Audio description

Also known as “video description” and “descriptive narration,” Audio Description describes relevant visual content in a video. It’s an accommodation provided to blind and low-vision users and attempts to provide context for what sighted viewers are experiencing.

The primary use case for audio description is for video being consumed by audiences or students who are blind or have low vision. Many universities and businesses offer audio description for videos they’re sharing in courses, during training sessions and online to ensure all audiences, including those with vision loss, can engage with them with equity. Any business, media producer or university releasing videos or referencing them should consider enlisting audio description services.

Audio description is effective when it provides concise, objective descriptions of visual images that cannot be understood from the audio track alone. These descriptions should be clear and explain what’s being demonstrated visually so that anyone with moderate to severe vision loss can participate and comprehend the content being shared.

Traditional audio description is WCAG 2.0 AA compliant and offers a secondary audio program. The sound is squeezed into gaps in the dialog. Traditional audio description does not change the video’s run-time and is useful for theater and entertainment. It offers Limited information in the descriptions.

Extended AD takes it one step further and is a more preferred route to guarantee equity for educational content. It pauses the video when the description is encountered, allowing descriptions to be more in-depth. The runtime is therefore altered, and it is useful for on-demand playback content. It is WCAG 2.0 AAA compliant.