Publication Type

Conference Proceeding Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

10-2024

Abstract

Blind and low-vision (BLV) people use audio descriptions (ADs) to access videos. However, current ADs are unalterable by end users, thus are incapable of supporting BLV individuals’ potentially diverse needs and preferences. This research investigates if customizing AD could improve how BLV individuals consume videos. We conducted an interview study (Study 1) with fifteen BLV participants, which revealed desires for customizing properties like length, emphasis, speed, voice, format, tone, and language. At the same time, concerns like interruptions and increased interaction load due to customization emerged. To examine AD customization’s effectiveness and tradeoffs, we designed CustomAD, a prototype that enables BLV users to customize AD content and presentation. An evaluation study (Study 2) with twelve BLV participants showed using CustomAD significantly enhanced BLV people’s video understanding, immersion, and information navigation efficiency. Our work illustrates the importance of AD customization and offers a design that enhances video accessibility for BLV individuals.

Keywords

Accessibility, Blind and low-vision Individual, Video accessibility, Audio description, Customization

Discipline

Software Engineering

Research Areas

Software and Cyber-Physical Systems

Publication

Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2024) : Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, October 28-30

Identifier

10.1145/3663548.3675617

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

City or Country

Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Comments

PDF provided by faculty

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1145/3663548.3675617

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