Audio description meets Easy-to-Read and Plain Language: results from a questionnaire and a focus group in Catalonia

Abstract

Summary: Providing accessible audiovisual content which caters for diverse user needs is one of the challenges of today’s digitized society. Easy-to-understand language is currently being explored as a powerful tool to foster accessibility among different user groups, including persons with cognitive disabilities and reading difficulties. Audio description is an access service that provides an aural translation of visuals for those who cannot access the images in audiovisual content. This paper discusses whether audio description could incorporate the principles of easy-to-understand language in order to produce easy-to-understand audio descriptions by focusing on the Catalan working context. Specifically, the paper reports on a survey distributed among experts in Easy-to-Read and Plain Language in Catalonia and a focus group which brought together audio description and Easy-to-Read experts working in Catalonia to discuss the feasibility and potential means of implementation of an easy-to-understand audio description. Both research actions were undertaken in the framework of the EASIT project. Keywords: easy-to-understand language, plain language, easy-to-read language, audio description