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Accessibility to Information and Communication

Code: 45807
Credits: 15
2026/2027
Degree programme Type Course
Audiovisual Translation OB 1

Contact lecturer

Name :
Teresa Pitarch Porcar
Email :
teresa.pitarch@uab.cat

Teaching staff

Estel·la Oncins Noguer
Sara Bonjoch Llaquet

Teaching staff (external to UAB)

Pablo Romero Fresco

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

Students must have completed the subject “Dubbing, Subtitling and Voice-over B–A.”


Objectives

The objectives of this subject are that students:

  • Understand the history and legal context of digital and media accessibility in Catalonia, Spain, and Europe.
  • Understand the history and legal context of subtitling for deaf people and audio description in Catalonia, Spain, and Europe.
  • Understand the circumstances, needs, and preferences of users.
  • Understand and analyse audiovisual products from an accessibility perspective.
  • Conduct research and select reliable sources for accessibility projects.
  • Produce different types of subtitles for deaf people and audio descriptions, applying the appropriate registers.
  • Master the software, techniques, and specific features of subtitling for deaf people and audio description.
  • Plan and manage audiovisual accessibility projects, taking into account their objectives, resources, budget, schedule, risks, and deliverables.
  • Coordinate the various stakeholders involved in accessibility projects, including users, professionals, suppliers, organisations, and clients.
  • Design strategies for incorporating accessibility from the initial stages of audiovisual content production, distribution, and communication.
  • Develop awareness-raising, communication, and accessibility promotion initiatives aimed at institutions, companies, professionals, and diverse audiences.
  • Explain the social, cultural, and economic value of accessibility and promote it as a criterion for quality, inclusion, and innovation.
  • Evaluate the quality and impact of accessibility measures using indicators, protocols, and user participation.


Learning outcomes

  • CA09 (Manage audiovisual accessibility projects in different environments with rigour, organisation and critical thinking.) Manage audiovisual accessibility projects in different environments with rigour, organisation and critical thinking.
  • CA10 (Demonstrate an ethical and responsible attitude in the provision of accessibility services, integrating the principles of inclusion, sustainability and considering the gender perspective.) Demonstrate an ethical and responsible attitude in the provision of accessibility services, integrating the principles of inclusion, sustainability and considering the gender perspective.
  • KA11 (Identify the basic principles of accessibility management in different professional environments considering the gender perspective.) Identify the basic principles of accessibility management in different professional environments considering the gender perspective.
  • KA12 (Recognise the characteristics, standards and norms that regulate audio description, subtitling for deaf people and live subtitling considering the gender perspective.) Recognise the characteristics, standards and norms that regulate audio description, subtitling for deaf people and live subtitling considering the gender perspective.
  • KA13 (Describe the professional processes involved in the provision and management of the main accessibility services.) Describe the professional processes involved in the provision and management of the main accessibility services.
  • SA15 (Analyse the narrative and visual elements of a film text to apply them in the creation of audio descriptions and subtitles for deaf people, critically considering how the gender roles and stereotypes associated with masculinity and femininity are socially represented.) Analyse the narrative and visual elements of a film text to apply them in the creation of audio descriptions and subtitles for deaf people, critically considering how the gender roles and stereotypes associated with masculinity and femininity are socially represented.
  • SA16 (Prepare audio descriptions, subtitles for deaf people and live subtitles in accordance with professional norms and standards using inclusive and non-sexist linguistic expressions..) Prepare audio descriptions, subtitles for deaf people and live subtitles in accordance with professional norms and standards using inclusive and non-sexist linguistic expressions..
  • SA17 (Evaluate the quality of accessibility products through review processes, in accordance with professional norms and standards.) Evaluate the quality of accessibility products through review processes, in accordance with professional norms and standards.

Contents

Accessibility Management and Promotion

Introductory Section

  • Accessibility, universal design, and inclusion in information and communication across different settings: culture, education, and the media.
  • Users of accessibility services: needs, preferences, and participation.
  • The legal, regulatory, and institutional framework for accessibility.
  • Professional profiles and accessibility services.
  • Promotion, communication, and awareness-raising strategies.

Theoretical and Practical Section

  • Identification of barriers and assessment of the accessibility of products, services, spaces, and events.
  • Planning and management of accessibility projects.
  • Coordination of multidisciplinary teams and engagement with users and representative organisations.
  • Management of accessibility services, tools, and technologies.
  • The labour market and career opportunities.

Subtitling for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing People (SDH)

Introductory Section

  • Subtitling for deaf and hard-of-hearing people: definition, origins, and types of subtitles.
  • Subtitling for deaf and hard-of-hearing people in Spain: national and regional perspectives.
  • Laws, standards, and initiatives that help remove barriers.
  • Deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences.
  • Subtitling practice for people with hearing loss: technical aspects.
  • Subtitling practice for people with hearing loss: orthotypographic aspects.

