It’s an exciting time. Both video and audio content is available to nearly anyone on the planet thanks to the growing reach of the internet. This is great for businesses, artists, governments and organizations who wish to reach people with their messages. However, sometimes these messages fail to reach everyone due to the special needs of certain individuals as well as cultural differences. Thankfully, there are strategies you can use to bridge these gaps.
Sign Language
One group of people you will want to reach with your audio visual content is the deaf. For certain deaf individuals, their primary language is actually sign language. Sing language is a language in which communication is conducted primarily through body movements especially with the hands and arms. Including a sign language component or option in your media content can help you reach deaf individuals that understand sign language better than written language.
Closed Captions
Many other people with deafness or other hearing impairments, however, can understand written language perfectly well and use reading as their primarily replacement for listening to video content with audio. Providing the option for closed captions for the hearing impaired with your audio visual content is a must. Obtain a CCSL transcription to help you create these closed captions for your audio visual media. This transcription can also be used to help you create subtitles in other languages as well.
Audio Only Alternatives
Others are blind or have very poor eyesight. For these individuals, you need to consider alternatives that forgo the video aspect entirely and provide an audio only alternative. Simply describing in words what is happening in a video may not always be appropriate. Instead, you may want to consider approaching the project similarly to an old-time radio show version of a television program that can provide the same information in a different but equally enjoyable manner in the audio only format.
Dubbing
Lastly, many individuals who may want to consume your audio visual content may only speak and read a foreign language. You can reach these individuals with the use of foreign language subtitles and dubbing. Dubbing is the creation of a secondary audio track for video content in a different language than the original. Creating foreign language dubs can give you access to markets you wouldn’t have been able to reach otherwise.
Today, you can reach more people than ever before by releasing audio visual content on the internet. However, if you don’t put in some extra effort, you may still not be able to reach everyone. Certain individuals have disabilities that can make consuming traditional audio visual content difficult, and others may not speak your language at all. Keep this in mind when creating your project.
