Impact of Audio Description on Television Viewing for Legally Blind Adults

Copyright 2001 All rights reserved Adding Audio Description Does It Make a Difference Emilie Schmeidler and Corinne Kirchner Abstract A television viewing experimentpreceded and followed by interviews about attitudes usual television viewing patterns and demographicswas conducted with 111 legally blind adults who were convened in groups The research examined the impact of watching television science programs with and without audio descrip tion The experiment showed that respondents gained and retained more information from watching programs with description Respondents reported that description makes programs more enjoyable interesting and informative and that they are more comfortable talking with sighted people about programs that had been described The positive impact of added description was greater for the program with less nar ration in its original format Television programs and videos are increasingly important for education and popular culture they are widely discussed at work in school and among friends and neighbors People who are visually impaired those who are blind or have low vision watch television at about the same rate as does the general public Packer Kirchner 1997 However because much of the con tent is presented only visually they have lim ited access to the programs Access is increased through audio description which adds precise concise verbal descriptions of The research reported here was conducted under a subcontract to the American Foundation for the Blind from the WGBH Educational Foundation National Science Foundation Grant ESI9253447 Edward Cutler guided our selection of sciencerelevant ques tions Fred Neurohr Purvi Shah and Drew Halfmann provided research assistance Katharine Bond Laurie Everett Jaclyn Packer Lawrence Scadden Joel Snyder and Karen Wolffe and anonymous JVIB reviewers made helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article Accepted July 11 2000 visual imagesabout people objects scenes body language facial expressions sizes and colors Everett l994 Miers 1998 Over the past decade since audio description began being broadcast on televi sion described videos and other venues have become more common Nevertheless because access to television programs remains limited in August 2000 the Federal Communications Commission FCC adopted rules requiring five major networks in the top 25 markets to provide 50 hours of prime time or childrens programming with audio description The FCC also required that emergency information be made more accessible to visually impaired viewers These rules are scheduled to take effect on April 1 2002 The public comments FCCs response to the comments and the rule are available on the FCCs web page Disability Rights Group 2001 However some provi sions of these rules are being protested and the composition of the FCC has changed with the new administration Thus the issue may be reopened and documenting evidence 200 I AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Visual Impairment Blindness April 200I 197 Copyright 2001 All rights reserved about the value of adding description con tinues to be important In 1993 the Informal Science Education Division of the National Science Foundation NSF awarded the Descriptive Video Service DYS at the WGBH Educational Foundation a grant to add audio description to two science series and to evaluate the impact of the added descrip tion on visually impaired viewers WGBH subcontracted with the American Foundation for the Blind AFB to conduct the research The central question for the evaluation was whether in this informal learning con text adding description increased viewers learning of the programs science content In addition the study measured the partici pants psychological and social responses to audio description as well as selected mea sures of television viewing more generally This article summarizes the key results of that research a more detailed report including the study documents is available Schmeidler and Kirchner 1996 Review of the literature Advocates using anecdotal evidence proclaim the benefits of adding description which has been characterized as the visual is made auraland oralby the spoken word Snyder 1997 or seeing theater with your ears Miers 1998 Audio Description International describes audio description as the art of turning what is seen into what is heard the visual is com municated through the human voice and descriptive language Audio Description International 2001 Prior to this study only a little research on audio description was available In one study by Katz and Turcotte 1993 sighted optometry students who used goggles to simulate reduced visual acuity showed increased comprehension when they saw programs with description In addition DYS outreach staff solicited feedback from viewers that DYS incorporated into its work Kuhn 1992 and with the assistance of AFB DYS surveyed visually impaired viewers about their interests and viewing habits Kuhn Kirchner I 992 Both studies found that DYS viewers wanted more programs especially science pro grams described Subsequent to this 199495 study other research was reported Frazier and CoutinhoJohnson 1995 compared sighted and visually impaired students comprehension of a video They found that the visually impaired students who viewed a program with description scored at least as well as did the sighted students but that the visually impaired students who viewed programs without description scored much lower than did the sighted students Peli Fine and Labianca l 996 used subjects with low vision 2010020800 or sighted subjects 2040 or better to eval uate how well audio description trans ferred the visual content of programs to people with visual impairments and whether the described information was also available on the original sound track of the program They found that the sub jects with low vision who heard the audio description answered more questions cor rectly than did those who were sighted or had low vision who heard only the original sound track but answered fewer questions than the sighted subjects who viewed the programs In a series of studies the European AUDETEL project tested the use of audio description at home by