Audio Description Customization

• Main Authors: NATALIE, Rosiana, CHANG, Ruei-Che, SHESHADRI SMITHA, GUO, Anhong, HARA, Kotaro
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2024
• Subjects: Accessibility; Blind and low-vision Individual; Video accessibility; Audio description; Customization; Software Engineering
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/9744; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sis_research/article/10744/viewcontent/3663548.3675617.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Blind and low-vision (BLV) people use audio descriptions (ADs) to access videos. However, current ADs are unalterable by end users, thus are incapable of supporting BLV individuals’ potentially diverse needs and preferences. This research investigates if customizing AD could improve how BLV individuals consume videos. We conducted an interview study (Study 1) with fifteen BLV participants, which revealed desires for customizing properties like length, emphasis, speed, voice, format, tone, and language. At the same time, concerns like interruptions and increased interaction load due to customization emerged. To examine AD customization’s effectiveness and tradeoffs, we designed CustomAD, a prototype that enables BLV users to customize AD content and presentation. An evaluation study (Study 2) with twelve BLV participants showed using CustomAD significantly enhanced BLV people’s video understanding, immersion, and information navigation efficiency. Our work illustrates the importance of AD customization and offers a design that enhances video accessibility for BLV individuals.