EASIT: Easy Access for Social Inclusion Training.
Unit 3B. Easy to understand and audio description.
Element 3. Technical aspects.
Interview with professionals: Joel Snyder.
In this video interview the AD professional Joel Snyder
will discuss some aspects regarding AD.
He will share his ideas on how these can contribute
to making AD easier to understand.
Hello, this is Joel Snyder.
I am the president of Audio Description Associates,
in the USA. I am the director and founder
of the AD project for the American Council of the Blind.
Are there specific technical aspects that could improve
the comprehensibility and listenability of AD?
That can make it usable also for people
with cognitive, intellectual and learning disabilities,
whose processing times are slower?
I think so. There are technical and programmatic aspects
or aspects of execution of AD that can accomplish that,
that can increase comprehensibility and listenability
for people with intellectual or learning disabilities.
On a technical side, there is a way to adjust pace.
That is a critical element of listening and listenability,
especially for people with cognitive disabilities.
Slowing down the pace.
That can be accomplished in the AD through the voicing.
For six years I produced and supervised the AD
for the American children show “Sesame Street”,
which is geared towards three to five year-olds.
That audience requires a vocabulary and reading level,
that is lower than the general public.
We were aware of that in the writing of the description
and I think the same principle would apply
to making description that is more listenable for all people.
That is a key point.
By making audio description more applicable
and more reachable by more people,
I think we build a visibility of AD
and increase the network of people who understand
and appreciate audio description.
The audience of people with learning disabilities
is an important part of that.
But the audience can also include the general public,
Audio description can be great for them as well:
they can be in the kitchen,
while the tv is on in the living room, they do not miss a bit.
I think there are technical and problematic aspects,
aspects of execution, that can make AD more listenable.
Do you think that extended ADs could be a solution
for people with intellectual or learning disabilities,
whose processing times are slower?
I do. Extended ADs, as long as the concept
is done in a way that is easy to access and understand.
Most extended AD involves clicking hyper links
or switching to another screen
or another audio file that supplements
the AD that exists on a base level.
It is important to remember that AD, describers,
are about describing, not explaining.
I think the explaining and the elaboration on a concept
is best left to a teacher,
someone who is working with a given student.
The AD does not need to be charged with that aspect.
It may provide additional description in the extended AD
but it is not about explaining what something is.
We do not explain, we describe. We do not tell, we show.
Would TTS AD work better than human voiced AD
for the same audience? I do not think so.
TTS (text-to-speech) is always improving
but it is still not at a point,
not today, November 2020
where it can make the distinctions,
provide the nuance that increases listenability.
Perhaps for some dry documentaries,
the reading of a book or in a non-fiction text.
But even there, we make meaning with our voices.
I have not met a text-to-speech engine
that can yet provide the same nuance
that a trained audio describer can provide.
When I train audio describers we cover vocal skills
and we use one example, for instance:
“Woman without her man is a savage”
That sounds misogynistic, right?
Who would agree with that?
But say it back using your voice, no punctuation.
An audio describer can insert the punctuation themselves
because they make meaning with their voice.
So it comes out: “Woman: without her, man is a savage”.
I do not know that a text-to-speech engine can be taught
to make that distinction and to bring that nuance.
The other element is tone.
The best audio describers employ what I call “concinence”,
the tone of voice is in concinence with what is described.
If it is a happy scene, there is an upbeat quality.
If it is a serious scene, there is a sober quality to the voice.
I am not sure that text-to-speech can be aware
of what happens over the throughline of a video,
to understand that “this part needs to be this way”
because of what is on the screen and what comes later.
That kind of nuance and subtlety is important
and is something that a good writer of description
and a good voicer of description can provide.
This video was prepared by Elisa Perego,
produced by Angelika De Markis, Laura Marini,
Annalisa Navetta from University of Trieste.
Narrator: Annalisa Navetta.