people 198 Journal of Visual Impairment Blindness April 2001 2001 AFB All Rights Reserved Copyright 2001 All rights reserved with visual impainnents the elderly popu lation and the general population in Great Britain and Bavaria It reported generally positive responses with some qualifica tions AUDETEL 1995 1996 1997 Carmichael Rabbitt 1993a 1993b 1993c McKivragan 1995 Rabbitt Carmichael 1994 Royal National Institute for the Blind RNIB 1998 Method PARTICIPANTS Recruitment The participants were recruited in the Boston area through public and private organizations with visually impaired clients employees or members Recruit ment began in 1994 when Bostonarea chapters of the American Council of the Blind and the National Federation of the Blind and the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind distributed to their mailing lists a letter on AFB letterhead The letter explained the project briefly that the study would be conducted by AFB and WGBH Educational Foundation that it was funded by NSF that it would involve going to WGBH Bostons Public Broadcasting Service station for a threehour session to watch television programs about science and that only adults who were legally blind were eligible to participate The letter delib erately made no mention of audio descrip tion Interested people were invited to call a tollfree telephone number or return an enclosed postcard Over about eight months 78 people indicated their interest in participating or requested more informa tion To recruit more participants additional organizations were contacted in 1995 notices with a similar message were placed on dialin telephone tapeinformation lines and were posted electronically on online services also the radio reading service car ried a public service announcement An additional 95 people responded to these communications The organizations con tacted and a sample letter are listed in Schmeidler Kirchner 1996 In 1995 WGBH staff attempted to call the 173 potential respondents to ascertain their eligibility and to administer the first questionnaire A total of 143 people com pleted this first interview The WGBH staff then called these potential participants to schedule their attendance at one of the viewing sessions and to arrange transporta tion 111 people attended the viewing ses sions described later About a month or two after the viewing sessions each partici pant was called for a followup telephone interview All 111 people who attended the viewing sessions completed the followup interview The length of time between the initial contact the first interview the viewing session and the followup inter view varied considerably because addi tional participants were recruited until a minimum of 100 people had attended the viewing sessions Characteristics The participants 61 of whom were women ranged in age from 20 to 89 38 of them lived alone Of the 111 31 had completed no more than high school 24 had some college education 22 had com pleted college and 23 had postcollege education Twofifths 39 had been legally blind since birth 12 became legally blind before age 20 33 became legally blind between ages 20 and 49 10 became 2001 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Visual lmpairme11 Blindness April 2001 199 Copyright 2001 All rights reserved legally blind between ages 50 and 69 and 6 became legally blind between ages 70 and 89 Of the 36 who reported that they had no usable vision twothirds had visual memories Among the twothirds who had usable vision 26 did not rely at all on their vision to watch television 31 relied on their vision a little 12 relied on their vision a moderate amount and 30 relied on their vision a great deal Other forms of involvement In addition to being study participants people who were visually impaired con tributed to the research in formal and informal ways Two formal focus groups discussed which issues should be explored and what procedures should be used Participants in viewingsession pretests provided suggestions during their debriefing either as individuals or as informal focus groups A former biology professor who is now blind served as the science consultant and was instrumental in formulating scientifically relevant content questions People who were legally blind conducted some of the telephone and viewingsession interviews More broadly throughout the study the discussions of the research at AFB and DVS included both blind and sighted people TELEVISION PROGRAMS Because this study was designed to examine the impact of description in two science series one program was selected from each Orphans of Time from the New Explorers series hereafter called Program 1 and Wild Dogs of Africa from the Nature series hereafter called Program 2 The series styles differ significantly The New Explorers is fast paced the nar rator speaks with the scientists featured in the program and the scientists talk with each other Much is explained through dia logue or narration there are only brief opportunities to add description In con trast Nature has a single narrator and no other human voices It contains longer seg ments with information conveyed by visual images without any verbal clues and hence provides more opportunities and more potential for description Although the pro grams were not selected to highlight this difference the contrast between them points to differences among programs that may be important See Kuhn 1992 for an explicit discussion of the differences among several science series including these two and Frazier and CoutinhoJohnson 1995 for an account of their difficulty finding an appropriate video to which description could be added RESEARCH DESIGN The study relied on extensive interviews both by telephone and at the 16 experi mental viewing sessions Most questions were forced choice although a few were open ended The initial telephone interview covered vision status television viewing and interest in science and television sci ence programs as well as demographic and social background After each program at the viewing sessions each participant answered questions about facts presented in that program and about his or her reactions to the program In the followup telephone interviews after a few factual questions about each of the two programs the partici pants