My name is Natalie Gross, the Accessibility and Events Consultant, and a few years ago, during the height of the pandemic, I had the opportunity to audition for a Spectrum commercial advertising their new audio description app. During my discussion with the Casting Director, I genuinely expressed how much of a game changer audio description was for me. I shared that the first content I ever experienced with audio description was the movie Maleficent. I couldn’t believe how much detail I was missing within the movie. The audio description described so much of the action, but also, the colors and small details within a scene.
What is Audio Description?
I ended up booking that commercial, and I believe it’s because the Casting Director could feel my sincere appreciation for audio description. I didn’t have to live out another character’s life for the camera, I was benefiting from AD in real life. Audio Description (AD) is a narrative representation of what is happening visually during a video or live performance. Audio description allows blind and low vision audience members to understand visual elements by listening to them, rather than watching them. AD may describe appearance, gestures, facial expressions, scene developments, and more. It is often used by describing action between scenes or moments of dialogue.
Other times, a video may be paused to insert AD, particularly when frequent action and dialogue are occurring simultaneously. While AD can be used for any video or live show, other modes of accessibility, like video descriptions or descriptive transcripts, are often used on social media’s short form content due to the time and platform constraints. These alternatives to AD prove to be extremely impactful for blind and low vision users, as consuming content on social media becomes increasingly popular.
Challenges with Accessing Audio Description
Although audio description is a helpful tool for blind and low vision users, it’s not always clear how to access it. I find it to be specifically difficult for network television as there are never clear directions on how to turn it on. This is because every cable provider has a separate set of instructions, and so my hope is that providers will provide a more general way to access AD soon. There is, however, an audio description app called Sero where you can watch quite a few television shows from network TV, as well as big name movies. There is a monthly subscription which I don’t believe is more than $10.
Alternatively, streaming services do have a more general way of accessing audio description, which is where I prefer to watch more of my content. When on a streaming service of your choice, start viewing a show, select the audio and subtitles settings, and if available, select Audio Description in the desired language. Once turned on, the AD will stay on until turned off. Unfortunately, not every show on a streaming service will have audio description. So even if you have your audio description setting turned on, don’t be surprised if you don’t hear it for everything you choose to watch.
Not Just For Blind People
Most accessibility features end up being useful for everyone – and the same applies to audio description. Personally, my family loves watching audio description with me, as it highlights details that they normally wouldn’t have paid attention to otherwise. One of our other colleagues here at LCI who identifies as neurodivergent expressed how audio description allows her to keep up with what’s going on without having to be so focused on the screen. This really comes in handy for me as I can be doing other tasks like cleaning while still enjoying some of my favorite shows.
Growth Opportunities for Audio Description
AD has been groundbreaking for the blindness community, but there are still opportunities for growth. The hope is for all production companies to make audio description a priority for all content being put out. As mentioned before, not all content available has the AD, which makes it difficult for blind audiences to enjoy media in the same way as their sighted counterparts. In fact, it’s now hard for me to view television shows or movies without it. I tend to lose interest within the first few minutes as I know I’m missing vital details that really make a story.
Additionally, sometimes when media content has a large focus on beauty and fashion, it’s hard to capture the details through audio description. There is such limited time between dialogue to describe everything as to not talk over the actors, which makes it difficult to be descriptive. However, the problem with these types of descriptions being left out is that a character’s choice of fashion or make-up can add context to a storyline. This is why categories like best make up or costume design are included at prestigious award ceremonies like the Oscars. For a more detailed breakdown about this issue within audio description, check out my article On PopSugar all about this topic.
Audio description is just one way to make your media content more accessible. For more tips and tricks on accessibility, please be sure to follow us on all social media platforms. We are constantly updating our audiences on the latest and greatest innovations within accessibility. Also, follow along with us on social media by interacting with our audio description series. We’d love to get your feedback on what audio description means to you!
