SM6: Providing audio description in SMIL 1.0

The objective of this technique is to provide a way for people who are blind or otherwise have trouble seeing the video in audio-visual material to be able to access the material. With this technique a description of the video is provided via audio description that will fit into the gaps in the dialogue in the audio-visual material.

Examples

Example 1: SMIL 1.0 audio description sample for QuickTime player

Example Code:

   
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<smil xmlns:qt="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/resources/smilextensions" 
  xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-smil" qt:time-slider="true">
  <head>
    <layout>
      <root-layout background-color="black" height="266" width="320"/>
      <region id="videoregion" background-color="black" top="26" left="0" 
      height="144" width="320"/>
    </layout>
  </head>
  <body>
    <par>
      <video dur="0:01:20.00" region="videoregion" src="salesdemo.mov" 
      alt="Sales Demo"/>
      <audio dur="0:01:20.00" src="salesdemo_ad.mp3" 
      alt="Sales Demo Audio Description"/>
    </par>
  </body>
</smil>

Example 2: SMIL 1.0 audio description sample for RealTime player

Example Code:

 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<smil xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-smil">
  <head>
    <layout>
      <root-layout background-color="black" height="266" width="320"/>
      <region id="videoregion" background-color="black" top="26" left="0" 
      height="144" width="320"/>
    </layout>
  </head>
  <body>
    <par>
      <video src="salesdemo.mov" region="videoregion" title="Sales Demo" 
      alt="Sales Demo"/>
      <audio src="salesdemo_ad.mp3" title="audio description" 
      alt="Sales Demo Audio Description"/>
    </par>
  </body>
</smil>

Resources

Related Techniques

Tests

Procedure

Find method for turning on audio description from content/player (unless it is always played by default)
Play file with audio description
Check whether audio description is played

Expected Results

#3 is true

If this is a sufficient technique for a success criterion, failing this test procedure does not necessarily mean that the success criterion has not been satisfied in some other way, only that this technique has not been successfully implemented and can not be used to claim conformance.