Theoretical and Practical Section

  • The SDH workflow.
  • Reading speed and text reduction in SDH.
  • Speaker identification and descriptive captions.
  • Sounds and music.
  • Content aimed at children.
  • Linguistic aspects of SDH in colloquial and humorous content.
  • Audiovisual content featuring different dialectal varieties.
  • Other types of content.
  • The professional field.

Audio Description (AD)

Introductory Section

  • What AD is. The history of AD.
  • Users and their expectations.
  • Standards and legislation.
  • Audio description of credits and logos.

Theoretical and Practical Section

  • Audio description of characters, with particular attention to gender perspectives.
  • Audio description of linear and non-linear actions.
  • Audio description of complex actions and audio subtitling.
  • Audio description in the performing arts (theatre and opera).
  • General practice: AD for the opening of a feature film, the opening of a short film, and children’s content.
  • The professional field.

Realtime Subtitling

Introductory Section

  • Live subtitling: definition, origins, and types.
  • National and international perspectives on live subtitling.
  • The user: reception of live subtitles.

Theoretical and Practical Section

  • Introduction to creating subtitles using speech recognition.
  • Introduction to respeaking and techniques for creating subtitles through respeaking.
  • Respeaking practice with Dragon using videos from different live television formats, conferences, and other respeaking contexts.
  • Strategies and techniques for achieving efficient and accurate results.
  • Research, dictation, self-editing, and collaborative editing practice.
  • News and current affairs programmes, sports, entertainment, conferences, and live events.
  • Working conditions and occupational risk prevention in live subtitling.
  • The labour market.


Learning activities and methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Activities supervised by the lecturer 30 1.2 CA09, CA10, KA11, KA12, KA13, SA15, SA16, SA17
Student's self-work 255 10.2 CA09, CA10, KA11, KA12, KA13, SA15, SA16, SA17
Theoretical lectures and problem-solving sessions 90 3.6 CA09, CA10, KA11, KA12, KA13, SA15, SA16, SA17

Active methodologies with different types of activities are used.

Moodle tools are also used.

Possible methodologies:

  • Translation tasks.
  • Translation project tasks.
  • Problem-solving tasks.
  • Individual and group presentations.
  • Debates (face-to-face or in fora).
  • Cooperative learning techniques.

Training activities are organised in three blocks, depending on the required level of autonomy from students:

- Activities directed by a lecturer.

- Activities supervised to different extents by a lecturer.

- Autonomous activities: students organise their time and effort autonomously, either individually or in group.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title Weight Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Audio Description activities (active participation, group work, assessable assignments) 30% 0 0 CA09, CA10, KA11, KA12, KA13, SA15, SA16, SA17
Subtitle for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (active participation, group work, assessable assignments) 30% 0 0 CA09, CA10, KA11, KA12, KA13, SA15, SA16, SA17
Promotion and Management of Accessibility activities (active participation, group work, assessable assignments) 20% 0 0 CA09, CA10, KA11, KA12, KA13, SA15, SA16, SA17
Life Subtitling activities (active participation, group work, assessable assignments) 20% 0 0 CA09, CA10, KA11, KA12, KA13, SA15, SA16, SA17

Continuous assessment

Students must provide evidence of their progress by completing various tasks and tests. These activities are detailed in the table at the end of this section of the Study Guide.


Review

When publishing final marks prior to recording them on students' transcripts, the lecturer will provide written notification of a date and time for reviewing assessment activities. Students must arrange reviews in agreement with the lecturer.


Missed/failed assessment activities

Students may retake assessment activities they have failed or compensate for any they have missed, provided that those they have actually performed account for a minimum of 66.6% (two thirds) of the subject's final mark and that they have a weighted average mark of at least 3.5. The lecturer will inform students of the procedure involved, in writing, when publishing final marks prior to recording them on transcripts. The lecturer may set one assignment per failed or missed assessment activity or a single assignment to cover a number of such activities. Under no circumstances may an assessment activity worth 100% of the final mark be retaken or compensated for. In case of retaking, maximum grade will be 5 (Pass).


Classification as "not assessable"

In the event of the assessment activities a student has performed accounting for just 25% or less of the subject's final mark, their work will be classified as "not assessable" on their transcript.


Misconduct in assessment activities

Students who engage in misconduct (plagiarism, copying, personation, etc.) in an assessment activity will receive a mark of “0” for the activity in question. In the case of misconduct in more than one assessment activity, the student involved will be given a final mark of “0” for the subject. Assessment activities inwhich irregularities have occurred (e.g. plagiarism, copying, impersonation) are excluded from recovery.


