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Re: Audio description and captions

for

From: Nick Bromley
Date: Jan 29, 2024 7:06AM

The 'Intent' for 1.2.2 sets a precedent of sorts for not needing captions for content that has an alternate presentation: "Captions are not needed when the synchronized media is, itself, an alternate presentation of information that is also presented via text on the Web page."

So, playing devil's advocate, you could argue that not providing captions for audio description follows the same logic. You have one type of visual content (video) with a media alternative (audio description) so no need to have another visual version of that audio content (caption text).

From a general usability perspective there are benefits to captioning AD (e.g. for users with a visual processing impairment), but the intent states the criterion is for "deaf or hard-of-hearing users to watch synchronised media presentations".

So I'd be tempted to pass a video who's AD isn't captioned, but would suggest best practice is to include full captions.