DAC Recommends Best Practices for Audio Description, ENT
The FCC Disability Advisory Committee approved recommendations for best practices for creating high-quality audio description and real-time broadcast news captions Wednesday, at the group’s final meeting -- conducted virtually -- of its current term. An announcement of the roster for the DAC’s next term is expected in a few weeks, said Consumer and Governmental Affairs Attorney Adviser and DAC Deputy Designated Federal Officer Debra Patkin. The DAC’s recommendations for best practices aren’t intended to be the basis for regulations or have any bearing on pending FCC proceedings on captioning, said the resolutions approved Wednesday.
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The final meeting included an appearance by Chairman Ajit Pai, who praised the committee and trumpeted the FCC’s recent report to Congress on the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act and upcoming vote on expanding video description. Accessibility has become “even more important” during the COVID-19 pandemic, Pai said.
The DAC’s unanimously approved recommendations for best practices for providers of audio description include examples of factors to consider when providing the service -- narration volume and tone, what aspects of the on-screen content are described and audio quality. Audio describers “necessarily make choices to prioritize the information ultimately included in the description," said Timothy Creagan, U.S. Access Board senior accessibility specialist. “Those choices seek to convey the intent of the program’s creator with the goal of providing audiences descriptions that illustrate the visual elements of a story in a manner that provides a comparable experience to that of viewers.” The DAC’s recommendations call for the best practices to be displayed on the FCC’s website.
The audio description recommendations include language acknowledging “concerns have been raised regarding whether audio description quality standards are consistent with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution." After the draft recommendations were presented to the DAC, Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing CEO Eric Kaika raised concerns about including the language, but working group Chair Sam Joehl, of Level Access, said the language was intended to reflect the “interests of many different stakeholders.” That’s also the reason for the explicit statement that the recommendations aren’t intended to be the basis for new rules, Creagan said.
The committee’s recommendations on captions were focused on ways to improve broadcaster use of electronic newsroom technique, which uses advance news scripts to generate captions for news broadcasts by smaller broadcasters. Sorenson Communications abstained from the vote, and the DeafBlind Citizens in Action at first voted “half-yes, half-no” before eventually changing its vote to a no. DBCA didn’t comment on the reasons for the vote.
Christian Vogler, chair of the captioning working group, said the recommendations aren’t intended to affect FCC consideration of petitions from consumer groups arguing ENT isn't a preferred captioning method. The committee also couldn’t reach consensus on recommendations for how to improve the complaint process for caption problems with broadcasters, said Vogler, director-Gallaudet University's Technology Access Program.
The recommendations urge the FCC to distribute an “ENT Toolkit” -- also created by the DAC -- to broadcasters that use ENT to help them provide better captions. The recommendations also suggest the FCC research and report on ways to widely distribute the toolkit. The toolkit is a package of video and suggestions for how broadcasters can improve their ENT offerings, such as appointing a station ENT coordinator, maintaining consistency in spelling and grammar, avoiding homophones, and making sure not to obscure other information on the screen with the caption crawl. The toolkit will also be available in Spanish, Vogler said.