AUDIO DESCRIPTION and AUDIO SUBTITLES

Conclusion
The study has provided answers to our research questions, but also given rise to new
ones. Some areas which can be of interest for further study:
There are interesting differences between how completely blind and visually impaired
people view the necessity and degree of audio description. Our groups were too small
for us to be able to draw any definite conclusions. In comparing the study's main areas
– audio description and audio subtitles – we also feel that the differences can be larger
between blind and visually impaired people than between visually impaired people and
those with reading difficulties.
Another interesting question is when in the flow a subtitle should be read out. For the
visually impaired, it is important that they are able to hear the voices of those speaking,
so that they know who they are, before the reading begins For people with reading
difficulties, the need appears to be the opposite. If the text is shown before the reading
begins, they automatically look at the text and the user begins the laborious process of
reading. They then risk missing a lot of both what is said and what is shown. If the reading
instead begins immediately before the text is shown, the user can focus on listening
and watching.
Is it possible to find a balance for this that both groups can accept?
This study has not examined live interpretation of films and TV programmes. This is an
area that we feel should be studied in more depth and we hope that a future study can
bring more clarity to how the users view this type of audio description.
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