What is Audio Description?
Audio Description (AD) provides a separate narration track that verbally describes key visual information in video content. The narration is carefully timed to fit within natural pauses in the dialogue, describing actions, characters, scene changes, and on-screen text that are not conveyed through the main soundtrack alone.
It transforms video into a complete and equitable experience for people who are blind or have low vision.
Why Accessible Video Matters
A Wider Audience & Talent Pool
Accessibility opens your content to a massive global population and a diverse talent pool. It's not just about compliance; it is a fundamental component of digital equity and social inclusion.
This demographic is projected to double by 2030, making accessible content a strategic necessity.
The Digital Accessibility Gap
In a digital-first world, vast majority of the web remains inaccessible. Inaccessible content creates legal risks and damages your brand. Most corporate digital assets are currently non-compliant.
Audio Descriptions vs. Captions
Full video accessibility means addressing different needs. Audio descriptions and captions serve two distinct audiences and are not interchangeable.
Audio Descriptions (AD)
Purpose: To describe what's SEEN.
AD explains actions, scene changes, and on-screen text for people who are blind or have low vision.
It answers the question: "What's happening on screen?"
Captions & Subtitles
Purpose: To transcribe what's HEARD.
Captions provide a text version of dialogue and important sounds for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
It answers the question: "What's being said?"
Common Challenges
The Manual Process
Traditionally, creating audio descriptions required a team of experts, making it too slow and expensive for today's volume of content.
Scripting
A trained describer manually writes a script.
Narration
A voice actor records the script.
Mixing
An audio engineer mixes the tracks.
This process is a major bottleneck and can't scale.
The Gap in Platform Support
While consumer streaming services invest in AD, many corporate and public platforms like YouTube lack built-in support, leaving businesses with a compliance gap.
How AI Helps
AI automates the slow, manual steps, turning the workflow into a fast, scalable process. This makes it possible to provide audio descriptions for all your video content.
1. Video Analysis
AI segments video into logical scenes and shots.
2. Content Description
Vision models generate a text script for each scene.
3. Script Timing
AI finds pauses in dialogue to insert descriptions.
4. Voice Synthesis
Text-to-Speech engine creates the final audio track.
The Smart Strategy: AI + People
A "Human-in-the-Loop" approach is the best strategy. It gives you the speed and scale of AI, with the quality and brand safety of human review.
| Metric | Human-Led | Pure AI | AI + People (Hybrid) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | High | Very Low | Low-Medium |
| Speed | Days/Weeks | Minutes | Hours |
| Scalability | Low | Very High | High |
| Quality & Nuance | High | Low | High |
| Accuracy | High | Medium | Very High |
Our Recommended Roadmap
Tier 1: Full Automation
For high-volume, internal videos like meeting archives. Prioritizes speed and cost for 100% baseline coverage.
Tier 2: AI + People
The core strategy for most content: HR training, marketing, product demos. Balances speed, cost, and quality.
Tier 3: Manual
For high-stakes brand films or major public announcements, where nuance is the top priority.