were asked about their television viewing at home and then more specifically about audio description 200 Journal of Visual Impairment Blindness April 2001 2001 AFB All Rights Reserved Copyright 2001 All rights reserved Viewing session Experimental conditions The experimental component of the study took place during 16 viewing sessions Each threehour session began with a brief intro duction to explain what would be happening and to set the participants at ease All the groups saw Program 1 first then each par ticipant responded individually in regular print large print braille or by having someone read the questions and record the answers to questions about the content and his or her response to the program This procedure contrasts with the procedure used by Katz Turcotte 1993 and Peli et al 1996 in which the participants answered questions after brief segments of programs After a break with refreshments the group saw the first half of Program 2 and answered questions based on this program The par ticipants saw only a half hour of Program 2 to match the length of Program l Program 2 was cut when a meaningful segment of the program had been completed Finally the participants were thanked for coming reminded about the followup interview and asked not to talk with other visually impaired people about the content of the pro grams or questions The experimental variation was that half the viewing sessions showed Program 1 with description and Program 2 without description and the other half showed Program 1 without description and Program 2 with description Everyone answered the same questions whether she or he had seen the version with or without description Thus each person served both as an experi mental and as a control participant Potential bias Controlling potential sources of bias is always a concern in research A major issue is that if the partici pants think they know what the study is trying to show they may respond deliber ately or inadvertently in ways that conform to their expectations Orne 1962 This situation sets up a conflict It is desirable not to tell participants about expected out comes while at the same time it is impor tant not to deceive them To make this evaluation as impartial as possible the researchers did not tell the participants that DVS was involved in the study or that the research question was whether adding description enhanced tele vision viewing Questions dealing explic itly with description were introduced only in the followup telephone interviews after the participants had answered all the ques tions about the specific programs Any questions the participants previously asked about audio description were deflected The participants appeared to be familiar with the norm that details of the study would not be discussed until they com pleted their part in it they readily accepted assurances that all their questions would be answered at the conclusion of the final interview Participant protections To test whether adding the verbal description of visual material conveyed more information than seeing the program without the additional descriptions questions based specifically on the audio description were included However this method raised the concern that the participants were being set up to fail because they were unlikely to know information presented only visually in the program To minimize any negative impacts this issue was discussed explicitly in the focus groups and with the pretest participants none of whom reported any discomfort 2001 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal ofVis1UJI Impairment Blindness April 2001 201 Copyright 2001 All rights reserved In addition before each program was shown and again before the questions were administered the staff emphasized that the research was about how well the programs conveyed their messages not how knowl edgeable the participants were The staff also said explicitly that I dont know was as useful an answer to the factual questions as any other since the research was assessing how effective the programs were Experimental results COGNITIVE IMPACTS The participants in the experimental and control conditions were asked the same 34 questions about the content of the pro grams For each program almost half the questions were based on material presented both visually and with audio description For convenience scenes without added description are referred to as having pro gram narration although in fact some included dialogue sound effects and so forth In response to each program the experimental group those who saw the described version answered significantly more questions correctly than did the con trol group see Table 1 For both programs these differences are accounted for by the questions drawn from the audio description For neither program was there a significant difference in the number of program narration questions answered correctly by the experimental and control groups It is not surprising that some control par ticipants answered some questions cor rectly although the questions were based on visual material or descriptions they had not heard At least four factors may account for this finding First although all the partici pants were legally blind almost twothirds of them had some usable vision and almost onethird reported that they relied a lot on their vision when watching television Since the study attempted to replicate normal viewing conditions as nearly as pos sible the participants were encouraged to sit wherever it was most comfortable for them so they could use their vision as they would at home Second for the two pro grams a few participants 13 and 16 respectively reported that they had seen them previously Third the informational questions were developed with the studys science consultant to identify scientific con tent thus the participants may have come to the programs with some knowledge of the topics Finally since the questions were Table J Experimental and control group participants mean number of correct answers to viewingsession questions Programtype questions Experimental group with description Mean Control group without description Mean ttest Probability onetailed Program 1 Orphans of Time 104 92 203 02 All questions N 18 Narrated N 10 68 72 103 NS Described N 8 Program 