Audio Description – Making Television Accessible To The Visually Impaired

If closed captioning technology has made television viewing more of a worthwhile pursuit for people with hearing difficulties, it took a while longer for people with visual impairments and disabilities to get their own version of the concept. However in the last decade there has been a development which now allows people who are visually impaired, or even entirely blind, to enjoy television. Although it can never replicate exactly what someone with perfect vision is seeing, it does allow the person with a visual impairment to set a context for what they are enjoying.

Audio description – a fairly self-explanatory term – is not dissimilar to a running commentary on a television sports broadcast. As almost all televised content features natural pauses in the spoken word, audio description is used during these natural pauses to describe in succinct and vivid terms what is taking place on screen. As the audio description often needs to fit into what are rather short gaps, it is necessary that it be succinct and that it be genuinely descriptive, which presents a challenge for those writing the content.

Despite these challenges and its relative novelty status in the present day, audio description has won many plaudits for its genuine effectiveness in bringing televised content to an audience that was previously left somewhat frustrated by the limitations of television. Not only this, but its use has been extended beyond the visually impaired audience, winning favor with people who find that they do not always understand that which they see. It has done this quietly but effectively, and it seems to be here to stay.

Closed Captioning – Bringing Television To The Hearing-Impaired

One television development which has been with us for what seems like forever, and is essential to many, is closed captioning. Many people with hearing difficulties enjoy watching television every bit as much as those with perfect hearing, but can find their viewing impaired if there is a great deal of dialogue or spoken description involved. For example, news programs, which are by nature heavy on the spoken word, can be frustrating to watch if you are unable to hear what is being said.

Closed captioning, or “subtitles” as it is referred to in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, is TV’s answer to this problem. At the present time, it is not available on every television show, but is available on many of the shows which would benefit from it. News programs and sports broadcasts are usually supplied with closed captioning, although due to their live nature, there are occasional problems with the captioning. While a recorded show can use the scripts for the dialog and get the captioning 100% accurate, captioning which is updated live can often be plagued by inaccuracies and typing errors.

Some broadcasts now feature the use of sign language – shrinking the picture in a way which does not cause the loss of visual detail, and featuring a person signing the words which are spoken by the characters or presenters on screen. This is seen as a way of being sure that the person with hearing difficulties is genuinely getting the same dialog as the viewer with clear hearing – although closed captioning is still very highly valued by many viewers.

Wide Screen TV – A Cinema In Your Own Home

The advent of wide screen television has actually caused as many problems as it has solved, depending on whom you speak to. For many people, it allows the watching of films as they were originally intended, and gives a wider view of the field for sports games, as well as enhancing the viewing experience in other ways. However, the fact that many TV programs are now made for wide screens has had an unforeseen consequence – many people without wide screen televisions find their viewing compromised.

A common occurrence for people without wide screen televisions is the inevitable result when a person on a wide screen broadcast stands too far over to one side, and is cut off either entirely or partially, rendering the program irritating and confusing. If the person on the edge of the screen says or does something particularly integral to the story, the experience is lost for the non-wide screen viewer. Additionally, on sports broadcasts with the scoreboard and clock in the top left of the screen, viewers often find that they have difficulty telling how long is left in the game.

Most non-wide screen TVs still being sold make at least some attempt to compensate for this difference by including an “aspect ratio” button on the remote control, which will change the shape and size of the picture, but this is an incomplete fix, and still leads to some footage appearing “squashed” or incomplete. However, it is as viable an option as can be expected and does solve many of the problems.

The V Chip – Making Viewing Safe Since 1999

Opinions will always be divided on the effect of television upon young minds. While many will always maintain that there is too big a price to pay for program-makers’ freedom to portray sex, violence and profanity, there will also always be people who counter that claim by saying that real life contains those things in great volume, and has done since long before television was ever invented. This is an argument that will never be settled, and as such there is no point in trying to enforce a regulatory standard on the content under debate. Gratuitous and extreme, inappropriate and out-of-context use of them is largely banned.

It is a fact that what is considered “acceptable” will differ considerably between households, and for this reason all televisions sold in the United States since 2000 have been required to have a “V-chip”. The “V” stands for “viewer control” and is used to block out content that the parents in the house consider to be inappropriate. The chip can be deactivated – so that parents can watch whatever they want when the children have gone to bed, for example. However it has emerged in the decade since V-chip compliance was necessary that many parents find the technology confusing.

The V-chip can probably be considered a positive step, in that it puts censorship in the hands of the parental authorities, and means there is no need to implement an overall standard which would be grossly unsatisfactory to a large section of the population. However, there are many people who feel that it still allows too much room for confusion.

Pausing Live TV – A Miraculous Discovery

It may be a source of some bemusement to some younger people, but for many people living today the development of the DVR – the Digital Video Recorder – has brought about a benefit that some of us thought we would never see in our lifetimes. The hard-disk based DVRs that now come as standard in some TVs and digital TV packages allow us to pause live TV. Although this is a standard now available in a large number of homes, it is no small step for those of us who dreamed about it in the 80s and 90s.

Before the DVR was developed, a phone call during a tense moment in a sports match or a movie would be greeted with barely controlled anger. “Oh, it’s so nice to hear from you,” you would say to the caller, as the moment came and went without you being able to witness it, while silently cursing them. Now, you can pause and come back to the action as though you were watching a DVD or a video. Not only that, but for those “Did I see/hear what I thought I saw/heard?” moments, you can also rewind the broadcast.

