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A snapshot of audio description on TV around the world
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A snapshot of audio description on TV around the worldChris Mikul, Project Manager, Media Access Australia With a trial of audio description due to start on ABC1 in August, now seems a good time to look at the state of audio description on television in other countries. Audio description is well established in the UK, US and Canada. It was first trialled on British TV in 1994, and Ofcom, the communications regulator, currently sets the minimum amount of audio described programming at 10%. Sky Television and Channel 4 have, however, volunteered to do 20% on all their channels, and other channels also regularly exceed 10%. The development of audio description in the US has been rockier. It was originally made mandatory in 2000 with a ruling by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which stated that the four largest free-to-air TV networks and five largest cable channels had to broadcast 4 hours of audio description per week. This ruling was struck down in 2002 after a legal challenge by the Motion Picture Association. Some networks continued to provide audio description after this, but it was very piecemeal. After a long political battle, the FCC’s ruling was finally reinstated as one of the key provisions of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010, which was signed into law by President Obama in October 2010. The audio description rules came into effect again on 1 July 2012, with the act stating that two years from now, the FCC will report to Congress on audio description, and four years from now, will have the power to increase it to 7 hours a week. In Canada, the broadcasting of some audio description has been a licence condition for broadcasters since 2001. Canada is also notable for having AMI-tv (formerly The Accessible Channel), a cable channel which is unique in that all its programs have open audio description (i.e. the viewer doesn’t need to turn it on). This is, as far as I know, the only open audio description being broadcast in the world today. Some audio description is available on television in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and other European countries. New Zealand also has a regular service, which commenced after a successful trial was conducted in 2011. In all countries, audio description is transmitted as a secondary audio track which can be activated using your remote control, usually by going into the set-up menu. In the US, however, people wanting to use the service face considerable problems. While it seems that the audio description track can be accessed on most digital TVs, the process for doing this is not always obvious, and many cable boxes currently cannot receive audio description. In the run-up to the Australian audio description trial, the Government commissioned a survey of digital TVs on sale here which can receive audio description. Anecdotal evidence suggests that there are quite a few models that can, but at the time of writing the results of the survey have not been released. In general, audio description is restricted to pre-recorded programs, as it is extremely difficult to audio describe something live without the descriptions overlapping with the dialogue (one exception to this was the Royal Wedding in 2011 which, with a great deal of preparation and planning, was audio described live in Canada on The Accessible Channel). News programs are generally considered unsuitable for audio description and BBC News 24 is the only UK channel exempt from the audio description rules. If you would like more information about audio description, the Television section of Media Access Australia’s website www.mediaaccess.org.au has up-to-date information on developments in Australia and the rest of the world. Don’t dis the NBN’s abilitiesGraeme Innes, Disability Discrimination Commissioner Source: The Punch, 21 March 2012 Disability is the untold story of the NBN. I don’t care about faster movie download speeds or better virtual gaming. The NBN is technology which creates accessibility for Australians with disability. That’s why, while there are many critics, I’ve agreed to become an NBN champion. Connecting all of us across the country, including the disabled I want to spread the word about how people with disability can capitalise on the accessibility benefits the National Broadband Network (NBN) has to offer. High-speed broadband, delivered by the NBN, will take many Australians currently locked out of our community, and connect them - sometimes for the first time in their lives. The continuing growth of the digital economy is a positive development for Australia. It means our grandparents will live at home longer, monitored by nurses and families, remotely. This will be a positive - people can age in place - and will reduce pressure on health budgets. It means better services for people with disability, and better opportunities to lead fulfilling lives. Take, for example, people who are hearing impaired. Because the NBN conveys the visual medium well, it will facilitate online communication throughout Australia by improving access to video conferencing. This will make Auslan more available, and will reduce the time Auslan interpreters need to travel. It will also mean that speech in classrooms can be converted to captions - not just a benefit for kids who are deaf or have a hearing impairment, but for others for whom reinforcement of the spoken by the written word will enhance their learning. People who are deaf or have a hearing impairment will - using these advantages - find equal participation in work discussions, meetings, interviews etc. Children with hearing or vision impairment in regional and remote Australia will have improved, fast, live access to specialist services via remote technology. Early intervention services will be available via videoconferencing. This will mean quicker access to more health professionals, and the health professionals having more time available due to less need to travel. Aboriginal communities, where hearing loss is endemic, will be particular beneficiaries. People with physical disability will use high-speed broadband in a variety of ways. Those who want to will get to work or go to university in an electronic way; going wherever they want to go, without having to navigate a physically inaccessible environment. They will just plug in, log on and go! Audio description, immediate access to talking books, and video-calling will all be made widely available by a high-speed broadband service. I know I will enjoy downloading a braille or audio version of a novel in seconds, rather than waiting for it to turn up in the snail mail. About 48,000 strokes occur every year. Of those who survive, stroke contributes to 25 per cent of all chronic disability in Australia. But 72 per cent of Australian hospitals are unable to provide acute stroke treatment. Broadband multiple conferencing increases the possibility of effective treatment within the ‘golden hour’ of the stroke. It assists correct diagnosis, and appropriate therapy. High-speed broadband allows the stroke neurologist to access, in high-definition, a brain scan, and discuss findings in real time with the clinicians and medical registrars. Many more applications of the NBN for the benefit of Australians with disabilities already exist. Other applications will be developed as the NBN is rolled out across Australia. I have long campaigned for Australians with disability to have the chance to play an equal part in the community. For me, the NBN has nothing to do with speed, technology or bits per second. The NBN erodes disadvantage, and provides accessibility - that’s why I’m an NBN champion.
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