museum AD and to train an AI model to generate AD texts for static artworks. The results of the analysis indicate that, while human-authored texts remain the gold standard for the time being, AI-based automatic description systems have significant potential to meet accessibility standards and facilitate the development of inclusive, semantically robust automatic description tools.

Text-to-speech audio description has proven to be an accepted method to increase the output of this access service in several languages, such as English, Japanese, Polish, Spanish and Catalan – at least as an interim solution until more audio description is available with human narrators. In the light of China's need to make audio description more widely available, we propose text-to-speech audio description as a means to provide this access service both faster and more economically. This article describes and analyses the results of a reception study carried out in China to test the acceptance of text-to-speech audio description in comparison with standard human-voiced audio description. The study sample consisted of forty participants and was carried out using clips from a Chinese historical movie. With the exception of comprehension, the results show that natural voices score statistically higher than synthetic voices, which suggests that those with sight loss prefer human-voiced audio description. Yet, it cannot be stated that text-to-speech audio description is not accepted: more than half of the study participants not only see this as an interim alternative, but also as a welcome permanent solution if it means more audio described movies.

To make the content of films available to a visually impaired audience, a sighted translator can provide audio description (AD), a verbal description of visual events. To achieve this goal, the audio describer needs to select what to describe, when to describe it, and how to describe it, as well as to express the information aurally. The efficacy of this communication is critically dependent upon basic cognitive processes of how the sighted audio describer perceives and segments the film’s unfolding chain of events and in what way the visually impaired end users conceive the structure, content, and segmentation of such events in relation to the produced AD. There is, however, virtually no research on this interplay in relation to AD. In this study, we scrutinize live AD of a film from two trained audio describers and examine how events are structured, segmented and construed in their AD. Results demonstrate that the event segmentation experienced from the film is indeed a fundamental part of how AD is structured and construed. It was found that AD at event boundaries was highly sensitive to different spatiotemporal circumstances and this relationship depends on semantic resources for expressing AD. Lay summary In our everyday lives, we naturally organize and remember our experiences as meaningful sequences of events. This happens the same way when we watch movies – we see them as a series of events happening in different places, times, and with changing character dynamics. Now, think about making this cinematic experience accessible to people with visual impairments. This is where a sighted translator, called an audio describer, becomes really important. To make movies understandable for a visually impaired audience, a sighted audio describer describes crucial visual events in the film. Their goal is to create a "narrative equivalence" between the original film and the audio-described version. Thus, the main challenges for audio describers are deciding what information to describe, when to do it, and how to articulate it effectively. In the current case study, we looked at two audio descriptions for the Swedish film "Skumtimmen" (English title: "Echoes from the Dead"). These descriptions were created by trained audio describers. We wanted to see how these narrators organized, broke down, and verbalized the course of events in their audio descriptions. To achieve this, we focused on two important parts of storytelling – changes in time and location – and paid special attention to how often and in what way audio describers verbalized these event boundaries. What we found is that both describers indeed verbalized most event boundaries. This shows that these boundaries are a big part of how audio descriptions are put together. We also learned that the descriptions at these event boundaries were very sensitive to when and where key events unfolded in the story. The way these boundaries were described depended on fundamental cognitive and linguistic resources to talk about space and time. Our findings help us understand how breaking down events in a film is a crucial part of shaping audio descriptions. Plus, our research highlights how important it is to study how events are broken down and verbalized, giving useful insights to improve audio descriptions and train future audio describers. The ultimate goal is to make the experience better for visually impaired viewers, contributing to a more inclusive and enjoyable audiovisual world.

This paper proposes a new approach to universal access based on the premise that humans have the universal capacity to engage emotionally with a story, whatever their ability. Our approach is to present the “story” of museum resources and knowledge as a journey, and then represent this journey physically as a smart map. The key research question is to assess the extent to which our “story” to journey to smart map’ (SJSM) approach provides emotional engagement as part of the museum experience. This approach is applied through the creation of a smart map for blind and partially sighted (BPS) visitors. Made in partnership with Titanic Belfast, a world-leading tourist attraction, the interactive map tells the story of Titanic’s maiden voyage. The smart map uses low-cost technologies such as laser-cut map features and software-controlled multi-function buttons for the audio description (AD). The AD is enhanced with background effects, dramatized personal stories and the ship’s last messages. The results of a reception study show that the approach enabled BPS participants to experience significant emotional engagement with museum resources. The smart model also gave BPS users a level of control over the AD which gave them a greater sense of empowerment and independence, which is particularly important for BPS visitors with varying sight conditions. We conclude that our SJSM approach has considerable potential as an approach to universal access, and to increase emotional engagement with museum collections. We also propose several developments which could further extend the approach and its implementation.

Introduction: Breast cancer is a significant health problem affecting the health of women globally. Breast self-examination is a procedure applied for the early detection of breast cancer. Given the barriers that women with visual impairments face to access health care and health education, there is a need to develop materials for breast self-examination training as a skills-based practice for this group. This study evaluated the effect of a training video with an audio description on the breast self-examination of women who were visually impaired. Methods: The universe of this quasi-experimental study comprised women who were visually impaired ( N = 70) who were registered members of the Manisa Altinokta Blind Association in Turkey. The women who participated in the study volunteered and met the selection criteria ( n = 60). They were divided into two groups by lot. The audio description group listened to a breast self-examination training video with an audio description ( n = 30). The control group listened to the training video accompanied by typical sound, without audio description ( n = 30). Before and after a training video, all women performed breast self-examination on a female mannequin torso. The skills of women in breast self-examination were evaluated using a checklist by a midwife who was non-researcher. Results: The skills differed significantly between the two groups after the video training ( p < 0.05). The audio description group correctly performed most of the skills required for breast self-examination. None of the women in the groups were able to apply steps for such self-examination before the training. Discussion: A breast self-examination training video with audio description can improve the self-examination skills of women with visual impairments. Implications for Practitioners: Women with visual impairments benefit from watching a breast self-examination training video with an audio description before performing self-examinations. Training videos with audio descriptions should, therefore, be prepared for the health education of individuals who are visually impaired.