Captioning and Indian Sign Language as Accessibility Tools in Universal Design

Abstract

Universal Design in Media as a strategy to achieve accessibility in digital television started in Spain in 1997 with the digitalization of satellite platforms (MuTra, 2006). In India, a conscious effort toward a strategy for accessible media format in digital television is yet to be made. Advertising in India is a billion dollar industry (Adam Smith, 2008) and digital television provides a majority of the space for it. This study investigated the effects of advertisement in accessible format, through the use of captioning and Indian sign language (ISL), on hearing and deaf people. “Deaf (capital letter ‘D’ used for culturally Deaf) and hearing” viewers watched two short recent advertisements with and without accessibility formats in a randomized order. Their reactions were recorded on a questionnaire developed for the purpose of the study. Eighty-four persons participated in this study of which 42 were deaf persons. Analysis of the data showed that there was difference in the effects of accessible and nonaccessible formats of advertisement on the “Deaf and Hearing” viewers. The study showed that accessible formats increased the comprehension of the message of the advertisement and use of ISL helped deaf persons to understand concepts better. While captioning increased the perception of the hearing persons to correlate with listening and understanding the concept of the advertisement, the deaf persons correlated watching the ISL interpreter with understanding the concept of the advertisement. Placement of the ISL interpreter in the screen and color of the fonts used for captioning were also covered under the study. However, the placement of the ISL interpreter and color of fonts in the screen and their correlation with comprehension of the advertisement by hearing and deaf persons did not show much of significance in the result of the study.