There are limitations to the technology, undoubtedly. Not least of these is the fact that if you change channel during the broadcast then everything you have watched up to then will be lost – hardly surprising, as the system needs to preserve memory. However, it is still quite nifty technology and for those of us who grew up dreaming about it, it’s still big news.

TV’s Changing Role Within The Home

One thing that is guaranteed to get someone up in arms is a short conversation about television. Either you like it or you do not, but there are some people who only just stop short of blaming television for everything that is wrong with the world. Educational underachievement is because kids spend more time in front of the set than doing their homework. Low self-esteem is a result of the images seen on TV and the impossibility of living up to what we see in front of us. There are more accusations besides these, and for every grain of truth there might be in some accusations, there is plenty to say they are wrong.

It is fair to say that parents have been aware for some time now of the dangers of watching too much television, and if they feel that their children are overindulging they certainly have the power to request or demand that they stop. While television does offer up in many cases an unrealistic level of attainment for people to live up to, the fact is that real life does this equally effectively – we’ve all seen people we know and envied their looks, their bank balance, their job or their relationships. Bringing a TV into your house is not going to open Pandora’s box, as long as you don’t let it.

Indeed, there is probably more educational programming on television now than there has ever been before. Admittedly there is a lot more of every kind of program, but you just need to be looking in the right places.

The Compatibility Factor – Making Sure Everything Is In Its Place

In the last century, we have seen a major change in home entertainment that has taken us as individuals from being lucky to have so much as a radio to being rather disappointed if we do not have a TV, video (more usually a DVD player), satellite and or cable TV and a few more add-ons besides those. Once upon a time, many of us got our news first from a newspaper (which may not have been daily, and if it was may not have come to us on its day of publication. Now, with 24-hour news channels, we can know what has happened all but instantly.

Of course, not everyone can afford to have all of the add-ons, and there are many of us who can only really justify paying for a few of them, or just one. In this case, it is important to decide which are most important to you and to add those. You can always pick up the others as you go along. If you are a film buff, then you will be best going for the DVD player, which will allow you to watch films and to have a much wider range of options in terms of searching for scenes than you would have got from a video.

If sports are your bag, then you would be well-advised to choose satellite TV. With the wide range of sports channels that are offered by most satellite providers, you can watch big games live, and catch up with regular highlight packages.

The Right TV For The Right Room

As time goes by, the number of TV sets in the average house is increasing. There was a time when the average house was no more likely to have a TV than not have one. Slowly but surely, television colonised the planet, and then the “second TV” wave made its move. One for the living room, and one for the parents’ bedroom. Then it was important to have one for the kids and, as they grew up, one for each of them. It is now hard to keep count of how many televisions the average family has, but it is a lot. If all of those TVs were big screen with all of the trimmings, it would cost an incredible amount, and it would be impractical.

A big screen TV for the bedroom, for example, just isn’t necessary. You’re not going to be moving around while watching it, so an average sized one in a fixed position is more than enough. In the kitchen, space is at a premium, so you are probably best going with a small one. And then, there is the fact that more and more people are installing TVs in their car. It shouldn’t need to be said, but if you are putting a TV in your car is should be very small-screen and, ideally, behind the driver – who has more important things to look at.

Of course, everyone has their own demands to make of a TV, but the above are fairly simple rules. The most important thing is to get one that is built to last.

Getting The Best From Your TV

In many ways, the majority of the “developed” world can be divided into two kinds of people. Those who upgrade their TV whenever they think they could do with more capabilities, and those who update their TV when the old one breaks down. It is increasingly true also that in most households there is more than one TV – two at the very least, but very often one for the living room, one for each bedroom and very possibly ones for the kitchen, study and den. And one in the dining room, if you don’t take seriously the admonishment about the TV becoming another member of the family.

If you had to update all of those TVs whenever they became slightly behind the times, you would have to be as rich as Bill Gates and as technologically aware as… Bill Gates again. However, it is not uncommon for families to regularly update at least the one in the living room. What you look for when you are upgrading probably depends as much on your viewing habits as anything else. If you watch a lot of sport, you want picture quality and sound, so that you can get the full atmosphere. If you tend more towards simple, gentle dramas, then only the sound quality is really important, so the dialog is clear.

For the living room TV, probably the most important thing is that the TV is big enough so that everyone can actually see what is going on. If you are still in doubt, the best bet is to ask a friendly salesman who knows more about TVs than you could imagine. But make sure you can tell when people are lying.

“Pimping” Your Home Entertainment System

One of the most common things to do when you have squirreled away a bit of money is to kit out your home with an entertainment system that is ready for anything. Planning a party? It will go really well if you have a classic sound system that approaches the sound quality you’d find in a club or a bar. Having some friends around to watch a few DVDs? You will want a quality DVD player and an overwhelmingly good TV. It’s not about keeping up with the Joneses, is it? It’s about catching them, passing them and leaving them so far behind that it’s not worth even trying to challenge you.

The center of many home entertainment systems would surely be the television. Once you have the right TV, everything else tends to fall in around it. if you buy wisely, the whole entertainment system can be run through it. However, if this is the case you will want to make sure that as well as a big enough screen, it has the quality of add-ons that takes it from good to great. That means big, powerful speakers and compatibility with a range of different components in an entertainment system.

At the last count, that meant having the ability to hook it up to show DVDs, cable and satellite digital television, running footage and visuals from your PC and laptop, as well as having a plasma screen in high definition and playing your hi-fi and games consoles through it. Other elements are no doubt being added as we go – but that’s the price of competition.

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