Enhancing audio description: A value added approach

Abstract

Audio Description makes films, shows and TV programs accessible to visually impaired audience. It is expensive so wide adoption of this technology is not practical. Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requires that broadcaster describes a minimum of four hours of primetime programming a week. Production companies do not see any incentives to move beyond the required minimum. This paper investigates the possibility of making AD profitable by making a described movie, show or program attractive to all kind of audiences including visually impaired. We argue that AD can become a revenue generation product widely adopted by production companies. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.