Section 3.2: Creating accessible video and audio, Part 3

Audio description

Audio description is "a spoken description of the activities presented through video." It is the information that is available from the visual presentation but is not represented in the soundtrack. It is provided on a separate audio track and is inserted into natural pauses in the soundtrack [ 7, p.394 ]. The purpose is to describe "key visual elements of the presentation" and important information that may not be available from the soundtrack alone. Some examples of what may be needed in the audio description include information that describes:

• the scene
• the characters
• the characters' body language

Example of video with audio description

An excellent example of video with audio description is available at the website of the Royal National Institute of the Blind

Captioning versus Audio Description

	Closed Caption	Audio Description
Audience	Helps people who cannot hear the soundtrack or may have difficulty understanding it.	Helps people who cannot see the visual material or may have trouble understanding visual information.
Content	Verbatim or nearly verbatim transcripts with notations about significant sound elements.	Selected information that will not interfere with the actual soundtrack.