Accessible Services

Closed captions are texts of a video soundtrack that appear while it is being played. What makes closed captions different from subtitles is that, in addition to the dialogs, they include descriptive information about who is talking, as well as about any relevant sound that might help the viewer follow the scene, such as laughter, applause, backing music or the lyrics of a song playing in the background, among others.

Closed captions make content understandable to people with hearing difficulties and improve their experience as viewers. In many countries closed captions are mandatory by law.

Subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH and HoH) differ from closed captions in several ways. The most important difference lies in the encoding system used and, therefore, in the possibility of playing the content on high-definition devices.

In the same way as closed captions help people who are not deaf or hard of hearing, SDH make the content more accessible for a wide range of people, because: They improve the understanding of people who do not speak the content language fluently They help those viewers with an attention deficit disorder or cognitive impairment when it comes to concentrating on the video They help viewers to better understand people with strong accents They improve the watching experience in environments that make listening difficult

Sign language is the language used by deaf people and people who live or associate with them. Sign language has its own grammatical structure and vocabulary, so it is not just a translation of spoken language but is a language in its own right with its own system – also differing by region, e.g. American Sign Language (ASL) in North America and British Sign Language (BSL) in the United Kingdom.

Sign language interpreters work live or in real time on numerous occasions and also in recording studios as an alternative to the subtitling of multimedia content.

Audio description is a form of narration used for providing information about key visual elements of audiovisual content that helps blind and visually-impaired consumers. It provides a detailed description of the visual content and is presented in narrations that are generally inserted during natural pauses in the soundtrack and, sometimes, during the dialog if this is considered necessary, thus giving people with a visual impairment the opportunity to fully enjoy performances, movies, the visual arts, exhibitions, and cultural events.