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28 changes: 28 additions & 0 deletions techniques/failures/F113.html
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<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en" xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>Failure of Success Criterion 1.2.5 due to not using available pauses in dialogue to provide audio descriptions of important visual content</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../css/sources.css" class="remove"/></head><body>
<h1>Failure of Success Criterion 1.2.5 due to not using available pauses in dialogue to provide audio descriptions of important visual content</h1>
<section class="meta"><p class="id">ID: F113</p><p class="technology">Technology: failures</p><p class="type">Type: Failure</p></section>
<section id="applicability"><h2>When to Use</h2>
<p> Applies to all synchronized media. </p>
</section>
<section id="description"><h2>Description</h2>
<p>This describes a failure condition for all techniques involving audio descriptions. Audio descriptions can either be provided as part of the soundtrack's original narration or be added to audio during pauses in existing dialogue. If important actions, characters, scene changes, and on-screen text are only conveyed visually, appropriate pauses in dialogue need to be used to provide this information as audio descriptions.</p>
<p class="note">Not all pauses are usable for audio descriptions. If the pauses in dialogue are too short (for instance, less than 2 seconds), or do not occur in proximity to the visual content that needs to be described, they may not be appropriate for audio descriptions.</p>
<p>In situations where important visual information is being conveyed at the same time as non-spoken audio (such as music and sound effects), the technique of "audio ducking" can be used. This involves dropping the overall sound level so that it is easier to distinguish the narration that is added during pauses in dialogue.</p>
<p>This technique can work well with background music and sounds, but audio ducking has the potential to mask important audio information. Often such audio information can convey much of the sense of what is visually happening. There may be some pauses in dialogue where non-spoken audio information is so important that the addition of audio descriptions is unnecessary or inappropriate.</p>
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Having trouble following the point of this paragraph. Is it that ducking can obscure needed audio information or that sometimes the non-spoken audio can eliminate the need for some descriptions?

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@mbgower mbgower May 12, 2025

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I assume you mean the last one?

Is it that ducking can obscure needed audio information or that sometimes the non-spoken audio can eliminate the need for some descriptions?

A bit of both, I think. There is material about not filling every pause with more information if the audio is actually more important than the video
For instance, see example 2

Some_ examples would probably be useful, although maybe that would be better in a sufficient technique than in a failure technique.

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@mbgower mbgower May 16, 2025

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@awkawk, let me know if this helps clarify. Open to suggestions!

Suggested change
<p>This technique can work well with background music and sounds, but audio ducking has the potential to mask important audio information. Often such audio information can convey much of the sense of what is visually happening. There may be some pauses in dialogue where non-spoken audio information is so important that the addition of audio descriptions is unnecessary or inappropriate.</p>
<p>This technique can work well with background music and sounds, but audio ducking has the potential to mask important audio information. Sometimes such audio information can convey much of the sense of the video. </p>
<p class="note">There may be some pauses in dialogue where non-spoken audio information is so important that the addition of audio descriptions is inappropriate.</p>


</p>
</section>

<section id="tests"><h2>Tests</h2>
<section class="procedure"><h3>Procedure</h3>
<p>For each occurrence of synchronized media containing video:</p>
<ol>
<li>Check that all important visual information that cannot be understood from the main soundtrack alone has been conveyed in audio descriptions.</li>
<li> Check that audio descriptions have been added in pauses in the dialogue, where appropriate. </li>
</ol>
</section>
<section class="results"><h3>Expected Results</h3>
<ul>
<li>If checks 1 and 2 are false, then this failure condition applies and the content fails the success criterion.</li>
</ul>
</section></section></body></html>
6 changes: 5 additions & 1 deletion understanding/20/audio-description-prerecorded.html
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Expand Up @@ -249,7 +249,11 @@ <h3>Additional Techniques (Advisory) for Audio Description (Prerecorded)</h3>
<section id="failure">
<h3>Failures for Audio Description (Prerecorded)</h3>


<ul>
<li>
<a href="../Techniques/failure/F113" class="failure">Failure of Success Criterion 1.2.5 due to not using available pauses in dialogue to provide audio descriptions of important visual content</a>
</li>
</ul>
</section>

</section>
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