This translation has not been editorially reviewed yet. The German version is authoritative. Deutsche Fassung
Accessibility
When does a video need an advanced audio description?
An audio description describes to blind people what is happening in the picture and uses the pauses in the spoken text. If the breaks are too short, the description is missing. Criterion 1.2.7 of level AAA therefore requires an extended audio description: the video stops, the description runs, the video continues. Thus, no image content remains unwritten, even with densely spoken videos.
What the Criterion Requires
For recorded videos with sound, there is a version in which the image is stopped at places where the normal audio description would have no place. During the break, a voice describes action, people, text blends and changes of location; After that, the video continues. This extends the running time, but makes any image information audible. Level AA (1.2.5) requires only the description in the existing breaks.
Which videos count for this
Explanatory videos with graphics that change quickly, demonstrations of software, cooking instructions, safety instructions: everywhere the picture carries information that the sound does not provide, and the speaker talks through. An extended audio description is the only way to give blind people the full content. In interviews or lectures with a calm picture, the normal description is usually sufficient.
This is how we deal with it
The measurement finds videos on a page and shows them. Whether an extended audio description is available and whether it reproduces the image content completely is assessed by a person. The criterion belongs to the category AAA in knowledge; it is not part of the seal occupying levels A and AA.
Examples
Audio description does not fit in the breaks
WEBVTT (descriptions)
00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:12.800
Diagramm: Umsatz steigt von 2 auf 5 Millionen, Kosten bleiben gleich, Gewinn …<!-- erweiterte Fassung: das Video hält bei 00:12 an -->
<video controls src="quartal-erweiterte-ad.mp4"></video>
<p>Diese Fassung pausiert an drei Stellen für die Bildbeschreibung; Laufzeit 4:10 statt 2:50.</p>If the pause in the sound is not sufficient for the description, the video is paused, described and continued.
- For each video, check whether the spoken pauses are sufficient for a description; if not, the extended version is necessary.
- Have the description script written by a person who knows the rules of audio description: action before interpretation, present form, short sentences.
- Offer the extended version as your own file or as a selectable audio track and link it visibly next to the video.
- Mark the version in the title so that it can be found in search and playlists.