2 36 19 477 001 Wild Dogs of Africa 110 75 622 001 All questions N 16 Narrated N 10 70 67 069 NS Described N 6 40 08 1273 001 202 Journal of Visual Impairment Bindnesi April 2001 2001 AFB All Rights Reserved Copyright 2001 All rights reserved in a forcedchoice format by chance alone some correct answers were expected Approximately one to two months after they saw the programs the participants were interviewed again by telephone These interviews began with five questions refer ring to each programtwo from the description and three from the narration The Program 1 experimental and control groups showed no significant differences with regard to correct answers to either the narrated or the described questions However the Program 2 experimental group correctly answered significantly more of the questions derived from both the program narration and especially from the audio description t 226 p 01 and t 661 p 001 The impact of adding description was great enough to be evident in individual questions Taking both programs together a total of 18 questions 14 from the viewing sessions plus 4 from the followup inter view were based on added descriptions For 14 of the 18 questions the experimental participants answered correctly signifi cantly more often than did the control par ticipants In contrast only 2 of 26 questions drawn from the program narration showed significant differences in correct answers PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACTS During the viewing sessions after the fac tual questions for each program the partici pants were asked about their reactions to the programs Six questions asked them to rate the programs on 10point scales anchored at each end with contrasting concepts uninfor mativeinformative confusingclear frus tratingsatisfying boredinterested not enjoydid enjoy the program not stimu latedid stimulate interest in science Overall the participants gave both programs high marks whether they were described or not in fact on each question about onethird 2844 of the participants gave the highest possible rating This distribution of scores created a ceiling effect that makes it difficult to show differences between the control and experimental groups The Program 1 ratings by the experi mental and control groups did not differ significantly on any of these variables In contrast the experimental group rated Program 2 which contained more description as significantly more satis fying informative and clear than did the control group satisfying t 336 p 001 informative t 188 p 03 clear t 333 p 001 The differences for the questions about whether the program was enjoyable and interesting were in the same direction but did not reach statis tical significance SOCIAL IMPACTS To tap the social dimension of television viewing the researchers asked the partici pants how comfortable they would be talking about the programs with sighted friends and how many aspects of the pro grams would be difficult for them to discuss with sighted people For Programs 1 and 2 56 and 53 of the participants respec tively said they would be very comfortable discussing them However while only 9 of the participants said they would be some what or very uncomfortable discussing Program l 21 said they would be uncom fortable discussing Program 2 The responses of the experimental and control groups did not differ significantly with regard to Program 1 t 004 p ns However for Program 2 those who saw the 2001 AFB All Rights Reseived Journal of Visual Impairment Blindness April 2001 203 Copyright 2001 All rights reserved described version indicated that they would be significantly more comfortable dis cussing the program with sighted friends t 309 p 002 Similarly for Program l the control and experimental participants reported no dif ference in the number of aspects that would be difficult for them to discuss with sighted people t 002 p ns However for Program 2 the experimental group reported significantly fewer aspects that they would have difficulty discussing than did the con trol group t 432 p 001 As with the participants evaluations discussed earlier the differences in the participants level of comfort talking about the programs seem to reflect the differences in the styles when the programs were presented without descrip tion Program 2 had more frequent lengthy periods in which information was presented with only minimal auditory clues ATTITUDES TOWARD TELEVISION VIEWING AND DESCRIPTION Stepping back from these two specific programs the survey portion of the study asked selected questions about television viewing in general and description in par ticular As was noted earlier questions about description were asked only in the followup interview after all the questions about the two programs Social context of television viewing For many participants watching televi sion is a relatively solitary affair Although only 38 of the participants lived alone 67 watched television alone most or all of the time The overwhelming majority of participants 93 thought that when they watched television they missed informa tion that is available to sighted people Although the participants often watched television alone 81 watched with others at least some of the time Of those who ever watched with others 80 reported that someone described what was happening at least some of the time Virtually all these people said that such descriptions helped them both understand and enjoy the pro grams 96 and 99 respectively Thus these participants strongly indicated that informal description enhanced their televi sion viewing However much of the time because they are watching alone or because no one is describing for thempeople with visual impairments do not get descriptions that would help them understand and enjoy television programs Familiarity with audio description Although 89 of the participants said they had heard of description relatively few reported extensive experience with it Twentyfive percent said they had never experienced it before this study and 14 were uncertain whether they had experi enced it before Among the 61 who had been exposed to audio description 78 reported only a little experience with it and 22 reported a lot of experience with it Prior experience was fairly evenly distrib uted among television only 