Describe Now: User-Driven Audio Description for Blind and Low Vision Individuals

TL;DR

This paper introduces a user-controlled AI system for audio descriptions that allows blind and low vision users to customize the timing and detail level of descriptions, improving accessibility and user experience.

Contribution

It presents a novel AI-driven, user-controlled approach to audio descriptions, enabling personalized timing and detail preferences for BLV viewers.

Findings

Participants preferred different description frequencies for various videos.

Users felt a greater sense of control with the AI-generated descriptions.

Limitations include challenges in balancing detail and timing preferences.

Abstract

Audio descriptions (AD) make videos accessible for blind and low vision (BLV) users by describing visual elements that cannot be understood from the main audio track. AD created by professionals or novice describers is time-consuming and offers little customization or control to BLV viewers on description length and content and when they receive it. To address this gap, we explore user-driven AI-generated descriptions, enabling BLV viewers to control both the timing and level of detail of the descriptions they receive. In a study, 20 BLV participants activated audio descriptions for seven different video genres with two levels of detail: concise and detailed. Our findings reveal differences in the preferred frequency and level of detail of ADs for different videos, participants' sense of control with this style of AD delivery, and its limitations. We discuss the implications of these findings for the development of future AD tools for BLV users.