The Production of Digital Audio Description for Television Documentary Programs for Visually Impaired People

Abstract

The research aimed at 1) examining the process of digital audio description production for visually impaired people in documentary programs, 2) studying an ability to understand the content after hearing digital audio descriptions in documentary programs, and 3) assessing the level of satisfaction of visually impaired people with digital audio description in documentary programs. The sample in this research was purposively selected from 20 visually impaired people from the Foundation For The Blind In Nonthaburi, Thailand. The tools used consisted of digital audio descriptions for visually impaired people in documentary programs, 10 multiple-choice questions in (4-option) test of the ability to understand the content after hearing digital audio descriptions in documentary programs, 15 questions in satisfaction questionnaires using a 5-rating scale from the visually impaired people.   The research findings revealed that 1) the process of digital audio description production for visually impaired people in documentary programs consisted of 3 stages: Pre-Production, Production, and Post-Production, 2) 80% of the visually impaired people were able to understand the content more than criteria standards after hearing digital audio descriptions in documentary programs, with a statistically significant level of 0.05, and 3) the level of satisfaction of visually impaired people for digital audio descriptions in documentary programs was at a high level.