Production of access services in immersive content: understanding the needs of audio describers

Abstract

This article describes the development and the results of usability tests of an audio description web editor developed within the Immersive Accessibility (ImAc) project. The editor’s novelty is that it allows audio describers to produce audio description in 360° content, known also as spherical videos or omnidirectional videos. Such videos offer a 360-degree field of view horizontally and a 180-degree field of view vertically, which means that they differ from standard 2D content watched on rectangular screen in a way that users can explore the 360° sphere by head movements. The usability tests have been conducted with professional audio describers from different countries. In the first part of the article, the study is presented within a broader context, introducing the project and the main challenges related to providing access services in 360° content. Secondly, the main features of the editor, used both when editing standard two-dimensional content and specific to the medium under discussion are explained. Then, the methodological aspects of the test, such as measures, participants, materials, and experimental protocol, are discussed in detail. The discussion of the results is offered in the final part of the article, and it provides some insights on how professional describers approach new technologies, and what functions do they need to provide AD in an efficient way.