ABSTRACT

Audio description (AD) is a media feature designed for visually impaired people to enable, via audio, the access to visual content, such as TV programs, in which a narrator describes scenes that are not perceptible by these users. The ‘RTP1’ (the public Portuguese TV station) is the only one in Portugal that broadcasts some of its programs with AD. Besides this fact, most of the time, audio description (for television and other contexts) is performed by qualified professionals through specific technical resources, which makes it financially expensive. To modify this unfavorable context, the project intends: i) to offer more AD for TV through the development of a cross-platform application for the creation of collaborative contributions by volunteers; and ii) to change the way audio description is accessed by viewers with visual impairment through the development of an Interactive Television application accessible to this public.