40 other settings such as museums theater or home videos 31 and both kinds of settings 28 Reactions to described television In the followup interviews the partici pants responded that audio description is enjoyable interesting and informative 85 95 and 96 respectively When asked whether audio description is con fusing or boring 78 and 87 respec 204 Journal of Visual Impairment Blindness April 2001 2001 AFB All Rights Reserved Copyright 2001 All rights reserved tively said it is not When asked whether description repeats information they could have figured out for themselves 63 reported that it does not 32 said that it does and 5 said that it makes no differ ence Therefore looking at these six ques tions together overall the participants said that audio description enhanced their viewing appreciably Each participant was also asked whether having television programs described makes him or her more comfortable talking about the program with sighted people About threequarters of the participants 73 said that description makes them considerably or a lot more comfortable talking about television programs with sighted people In followup questions 66 said that having programs described makes a big difference in their ability to talk about the program and 50 said it makes a big difference in the questions they ask while only 11 and 7 respectively said it makes no difference Following these three questions an open ended question asked whether having a pro gram described made a difference in any other ways Most of those who responded emphasized that description helped them understand the programs better or gave them more confidence as in the following examples I would like to be able to go into more detail about things and get a better understanding of all aspects If Im unsure of events in the program I feel awkward trying to pretend I do Im able to understand whats going onable to share I need more help without description In addition some participants pointed to specific aspects of programs or particular social settings in which description espe cially mattered to them It would make a big difference regarding charts and graphs also to discuss some actions I might misconstrue I usually hold back about talking about action scenes because I might be wrong I mostly talk about television pro grams with my children and descrip tion makes me a lot more comfortable The studys strengths and llmltatlons SAMPLE The size of the sample 111 people its diversity degree of vision loss demo graphic characteristics such as age and education and prior exposure to described television programs as well as the fact that all the people who attended the viewing ses sions also completed the final telephone interviews are important strengths That the participants were not a random sample of the visually impaired population is both a strength and a weakness Strategic sub groupssuch as people who were blind since birth or totally blindwere better rep resented than they would have been in a random sample However because this was not a random sample the results cannot be generalized to all visually impaired people In addition that all the participants volun 2001 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Visual Impairment Blindness April 2001 205 Copyright 2001 All rights reserved teered to take part may have introduced a bias into the sample INVOLVEMENT BY LEGALLY BLIND PERSONS The research design was modified signif icantly in response to advice from people with visual impairments For example the first formal focus group objected to the ini tial plan in which a control group would have watched the two programs 1 12 hours without description in response the design was changed so that each person served as a control for only one halfhour session In addition blind and visually impaired people assisted in conducting interviews However one important limita tion was that blind and visually impaired people were not involved systematically in the analysis in which they might have sug gested corrections alternative interpreta tions or additional analyses to clarify findings Standardiuztion Because the study required multiple viewing sessions and relied heavily on vol unteers several features were designed to make the sessions and interviews as uni form as feasible The surveys and viewing sessions used structured questions Interviewers were trained and given written instructions for each question In addition written instructions and a script for the viewing sessions were provided Given the assurance that each participant was treated the same way except for the experimental variation differences in outcomes may be attributed to this experimental variation with more confidence However the study relied on many dif ferent volunteers especially to administer the questionnaires at the viewing sessions In addition the physical arrangements for the viewing sessions were adapted to the different venues These arrangements added flexibility but meant that there were slight uncontrolled differences in the procedures The cognitive psychological and social measures pertaining to the programs were collected in an experiment but not a rigor ously controlled one As a practical neces sity the participants watched the programs in groups although they answered the ques tions individually The participants may have affected one another although every effort was made to keep overt influences to a minimum Scheduling viewing sessions was difficult because of the participants schedules and transportation constraints as a result the participants were assigned to conditions which program they saw with description according to when they attended rather than according to random or matchedpair criteria which would have been more desirable for making compari sons between the groups REDUCING BIAS Although efforts were made to reduce potential biasing factors it was not feasible to eliminate all the sources Considerable care was given to identify the study with NSF AFB and WGBH and not to draw attention to description until after the par ticipants had responded to both programs Despite these efforts some participants may have associated the study or WGBH with DVS if so this association may have influenced their responses The study did not investigate