Artificial intelligence

For this subject, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is restricted to the activities that the teaching staff will specify at the beginning of the course. The lack of transparency in the use of AI in any assessable activity will be considered a lack of academic honesty and may lead to a total penalty in the grade of the activity. The teaching staff, in case of doubts, may require a face-to-face meeting to validate the authorship.


Single assessment

This subject is not suitable for single assessment.

Bibliography

Bibliography audio description

  • AENOR (2005): Norma UNE: 153020. Audiodescripción para personas con discapacidad visual. Requisitos para la audiodescripción y elaboración de audioguías. Madrid: AENOR.
  • Fryer, Louise (2016): An Introduction to Audio Description. A Practical Guide. Nova York: Routledge.
  • Maszerowska, Anna; Matamala, Anna i Orero, Pilar (2014) (eds.): Audio Description: New perspectives illustrated. Ámsterdam: Benjamins.
  • Puigdomènech, Laura; Matamala, Anna i Orero, Pilar (2007): "Bases per a un futur protocol d'audiodescripció per a l'àmbit català". Document no publicat. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
  • Remael, Aline i Vercauteren, Gert (2007): "Audio Describing the Exposition Phase of Films. Teaching Students What to Choose". TRANS: Revista de Traductología, 11, 73-94.
  • Snyder, Joel (2014). The Visual Made Verbal. A Comprehensive Training Manual and Guide to the History and Applications of Audio Description. Arlington: American Council of the Blind.
  • Vercauteren, Gert (2007): "Towards a European Guideline for Audio Description", a Díaz-Cintas, Jorge; Pilar Orero i Aline Remael (eds.): Media for All. Accessibility in Audiovisual Translation. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 139-150.

Bibliography about accessibility promotion

Bibliography about SDH

  • AENOR (2012): Subtitulado para personas sordas y personas con discapacidad auditiva. Norma. UNE 153010:2012, Madrid: Asociación Española de Normalización y Certificación (AENOR).
  • Arnáiz Uzquiza, Verónica (2012): "Los parámetros queidentifican el subtitulado para sordos. Análisis y clasificación". MonTI,4:103-132.
  • Bartoll, Eduard (2008): Paràmetres per a una taxonomia de la subtitulació. Tesis doctoral. Barcelona, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Disponible en: http://www.tdx.cat/handle/10803/7572
  • Díaz Cintas, Jorge (2003): Teoría y práctica de la subtitulación: Inglés-Español, Barcelona: Ariel. Jiménez Hurtado, Catalina (ed.) (2007): Traducción y accesibilidad. Subtitulación para sordos y audiodescripción para ciegos: nuevas modalidades de Traducción Audiovisual, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
  • Matamala, Ana i Orero, Pilar (eds.) (2010): Listening to subtitles: subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

