WCAG: 1.2.7 Extended Audio Description (Prerecorded)

Consider these scenarios:

• Imagine that you’re a person experiencing visual impairment. You’re a student at a prestigious law school, and you’re watching a recording of last week’s lecture that was posted online. You have a test next week, and while watching the video you can hear the professor, but you’re unable to see what she’s writing on the board. You’re at a severe disadvantage compared to your peers. Why? Because the video wasn’t accessible to you.
• Now imagine that you’re out with your friends and you’re seeing the latest Star Wars movie. The movie is accessible to some degree, at a “standard” level. You can hear the descriptions of what’s happening, but there’s simply not enough time to fully consume what’s happening. There are light saber fights happening so quickly, the audio description isn’t able to keep up with the pace of the film.

The two above scenarios paint the picture on why this mandate (Level AAA) exists. To rectify these situations, an extended audio description is made. There are pauses in the video that provide more time to explain what’s happening. This technique is still used infrequently, so there’s a huge opportunity for organizations to fill this gap. Below is an example of an extended audio description, and how it’s used in context.

Extended Audio Description – YouTube Example

For execution, the extended audio version should be linked near the original movie link or description.