whether the participants made any connection with DYS This bias is not relevant in comparing the control and experimental groups but it is potentially 206 Journal of Visual Impairment Blindness April 2001 2001 AFB All Rights Reserved Copyright 2001 All rights reserved relevant when generalizing attitudes toward description in general Since the participants all were from the Boston area and were recruited through organizations of or for people with visual impairments they were more likely than the visually impaired population as a whole to be aware of DYS and description Although the DYS mailing list was not used to recruit participants a check after the study showed that 43 participants appeared on that list Furthermore from incidental comments made during the viewing sessions it was clear that some participants were disap pointed when one of the programs did not contain description PROGRAM STYLE AND ORDER The research staff anticipated that the experimental and control groups would differ more when watching the program that contained less narration and when watching a program without description after having watched one with description Ideally the study would have had four treatments to vary independently which program was shown first and whether or not the program was described However with only approx imately 100 participants four treatments would have produced small subgroups especially for cross tabulations that included other variables such as vision or age Since the purpose of the study was to demonstrate whether adding description did make a difference the decision was made to show everyone Program l first but to vary whether Program l or Program 2 included description In this study adding descrip tion enhanced both programs but made much more of a difference in Program 2 which included much more audio descrip tion than Program l However since everyone saw Program l first it is not pos sible to separate the effects of the order in which they saw the programs from the effects of the different styles of the programs PREFERENCE FOR DESCRIPTION Since the participants expressed such a positive evaluation of description in response to these genera questions one might expect that their responses to the described and nondescribed versions would have differed more sharply than they did At least three factors may account for this seeming inconsistency Two factors dis cussed earlier are that in Program I the opportunities for adding description were limited and that the ceiling effect strongly positive responses whether or not the pro grams were described limited the possi bility of showing significant differences The third factor is that although the two sets of questions asked about the same dimensions enjoyment interest clarity and so forth they were not identical The questions in the viewing session asked about the specific program the participants had just watched thus all facets of the pro grams substance and style may have entered into the participants ratings In contrast the questions asked several weeks later explicitly focused the participants on differences if any that description makes in television programs in generalnot in the specific programs used in the viewing session Future research This research was designed to examine whether adding description to television science programs enhanced their use by people who were legally blind and specifi 2001 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Visual Impairment Blindness April 2001 207 Copyright 2001 All rights reserved cally whether description increased informal science learning The study docu mented that adding description to these two programs significantly increased the factual information the participants learned and enhanced the participants evaluation of the programs and their level of comfort in dis cussing the programs with sighted people These findings suggest wide benefits from adding description Further research is needed to explore how widely applicable these findings are to whom do they apply under what conditions and to what extent Thus future research needs to investigate the following research questions 1 Does adding audio description enhance viewing for people with different demo graphic or social characteristics or dif ferent amounts of usable vision This study included legally blind adults aged 2089 some of whom were totally blind and some of whom had considerable usable vision and some of whom had other impairments The participants also had different amounts of prior famil iarity with description and watched dif ferent amounts of television In Great Britain AUDETEL using different pro grams description process and equip ment to receive the programs found differences in understanding and enjoy ment by age intelligence and the amount of television the participants usually watched Carmichael Rabbitt 1993a 1993b 1993c Future studies need to examine systematically whether personal characteristics systematically influence responses to description Other areas for research include the use of audio description by people other than those with visual impairments The AUDETEL studies AUDETEL 1995 1997 Carmichael Rabbitt 1993 a 1993b 1993c McKivragan 1995 Rabbitt Carmichael 1994 RNIB 1998 examined the impact on older people Additional research is needed on other populations People with certain learning disabilities may benefit from the added information that directs their attention to salient features People who are learning English may also benefit from hearing as well as seeing the pro grams Some sighted people value audio description F Ryan a sighted educator of blind and visually impaired children who has a blind family member personal communication 1999 Fur thermore sighted people may make use of description when viewing is not pos sible such as when they are driving J Snyder program officer National Endowment for the Arts personal com munication 1999 2 Under what conditions does adding audio description enhance instruction This study focused on informal learning Television programs and videos are used for explicitly educational purposes in schools workplaces and public places such as on airlines for safety instruc tions Additional research needs to address whether these videos which are designed to