As the app that is the star of today's window has updated on my phone today, let me introduce you to Greta, the German app for audiodescription, closed captions and other forms of accessibility in movies.
It works by first downloading an encrypted, I believe, copy of the movie's audio and then when we want to watch it described or subtitled, we just start the app, let it listen to the sound around us and it will tune in at the right spot in time with the accessibility accommodations we need. Should you forget your headphones to hear the audiodescription in, you can still listen to it over the earpiece. The system is not context-aware so it can tune into the movie at a cinema or at home when watching on the Internet or on TV which gives universal access to all the accommodations. The only wish I would have is more independent cinema productions and the ability to combine multiple adjustments so that I could watch that movie with a lot of Austrian dialect in it with both audiodescription and subtitles.
Today's update brings sound amplification. If I understand correctly, you can also have the actual audio track of the movie played through your phone in sync with the original.
I believe the concept was replicated in other countries already so you might know it under another name.
https://www.gretaundstarks.de
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #Germany #Culture #Movies #Audiodescription #Cinema #TV #Subtitling

Is it possible to have audiodescription on TV if the broadcasting mode is analogue and the ability to employ several language audio tracks does not exist yet? Italy has had the solution, at least a decade ago still, where audiodescription for the movies aired by RAI, the Italian national broadcaster, would have the descriptive track delivered on a designated FM radio frequency. A blind person wishing to watch such a movie would turn on their TV to the right channel and then tune a radio receiver to the right frequency to enjoy both the original movie track and the audiodescription in sync. As it turns out from the paper below, keeping both in sync is difficult.
By the device of anecdotal evidence I know that a similar system existed in Slovenia.
Another thing that was available in Italy, and I haven't heard of it anywhere else before, are accessible audio menus on DVD's.
https://www.openstarts.units.it/bitstream/10077/17360/1/Ritt19_Perego3.pdf
#Accessibility #Blind #Audiodescription #Italy #Slovenia #Radio #AdventCalendar

RT @blindconfucius@twitter.com

#AudioDescription delivered by a synth is equivalent to casting a robot in place of a human actor because it's less expensive & more films can be produced. That's not how art works, and it shouldn't be how #accessibility operates in the arts. Join this #LinkedIn Audio discussion. https://twitter.com/nefmatoli/status/1598829479618437126