Abstract
Abstract Audio description continues to be unavailable on broadcast television in Australia, despite the technological capabilities to provide it and the existence of a federally funded back catalogue or ‘secret library’ of audio described television content. This paper reveals findings into both the amount of audio described content that has been created but not made available to television audiences, while also reviewing existing innovative platforms for audio description, such as the app BAM-Describe. It contextualises these findings in an overview of the history of audio description in and outside of Australia, highlighting key technological and policy changes. Evoking theories of the preferred user and how this understanding of television audiences addresses disability, we argue that different interpretations of how audio description can be delivered, determined through a process of interpretive flexibility (and continued industry creativity and innovation) may finally shift the stagnating discussions around audio description provision, and thus ultimately change the accessibility of television for the blind and vision impaired.
Highlights
Audio description (AD) – referred to as video description, video programming or descriptive video – is a track of narration included between the lines of dialogue which describes important visual elements of a television show, movie or performance
The article discusses that while AD content is not being widely broadcast in Australia, it is, frustratingly, ‘available’ behind the scenes, albeit in a limited capacity – in programming imported into Australia, in Australian programs distributed internationally, and in a back catalogue that has never been made available to Australian television audiences
One audio description provider boasts a back catalogue of 122 television shows with AD content, yet these shows are currently airing on Australian free-to-air television without their associated AD tracks
Summary
The notion of the preferred user offers a useful starting point to this discussion. When it comes to technology, Ellcessor (2016) explains that the preferred user is typically white, affluent and able-bodied, an image or representation that comes to stand in for the ‘default experience of a medium’. Researchers were considering the possibility that AD could be of benefit to other users, including people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who may have difficulty deciphering facial expressions and emotion (Garman 2011), the elderly, sick people, or people learning the language who may appreciate a verbal translation of visual content (Rai, Greening & Petre 2010) This change to the wider context introduces new relevant social groups of users of the technology and suggests that AD has entered a new period of interpretative flexibility (see Kline & Pinch 1996) – this can be seen in new expression of AD technology, such as the innovative BAM-Describe app and its application to children with ASD. Despite this potential for new audiences, the Australian television industry continues to see AD as benefiting only a minority viewing community
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