Study on automated audio descriptions overlapping live television commentary

Abstract

We are conducting research on “automated audio description (AAD)” which automatically generates audio descriptions from real-time competition data for visually impaired people to enjoy live sports programs. However, there is a problem that AAD overlaps with the live television commentary voice, making it difficult to hear each other’s comment. In this paper, first, we show that the game situation is conveyed effectively when visually impaired persons listen to the AAD alone. Then we state the results of experiments on the following items to solve the overlap issue: (1) There is a difference in optimum volume level between live commentary and AAD, (2) The ease of listening differs depending on the difference in the characteristics of text-to-speech synthesizer for AAD, (3) Playing back AAD through a speaker placed differently from the TV speaker makes both voice sounds easier to listen to. We had clues to solve that depending on the presentation method of AAD, we can make AAD easy to listen to even when AAD overlaps the live television commentary.