instruct convey their mes sages more effectively with added description 3 Does adding audio description have psy chological benefits The participants in this study said that audio description makes programs more interesting infor mative and enjoyable Advocates of audio description point to both direct 208 Journal of Visual Impairment Blindness April 2001 2001 AFB All Rights Reserved Copyright 2001 All rights reserved and indirect psychological benefits Visually impaired people report feeling more confident that they are capturing the entire picture when they know more details as in the following comment As a partiallysighted person audio description works for me on three levels First the precise concise and descriptive commentary confirms what I think I have seen Second it gives me a quick word about what I am about to see Third it tells me what is going on that I cant see at all In other words I get the whole picture as it happens Vivian 1992 p 393 As a result people who are visually impaired may be more motivated to pursue interests they saw portrayed They may feel equal to sighted people because they have the same access to the programs or videos These factors may enhance their self esteem Further research is needed to examine these issues systematically 4 Does audio description increase social participation In addition to examining whether audio description conveys infor mation research needs to address whether it enhances participation in social activities For instance are chil dren with visual impairments better able to interact with their classmates in rela tion to materials presented with audio description Does audio description enable family members to share the experience more comfortably For people of all ages does audio description increase their interaction with sighted peers With casual acquaintances 5 What are the longterm consequences of adding audio description This study looked minimally at the recall of pro gram details two months later it did not inquire about increased interest in sci encerelated activities since it would be unrealistic to expect that viewing a single program would result in measur able difference However more exten sive access to audio description may well have a measurable effect such as going to museums more frequently taking up new hobbies or attending classes Discussion Anecdotes about the benefits of adding description abound Individuals recount the dramatic difference they experienced when they saw a described program or perfor mance for the first time They speak of the emotional impact of feeling that they are now finally able to have the same experi ence as everyone else My first experience with DYS was very emotional I found myself pacing the floor in tearful disbelief It was like somebody had opened a door into a new world in which I was able to see with my ears what most people see with their eyes Quoted in Cronin King 1990p505 I felt I had really seen the movie and could laugh right along with everyone else not five minutes later after someone had taken the time to explain it all to me Quoted in Packer 1995 p 3 from comments received by DYS Television programs and videos are widely used to convey information for 2001 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal ofVisUCJI Impairment Blindness April 2001 209 Copyright 2001 All rights reserved mally especially in schools and the work place Videos increasingly are used for instructional materials for home appli ances learning skills like computer pro grams medical procedures or providing airplane safety instructions Such programs need to be designed so that all the pertinent information is fully accessible preferably by including sufficient audio description when the program is produced originally If they are not so designed audio description should be added to convey the instructions more effectively Teachers and vocational counselors as well as consumers need to advocate for increased accessibility for all informational materials In addition to providing useful informa tion television programs and videos are an important source of shared popular cul turediscussed in lunchrooms and at par ties Because television programs and videos are visual media people who are visually impaired do not get full access to them without description Thus they miss out on the social cement such programs provide as these comments illustrate When my coworkers discuss TV for the most part I cannot participate and Id really like to but cannot do so without DVS services Quoted in Packer 1995 p 4 from comments received by DVS My son who is 14 has always been the only blind kid in his school and he has always felt excluded when other kids talked about their favorite movies or television show Howard Nixon quoted in Ellis 1991 p 15 As this study has documented people who are visually impaired are more comfortable talking with sighted people about programs that have been described Fuller access means being able to share equally and so is likely to enhance peer relationships For children audio description provides an avenue for acquiring knowledge that sighted children are likely to learn inciden tally Description can convey body lan guage and facial expressions styles of clothing or cars Understanding what is being conveyed visually can help children learn and reinforce their social skills Visually impaired children often have difficulty equating body language and facial expressions with specific emo tions By hearing a description of a gesture for example linking an arched eyebrow to skepticism he gets direct feedback about what that gesture means This makes it easier to teach children what facial expressions or body language is appropriate in a variety of settings Kathleen M Huebner quoted in Ellis 1991 p 17 Informal description by others who are watching the programs clearly enhanced television viewing for almost all the people who experienced it On the positive side this informal description may provide some social interaction moreover those who are explaining the program can tailor their comments to their friends or relatives interests However on the negative side having to describeor needing someone to describemay be an unwelcome distrac tion or burden Programs that include audio description free viewers