Developing technology has shown us that many things once considered “impossible” can actually become highly achievable with the right methods. Entertainment habits such as watching movies or TV series and playing games offered very limited experiences for blind people 20 years ago. Today, there are many different methods that help blind individuals understand and experience the content they watch.
Can Blind People Watch Movies or TV Series?
The short answer is yes, blind people can watch movies or TV series. However, the concept of “watching” here does not refer to the auditory elements of movies and TV shows, but rather the visual elements. Music, dialogues, and other audio components can be easily understood by a blind viewer.
However, as expected, a movie or TV series does not consist only of audio elements. The environment where a scene takes place, the physical appearance of characters, their facial expressions during conversations, camera angles, and background details are also among the most important parts of a story.
With only dialogue and music, only half of the story is being told.
How Can a Movie’s Story Be Followed Without Seeing?
To understand the remaining parts of the story, we need a very important tool that fills this gap: audio description. Regardless of the content type (action movies, emotional dramas, cartoons, etc.), audio descriptions help blind viewers experience and understand visual elements.
What Is Audio Description and How Does It Work?
Audio description is a service where visual elements in a piece of content are described through an additional voice during moments when there is no character dialogue. These descriptions explain characters’ facial expressions, the environment where scenes take place, character movements, and other visual details.
Audio description helps blind people interpret movie and TV series scenes more effectively.
Audio descriptions are generally provided to viewers in the following ways:
Live Audio Description
Live audio description is the real-time narration of a movie by a trained specialist in a cinema hall or another environment where the movie is being watched live. For this process, an expert in the field provides descriptions while the content is playing.
Pre-Described Movies or TV Series
In this type of content, movies or TV series are prepared with audio descriptions integrated into them. When the relevant movie or series is played from a CD, USB drive, or another media source, the content starts playing directly with audio descriptions included.
AI-Based Audio Description in Digital Platforms
In recent years, AI-based audio description has started to be used in digital environments. On digital platforms such as Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime, audio descriptions are often generated automatically by artificial intelligence, especially for original content.
Similarly, these descriptions are also narrated using AI-powered voices.
Is There a Common Standard for Audio Description?
No, there is no single universal format or standard for audio description. In some movies or TV series, viewers may hear highly detailed descriptions of scenes, characters, and environments, while others may include fewer details.
However, in most cases, both approaches provide the essential information needed for blind viewers to understand the content.
Who Provides Audio Description Services in Turkey?
In Turkey, audio descriptions for movies are provided by the Audio Description Association (Sesli Betimleme Derneği). Blind individuals can access movies and TV series with audio descriptions through this association and request audio-described versions of specific films when needed.
The number of movies and TV series available with audio descriptions continues to increase every day. Today, a significant portion of movies and series released on digital platforms can be accessed with audio descriptions on the same day they are published.
With the continued development of artificial intelligence, it is certain that many barriers preventing wider adoption of audio description will be removed in the future.
