{"id":13890,"date":"2025-07-28T20:02:46","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T20:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3playmedia.com\/?page_id=13890"},"modified":"2025-10-22T19:18:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T19:18:44","slug":"audio-description","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.3playmedia.com\/popular-topics\/audio-description\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ultimate Guide to Audio Description"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Ultimate Guide to Audio Description<\/h1>\n\n\n

3Play Media\u2019s AI Dubbing blends cutting-edge speech technology with expert human review to localize video content at scale\u2014without compromising on nuance, emotion, or intent. We make it fast, flexible, and flawless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download the Beginner’s Guide to Audio Description<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Table of Contents<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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This guide has nearly all you need to know about audio description. From laws to best practices, it\u2019s all here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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What Is Audio Description?<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Audio Description Examples<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Audio Description Laws<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Audio Description Standards<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
How to Add Audio Description<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Audio Description Formats<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Audio Description Services<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A Brief Introduction<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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History of Audio Description<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Although it differs from the audio description we know today, the initial concepts of audio description were first developed in the 1970s by Gregory Frazier<\/a>, a professor at San Francisco State University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early 1980s, the Arena Stage collaborated with a group of accessibility advisors, including individuals from the Metropolitan Washington Ear, Inc., to develop an audio description program for its live performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1987, WGBH created Descriptive Video Services (DVS), a subsidiary that provides audio description for television viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Audio description began to spread further within the museum field, then found its way into large format theater productions, exhibition tours, and planetarium programs across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today audio description continues to expand to DVDs, live TV, and online streaming services.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Video Stats<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The stats on video trends today clue us in to why audio description continues to be a major accommodation and accessibility tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the US, adults spend over 11 hours per day connected to media, with 6 of those hours spent watching video. 82% of the world\u2019s internet traffic will be video<\/a> by 2022. Not only is video consumption rapidly increasing, but our population is also aging, making vision loss an even greater public health concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The youngest of the baby boomers will hit age 65 by 2029<\/a>. By 2030, the number of people over the age of 65 will be 20% of the population. With the risk of low vision and blindness increasing significantly with age, this has huge implications for the increase of vision loss over the next several decades. Currently, over 285 million people globally have some vision loss<\/a>, of whom 39 million are blind.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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What Is Audio Description?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Go to top <\/a>\u2191<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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What is Audio Description?<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many people take their sight for granted every day. We use our eyes all the time to learn, discover, and enjoy the world around us. We use our sight to help us navigate to different places, complete different tasks, do our jobs, and take care of ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take a second to think about what happens when you don\u2019t have your sight to get you through the day-to-day. How do you enjoy simple things we have come to take for granted like videos and performances?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is an accessibility tool for the blind and low vision called audio description. This tool is the key to revealing detailed information to blind and low vision viewers that their seeing counterparts consume without a second thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Audio description strives to provide information on visual content that is considered crucial to the understanding of the program. For instance, it is used in cases where failing to provide these description would inhibit blind and visually impaired individuals from gaining a complete understanding of the given program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Audio Description<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Audio description is an audio track that narrates the relevant visual information in media. It assumes the viewer cannot see, depicting key visual elements necessary for understanding content as an accommodation for blind and low-vision viewers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Extended Audio Description<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Videos can vary quite a bit. TV shows will be different than movies, which will be different from training videos, music videos, and so on. One type of tool cannot be expected to always work for every video. That\u2019s why there are two types of audio description \u2013 standard and extended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standard audio description allows snippets of narration to be interspersed within the natural pauses in dialogue of the original content. The descriptions must be kept concise enough to fit into the allotted time in order to ensure that they enhance the original piece rather than distract from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having overlapping audio tracks would make it very difficult to understand. This type of description works well for content with frequent pauses or a small amount of detail that needs to be described.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some cases standard audio description is simply not suitable, and extended audio description<\/a> may be a better option. Contrary to standard audio description, extended audio description is not constrained to the natural pauses of a video, but rather allows you to pause the original source content to make room for extended description, as needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When utilizing extended audio description you will experience the video and description begin playing. Then, the source video pauses temporarily, while the description continues. After that portion of the description is complete, the video resumes playing again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Standard v. Extended Audio Description<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Extended audio description allows the source video to be paused to create room for lengthier descriptions when necessary. This is typically utilized when there are not significant pauses in the original content, or when there is a lot of key visual information that must be described.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

How Do You Choose?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In simple terms, if your video has a lot of space to describe, standard audio description will meet your needs. If your video doesn\u2019t have a lot of natural space to add narration snippets, extended is the way to go. While it may be easy to tell for certain files, for others it might be unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help you determine which type of description is appropriate for your file, we\u2019ve created a short quiz. Take a few minutes to discover what type of description your video could use!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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