The Inclusive Implementation of Audio Description Services in Educational Videos

Educational Videos serve their primary purpose of making a bigger impact on the resulting factors. Reading materials are already past, now fast-paced consumption took over the entire system, adjusted to the needs of the learners. The Trainers focus on providing live examples and case studies, this needs to use all the learning mediums like Listening, Seeing, and Observing. Videos become an easy-to-create more defined learning environment. It also gives an edge over the trainers to completely customize the experience by infusing visuals and audio.

Many Community Trainers use Educational videos to cut time and provide a holistic experience to the learners. To make it accessible to everyone, Educational videos can infuse Audio Descriptions.

An Ohio-based Employee Training Company with a focused goal of setting up and transforming a normal workspace into a good workplace. They meticulously plan out the community buildings and advice on the developmental aspects of better workplace communication and engagement.
The organization recognized that many educational videos lacked accessibility features, making it challenging for visually impaired learners to engage with the content effectively. They identified the need to provide audio description services, a technique that involves describing visual elements, actions, and critical details within the video to make it accessible to individuals with visual impairments.

The Project Manager from the company contacted us with a request for a Spanish translation and Audio description for an explainer resource video with a run length of 40 minutes. They wanted both services and requested us to provide a standard audio description service for the video without extending the length of the video.

After making a quick analysis of the video and the content, our team devised a quote fulfilling the entire service. The client was happy with the quote and agreed to proceed forward with the project. As the video had to be translated and insert audio description, the turnaround time might take longer than usual. The Client agreed with the terms.

The main objectives of the project were as follows:

Enable visually impaired employees to access educational videos by providing detailed audio descriptions.

Ensure all employees and other higher-ups, regardless of visual ability, could comprehend and engage with the content equally.

We undertook the following steps to provide audio description services for the training videos:

It was a single video with a runtime of over 40 minutes, the request included two major things

1. Spanish Translation
2. Audio Description

The translation part was the easier part, where we found a native speaker and transcribed the entire content, and documented it for the client. Later we moved on to the audio description part.

We collaborated with experienced audio describers who had expertise in describing visuals accurately and concisely. The audio describers underwent a small orientation session to understand the context of educational content and how to effectively convey visual information through audio descriptions.

The audio describers closely watched each video, taking detailed notes about the visual elements, key actions, and relevant contextual information. They crafted concise descriptions, ensuring they did not interfere with the audio and dialogue present in the original video.

After curating the video script with a professional script writer. The audio descriptions were recorded and synchronized with the original video content. The organization ensured that the audio descriptions did not overlap with important audio cues, dialogues, or narration.

The project team performed thorough quality checks on the audio-described videos to ensure accuracy, clarity, and synchronization. Feedback from clients played a crucial role in refining the audio descriptions and making necessary adjustments.

The project’s outcomes were overwhelmingly positive, highlighting the impact of audio description services in Training videos. We have achieved the following set of performances:

Visually impaired students gained equal access to training videos, enabling them to engage with the content on an equal footing with their sighted peers.

The audio descriptions provided vital visual context, allowing visually impaired students to comprehend complex concepts, diagrams, and visual demonstrations more effectively.

By providing audio description services to educational videos, the organization successfully addressed the accessibility gap for visually impaired students. Through this project, they not only promoted inclusivity but also enhanced learning outcomes for students with visual impairments. The positive impact and feedback underscored the importance of incorporating accessibility features in educational content, setting an example for other institutions and content creators to follow suit.

The clients expressed gratitude for the enhanced accessibility and inclusivity provided by the audio-described videos. The project received positive feedback, which motivated the organization to expand the initiative further.