A glimpse behind the scenes of the ‘Accessibility Team’ at P7S1

Today is International Easy Language Day. This day reminds us how important it is to make information accessible to everyone. Last year, the ‘Accessibility Team’ offered formats in easy language for the first time in order to make our content accessible to even more people. They have been working on the expansion of subtitles, sign language and audio description for many years. And that makes us a pioneer in private media! Today we take a look behind the scenes with Alissa, Jeannette, Lotte, Melissa and the subtitles team and find out more about accessible entertainment.

Our accessibility team

240524_Das Bild zeigt 2 Kolleg:innen aus dem Team Audiodeskriptio bei der Arbeit, sie sitzen vor zwei Laptops und einen großem Bildschirm und lächlen in die Kamerna

240524_Das Bild zeigt Jeanette aus dem TeamBarrierfreiheit bei ihrer Arbeit am Pc

240524_Das Bild zeigt Lotte und Jeanette aus dem TeamBarrierfreiheit wie sie nebeneinander an einer Wand lehnen und in die Kamera lächeln

240524_Das Bild zeigt Lotte und Jeanette aus dem Team Barrierfreiheit wie sie am PC arbeiten

240524_Dieses Foto zeigt Alisssa aus dem TeamBarrierfreiheit, sie hat mittellanger braunes Haar und trägt ein rotes Blumenkleid und lächelt in die Kamera

240524_Das Bild zeigt Melissa aus dem Team Barrierfreiheit, sie hat langes dunkelbraunes Haar, trägt eine grüne Bluse und lächelt in die Kameraa

Dear Lotte, as Senior Manager Accessibility, you are responsible for subtitling for the deaf, among other things. In 2021, we introduced sign language for people with hearing impairments. Why are there both?

Lotte: Subtitles for the deaf are used by people who have a hearing impairment, but are also read along for better understanding by those whose native language is not German.
For many people with a hearing impairment, especially those who are deaf from birth, sign language is their native language. For them, written German - as in our subtitles - is a foreign language with a different grammar. We offer sign language for them. Since last year, our sign language interpreters have been supported by deaf performers. This is accessibility in practice, as they are deaf themselves. They come into action when we want to sign music.

They do this with facial expressions, gestures and movement, for example on ‘The Voice Kids’. A wonderful presentation of music, completely silent.

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Deaf Performance bei "The Voice Kids"

You are also constantly testing new accessibility offers. Can you tell us a bit about what you're doing?

Lotte: It is very important for us to continue developing our services. Just as we have been using Deaf Performer since last year. We are currently looking at how we can use AI to expand our offering in a cost-effective way, but not at the expense of quality. We have just started working with a start-up, PHONT. This young company has developed a program that does not display subtitles in white and statically as usual, but instead changes the text intuitively depending on the emotion and is scalable as required. For example, if someone screams, the text becomes larger and tilts forwards threateningly.

We are currently testing which formats we can use these subtitles for on a trial basis.

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Subtitles created with PHONT

Dear Alissa, as Accessibility Manager, you are responsible for the services in plain language in the team. For whom are services in plain language particularly relevant and who else can use them? How does it work?

We offer programmes in plain language for those who have problems understanding more complex texts. This can be due to cognitive impairments and learning difficulties or for people who are just learning German. This is why plain language uses short sentences, simple words and often pictures. It is important that the texts are read by a test reader before we publish them. Test readers with intellectual disabilities are best placed to say whether everything is understandable for them. We have already tested AI solutions in the area of easy-to-read language, but the texts are still translated by certified editors.

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A subtitle of the programme ‘’Finally Free‘’ in easy language

Melissa, as Accessibility Manager at Puls4, you are responsible for subtitling for the deaf. How did our role as a pioneer in this field come about?

Melissa: In addition to my responsibility for subtitles for the deaf at PULS4, I am also responsible for the Austrian channels PULS24, ATV1 and ATV2. My main focus is to ensure that they meet their annual targets in terms of accessibility and subtitling. In other words, fulfilling their obligations to viewers. This and our ongoing commitment to inclusion and accessibility may have contributed to our reputation as a pioneer in this area. We recognise that television should be an important form of communication and entertainment for all, regardless of individual challenges such as hearing or visual impairments.

What is the difference between traditional subtitling and deaf subtitling?

Melissa: The difference between traditional captioning and captioning for the deaf lies primarily in the level of detail and understanding of the needs of the target audience. While conventional subtitles primarily only reproduce the dialogue, subtitles for the deaf go beyond this. They not only capture the spoken language, but also important acoustic elements such as background noises, music or emotions that contribute to the understanding of what is happening.

Jeannette, Senior Manager Accessibility / Dubbing & Material:

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You take care of our audio description programme. What exactly does this mean?

Audio description, also known as acoustic image description or, more rarely, audio commentary, is a process designed to enable blind and visually impaired people to better perceive visual events. The action is accompanied by an acoustic commentary to make it comprehensible for the audience.

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How has this been implemented at P7S1 so far?

Jeannette: We currently offer audio description for the ProSieben, Sat. 1 and ProSieben Maxx channels. Kabel Eins is in the planning stage. Via the ProSieben AD APP, Sat.1 AD APP and the ProSieben MAXX AD APP, the audience can listen to the audio description of the programme offered on any Android or iOS device. On Joyn, the audio description is even offered with video for the respective programme via a separate channel.

What are current examples?

Jeannette: We offer various blockbusters of different genres with audio description on the channels, regardless of the time of day. This year, we offered a series HOUSE OF THE DRAGON on ProSieben with AD for the first time. Shows such as GNTM, THE MASKED SINGER or SCHLAG DEN STAR have been running with AD for years and more shows are being added all the time. In sports programmes, such as Bundesliga matches, audio description is often even preferred to the actual commentators. The Ice Hockey World Championships can also be followed with AD.

Photo left: Alfred, Claudia, Martin (from left), photo right: Claudia and Alfred

Dear Alfred, Claudia, Tanja and Martin. You are part of our subtitling team and therefore responsible for the impressive number of subtitles we provide. What are your challenges? How many subtitles do you create every day? Is there maybe an exciting number?

Subtitling team: Moving image formats don't just tell stories via images. Sound plays a huge role in creating atmosphere and the emotional world of the format, but also in the dramatisation. The sound often tells the story, while the image does not. This is one of the challenges we face when creating subtitles for the Deaf - retelling the story told via sound for the audience in a detailed and understandable way in written form.

In doing this we have to reconcile various parameters. On the one hand, the dialogue must be transcribed as accurately and authentically as possible and additional auditory information must be transcribed. For example, dramaturgical elements, music and background noises (‘door slamming’).

It is important for us to describe content in such a way that people with hearing impairments get the full entertainment experience!

Facts: We provide about 30 formats of 45 minutes each per week with subtitles for the deaf and have subtitled about 27,000 minutes of airtime for the current year so far, excluding repeats.

Dear Accessibility Team, thank you very much for the insights into your exciting work!

*The interview was conducted by Emilie Eckhard

#OneTomorrow #VoiceForDiversity