Bibliography about real time subtitling

  • Arumí Ribas, Marta i Pablo Romero-Fresco (2008) ‘A Practical Proposal for the Training of Respeakers’, Journal of Specialised Translation 10: 106-127. Disponible en línea: http://www.jostrans.org/issue10/art_arumi.php [Data de consulta: 21 juliol 2022].
  • CSA (2011) Charte relative à la qualité du sous-titrage à destination des personnes sourdes ou malentendantes, Paris: Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel. Disponible en línia: http://www.csa.fr/Espace-juridique/Chartes/Charte-relative-a-la-qualite-du-sous-titrage-a-destination-des-personnes-sourdes-ou-malentendantes-Decembre-2011 [Data de consulta: 21 juliol 2022].
  • Dumouchel, Pierre, Gilles Boulianne i Julie Brousseau (2011) ‘Measures for quality of closed captioning’. A: Adriana Şerban, Anna Matamala i Jean Marc Lavaur (eds) Audiovisual Translation in Close-up: Practical and Theoretical Approaches, Bern: Peter Lang, 161-172.
  • English Broadcasters Group (EBG) (2014) Report on Efforts to Improve the Quality of Closed Captioning, Toronto: EBG. Disponible en línia: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/fra/BCASTING/ann_rep/bmt_cbc_rm_sm.pdf [Data de consulta: 21 juliol 2022].
  • Eugeni, Carlo (2008a) ‘Respeaking the News for the Deaf: for a real special needs-oriented subtitling’, Studies in English Language and Literature, 21, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei.
  • Eugeni, Carlo (2008b) ‘A Sociolinguistic Approach to Real-time Subtitling: Respeaking vs. Shadowing and Simultaneous Interpreting’. A: Cynthia Jane Kellett Bidoli i Elana Ochse (eds.). English in International Deaf Communication, Bern: Peter Lang, 357-82.
  • Eugeni, Carlo. (2009) ‘Respeaking the BBC News: A Strategic Analysis of Respeaking on the BBC’, The Sign Language Translator and Interpreter, 3(1): 29-68.
  • Eugeni, Carlo (2012) ‘A StrategicModelfor the Analysis of Respoken TV Subtitles’, US-China Foreign Language, Vol. 10, Núm. 6.
  • Eugeni, Carlo, i Gabriele Mack (2006) (eds) Intralinea, Special Issue on New Technologies in Real Time Intralingual Subtitling. Disponible en línia: http://www.intralinea.org/specials/respeaking [Data de consulta: 21 juliol 2022].
  • Lambourne, Andrew, Jill Hewitt, Caroline Lyon i Sandra Warren (2004) ‘Speech-Based Real-Time Subtitling Services’, International Journal of Speech Technology 7(4): 269–79.
  • Luyckx, Bieke; Tijs Delbeke, Luuk Van Waes, Mariëlle Leijten i Aline Remael (2013) ‘Live Subtitling with Speech Recognition. Causes and Consequences of Text Reduction’, Across Languages and Cultures 14 (1): 15-46.
  • Matthews, Laura (2015) Getting the Full Picture? Viewers’ experiences of television Subtitling, London: AOHL (Action on Hearing Loss).
  • Mikul, Chris (2014) Caption Quality: International approaches to standards and measurement, Sydney: Media Access Australia.
  • Matamala, Anna; Pablo Romero-Fresco i Lukasz Daniluk (2017). ‘The use of respeaking for the transcription of non-fictional genres: an exploratory study’. InTRAlinea. Online Translation Journal, Vol. 19. Disponible en línia: https://www.intralinea.org/archive/article/2262 [Data de consulta: 21 juliol 2022]
  • OFCOM (2015a). Measuring live subtitling quality: Results from the fourth sampling exercise, London: Office of Communications. Disponible en línia: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/41114/qos_4th_report.pdf [Data de consulta: 21 juliol 2022].
  • Remael, Aline i Bart van der Veer (2006) ‘Real-Time Subtitling in Flanders: Needs and Teaching’. A: Carlo Eugeni i Gabriele Mack (eds) Intralinea, Special Issue on Respeaking. Disponible en línia: http://www.intralinea.org/specials/article/Real-Time_Subtitling_in_Flanders_Needs_and_Teaching [Data de consulta: 21 juliol 2022]
  • Remael, Aline; Luuk Van Waes i Mariëlle Leijten (2014) ‘Live Subtitling with Speech Recognition – How to pinpoint the challenges?’. A: Dror Abend-David (ed.) Media and translation: An interdisciplinary approach, London: Bloomsbury, 121-147.
  • Romero-Fresco, Pablo (2009) ‘More Haste Less Speed: Edited vs. Verbatim Respeaking’, Vigo International Journal of Applied Linguistics (VIAL) VI: 109-33.
  • Romero-Fresco, Pablo (2010) ‘Standing on quicksand: viewers’ comprehension and reading patterns of respoken subtitles for the news’. A: Jorge Díaz-Cintas, Anna Matamala i Josélia Neves (eds.). New insights into audiovisual translation and media accessibility, Amsterdam: Rodopi, 175-195.
  • Romero-Fresco, Pablo (2011) Subtitling through Speech Recognition: Respeaking, Manchester: Routledge.
  • Romero-Fresco, Pablo (2012) ‘Respeaking in Translator Training Curricula. Present and Future Prospects’, The Interpreter and Translator Trainer (ITT) 6-1: 91 – 112.
  • Romero-Fresco, Pablo (2012b) ‘Quality in live subtitling: the reception of respoken subtitles in the UK’. A: Aline Remael, Pilar Orero i Mary Carroll (eds) Audiovisual translation and media accessibility at the crossroads, Amsterdam: Rodopi, 111-133.
  • Romero-Fresco, Pablo (2015) ‘Final Thoughts: Viewing Speed’. A: Pablo Romero-Fresco (ed.) The Reception of Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Berlin: Peter Lang, 335-343.
  • Romero-Fresco, Pablo i Juan Martínez (2015) ‘Accuracy Rate in Live Subtitling: The NER model’. A: Javier Díaz Cintas i Rocío Baños (eds) Audiovisual Translation in a Global Context: Mapping an Ever-changing Landscape, Palgrave Macmillan, 28-50.
  • Romero-Fresco, Pablo i Carlo Eugeni (2020). Live subtitling through respeaking. A: Łukasz Bogucki i Mikołaj Deckert (Eds.), Handbook of Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility, Palgrave.


Software

  • Subtitle Edit
  • Dragon Naturally Speaking


Course groups and languages

The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE

Type of teaching Group Language Semester Shift
(PAULm) Classroom practices (master) 1 Catalan/Spanish second semester afternoon