Visually impaired can watch films, too: assessing the effects of audio description via film narrations

Download
2019
Zengin Temırbek uulu, Zeynep
This study aims to assess the efficiency of audio description which is a tool for visually impaired individuals while watching live or recorded performances. This tool enables these individuals to gain more from what they encounter as a voice describes settings, characters as well as events and some simple actions that are important. This unique research not only provides a first assessment of a tool generated for better learning and understanding but also is important in the way that it provides an insight on the minds of the visually impaired individuals. Also, the analysis of adult visually impaired participants’ comprehensions was a first in this study. Data analysis of this study utilized Trabassoan Narrative Analysis (1994) which examines comprehension by elicitation of narratives. This analysis framework focuses on the attempts and outcomes which serve the purpose for each completed action and thus understanding. The results demonstrated three important findings. First of all, visually impaired participants gain more from AD on a wholistic level since this assistance provides them with the setting of plot events which gives background to the story of the film. Secondly, the AD helps visually impaired participants catch up to the comprehension levels of the sighted participants in terms of understanding details in the story by providing short descriptions. Last but not least, the study suggests that the creation of an AD for a film must include the application of Trabassoan Framework (1994) in order to enhance comprehension and bring an emphasis on “What’s happening that is at utmost importance?” (Snyder, 2014). This is very importnat since the sole purpose of the audio description is to provide a better understanding to assist visually impaired participants. In the light of these findings, this study hopes to provide insight on the visually impaired comprehension via audio description as well as shedding light on the importance of these subjects.

Suggestions

Cortical processes underlying metacontrast masking across different contrast polarities
Aydın, Alaz; Çakır, Murat Perit; Kafalıgönül, Hacı Hulusi; Department of Cognitive Sciences (2018)
In this study a metacontrast masking experiment is conducted together with electroencephalography (EEG) recordings in order to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying visual masking phenomena. We employed a contour detection task under same and opposite target-mask contrast polarity conditions, together with varying stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA). Behavioral experiments resulted in unimodal type-A and type-B backward masking functions for opposite and same contrast polarity conditions, respectively....
Eye tracking in multimodal comprehension of graphs
Acartürk, Cengiz (2012-07-31)
Eye tracking methodology has been a major empirical research approach for the study of online comprehension processes in reading and scene viewing. The use of eye tracking methodology for the study of diagrammatic representations, however, has been relatively limited so far. The investigation of specific types of diagrammatic representations, such as statistical graphs is even scarce. In this study, we propose eye tracking as an empirical research approach for a systematic analysis of multimodal comprehensi...
Preliminary results of a novel enhancement method for high-frequency hearing loss
Arioz, Umut; Arda, Kemal; Tuncel, Umit (Elsevier BV, 2011-06-01)
In this study, a software program was developed for high-frequency hearing loss subjects that includes a detailed audiogram and novel enhancement methods. The software performs enhancements of the audibility of high-frequency sounds according to the subject's detailed 31-point audiogram. This provides subject-specific gains in the entire frequency spectrum, and especially for high frequencies, of sounds. Amplification, compression, and transposition are the three main processing methods used to obtain the d...
Evaluation of visual quality metrics
Ölgün, Ramazan Ferhat; Akar, Gözde; Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (2011)
The aim of this study is to work on the visual quality metrics that are widely accepted in literature, to evaluate them on different distortion types and to give a comparison of overall performances in terms of prediction accuracy, monotonicity, consistency and complexity. The algorithms behind the quality metrics in literature and parameters used for quality metric performance evaluations are studied. This thesis also includes the explanation of Human Visual System, classification of visual quality metrics...
Secondary-Task Effects on Learning With Multimedia: An Investigation Through Eye-Movement Analysis
Acartürk, Cengiz (2017-01-01)
This study investigates secondary-task interference on eye movements through learning with multimedia. We focus on the relationship between the influence of the secondary task on the eye movements of learners, and the learning outcomes as measured by retention, matching, and transfer. Half of the participants performed a spatial tapping task while studying the instructional materials, whereas the other half studied the materials, without spatial tapping. The results revealed suboptimal learning outcomes und...
Citation Formats
Z. Zengin Temırbek uulu, “Visually impaired can watch films, too: assessing the effects of audio description via film narrations,” Thesis (M.S.) -- Graduate School of Social Sciences. English Language Teaching., Middle East Technical University, 2019.