The Influence of Narrative Specificity and Voice Quality when Listening to Audio Descriptions: a Comparison of the Sighted and the Blind

Audio description (AD) serves as a vital means to make visual media accessible to non-sighted and visually impaired audiences. This study systematically investigates the impact of narrative specificity and voice quality on imageability and comprehension in both sighted and non-sighted populations. Twenty non-sighted participants, including congenitally blind individuals and those who lost their sight early in life, were compared with a group of 20 sighted participants, matched for verbal working memory capabilities. Participants listened to 50 short event descriptions, describing spatiotemporal relations with varying levels of narrative specificity, presented in both typical and dysphonic voices. After each event description, participants rated their ability to imagine the content, overall comprehension, listening effort, and listening enjoyment. Results indicate that high narrative specificity enhanced imageability in non-sighted individuals, especially for scenarios involving changes in motion, and to some extent, for visuospatial relations, irrespective of sightedness. Additionally, dysphonic voices increased listening effort and reduced enjoyment for non-sighted participants only. These findings underscore the importance of considering voice quality and narrative specificity in AD for non-sighted users and have implications for both professional audio describers and the development of automated AD systems.