​​​​​Research Title : Aspects of Visual Content Covered in the Audio Description of Arabic Series: A Corpus-assisted Study

Authors : Noor T. Darwish, Ahmad S Haider, Hadeel Saed ​

Abstract :People with visual impairment need a special form of audio-visual translation (AVT) to have access to multimedia products such as series and movies. Audio description (AD) is an audio-visual translation (AVT) mode that tells what is happening in images through words. It is a necessary accessibility tool that allows the blind and visually impaired to visualize scenes through spoken material. This study examines the types of information covered in the audio description (AD) of the Jordanian Netflix drama series 'Madrast Al-Rawabi LilBanat' (AlRawabi School for Girls) following a corpus-assisted approach. Subsequent to watching the series and transcribing the verbal audio description content, the researchers conducted frequency and concordance (KWIC) analyses using Wordsmith software package to identify the categories of information covered in the audio description. The findings showed six categories, namely description of characters, description of actions, interpersonal interactions, description of settings, emotional states, and on-screen texts. This study recommends conducting further research on audio description (AD) in the Arab world to expand the accessibility services provided by official TV channels and streaming platforms.

Keywords :accessibility, visual impairment, audio-visual translation, audio description, Arabic series, corpus linguistics

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