who cannot see everything from depending on other people 210 Journal of Visual Impairment Blindness April 2001 2001 AFB All Rights Reserved Copyright 2001 All rights reserved to fill in accounts of crucial actions and sig nificant details as this comment indicates I stopped going to the theater when my vision worsened The constant whis pering of descriptions seemed to annoy people and embarrassed me Audiodescription lets me know what people are wearing and what the sets look likewithout having to worry about bothering anyone else Id love to see the same kind of service on net work television Alice Rutkowsky quoted in Ellis 1991 p 13 Furthermore the description is available whether or not anyone else is watching the programan important advantage since as was mentioned earlier much television watching is solitary More broadly description is used in an array of venues not only television pro grams videos and movies but live events such as plays ballets parades festivals and significant public events like the Presidential inauguration as well as in other settings such as museums galleries and nature walks Each of these venues has its own character and purpose and presents different challenges for description Each in its own way provides access to information and opportunities so that visually impaired people can participate fully in society References AUDETEL 1995 RNIBs Bridget Pettitt reports on the viewer reaction research European AUDETEL Project Newsletter London Royal National Institute for the Blind AUDETEL 1996 AUDETELWhat next European AUDETEL Project Newsletter London Royal National Institute for the Blind AUDETEL 1997 Audio description in Germany European AUDETEL Project Newsletter London Royal National Institute for the Blind Audio Description International 2001 Available wwwlibohiostateeduOSU profiletriwebnewsaudiohtml Available audiodescllistsacsohiostateedu Carmichael A Rabbitt P M A 1993a Assessing audio quality for an elderly popu lation The AUDETEL Project Deliverable 3 Part 2 of Final Report of the Audete Pilot Phase Brussels Commission of European Communities Directorate General XIII Carmichael A Rabbitt P MA 1993b Audio description of television for the visu ally disabled elderly Assessment of the effect of audio description of elderly peoples com prehension and memory for a television pro gram Vol 2 The AUDET EL Project Deliverable 15 Part 2 of Final Report of the Audetel Pilot Phase Brussels Commission of European Communities Directorate General XIII Carmichael A Rabbitt P M A 1993c Survey of visually impaired peoples behav iour and attitudes towards television and their aspirations for audio description AUDETEL Project Deliverable 18 Part 2 of Final Report London Age and Cognitive Performance Research Centre Cronin B J King S R 1990 The devel opment of the descriptive video service Journal of Visual Impairment Blindness 84 503506 Disability Rights Office 1999 Video descrip tion Online Available httpwwwfcc govcibdrovideodescriptionhtml Ellis F 1991 A picture is worth a thousand words for blind and visually impaired persons too New York American Foundation for the Blind Everett L A 1994 What is DVS Paper pre sented at OSERS Technology Conference Rochester NY Frazier G CoutinhoJohnson I 1995 The effectiveness of audio description in pro viding access to educational AV media for blind and visually impaired students in high school San Francisco AudioVision Katz A Turcotte J I 993 Measurement of comprehension changes in television viewing of visually impaired persons using descriptive 2001 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Visual Impairment Blindness April 200 I 211 Copyright 2001 All rights reserved video study Research report Boston New England College of Optometry Kuhn D 1992 The use of descriptive video in science programming study Research report Boston WGBH Educational Foundation Kuhn D Kirchner C 1992 Viewing habits and interests in science programming of the blind and visually impaired television audi ence Research report Arlington VA National Science Foundation McKivragan G 1995 Potential among the general population London AUDETEL Miers J 1998 Audio description Seeing the ater with your ears Paper presented at the First Annual National Conference on Audio Description Washington DC Orne M T 1962 On the social psychology of the psychological experiment With particular reference to demand characteristics and their implications American Psychologist 17 776783 Packer J 1995 Psychosocial benefits of accessible television for blindvisually impaired persons Paper presented at the American Psychological Association New York Quoted in the American Foundation for the Blind 1997 Project to Conduct Research on Described Videos Audience and Methods of Distribution Volume 2 Appendix J New York NY American Foundation for the Blind Packer J Kirchner C 1997 Whos watching A profile of the blind and visually impaired audience for television and video New York American Foundation for the Blind Peli E Fine E M Labianca A T 1996 Evaluating information provided by audio description Journal of Visual Impairment Blindness 90 378385 Rabbitt P M A Carmichael A 1994 Designing communications and information handling systems for elderly and disabled users In J Snel R Cremet Eds Work and aging A European perspective pp 173196 London Taylor Francis Royal National Institute for the Blind 1998 Audio description on television Coming to a television set near you Online Available wwwmiborgukwedoresearcheuropean audetelwelcomehtm Schmeidler E Kirchner C 1996 Adding audio description to television science pro grams Impact on legally blind viewers Final report of Grant ESI9253447 National Science Foundation New York American Foundation for the Blind Snyder J 1997 AD for dance mathand more Available on internet listserv audiodescllistsacsohiostateedu Vivian M 1992 From this world to another The New Beacon The Journal of Blind Welfare 76 393 Emilie Schmeidler PhD independent scholar 21 Edinburgh Drive Toms River NJ 08757 email emilie JOyahoocom Corinne Kirchner PhD director of policy research and program eval uation American Foundation for the Blind I I Penn Plaza New York NY 10001 email corinne ajbnet 212 Journal of Visual Impairment Blindness April 2001 2001 AFB All Rights Reserved