Title
The quality of live subtitling on Spanish television
Conference name
Media for All 8
City
Country
Sweden
Date
18/06/2019
Abstract
Media accessibility quality is becoming an increasingly hot topic. In the case of subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing, all the parties involved, from viewers to regulators, the industry and academia, acknowledge the importance of providing good subtitles that are truly useful for hearing impaired audiences and for the many hearing viewers who also watch subtitled programmes. When it comes to pre-recorded materials, and even though there are intricacies involved, this may be regarded as relatively straightforward. However, live subtitling poses real challenges due to the difficulties at play in the production of real-time subtitles, not least issues of accuracy, latency and speed.
Building on recent research on the quality of live subtitles undertaken in collaboration with the official regulators and the main TV broadcasters in the UK and Canada, this presentation introduces the first large-scale study about live subtitling quality on Spanish TV. The pilot phase involved the analysis (using the NER model) of 400 minutes of programs belonging to four genres (sports, news, entertainment and chat shows) and aired by five broadcasters (TVE, Antena 3, Cuatro, Telecinco and La Sexta). The aim was to look at key quality indicators such as accuracy, latency, speed, completeness and placement. Preliminary findings are interestingly different to those reported in the UK, Canada or the US, and point to the impact that not only national subtitling practices but also national idiosyncrasies (speech rates, turn taking, etc.) can have on the nature of live subtitles and, ultimately, on the quality of the access provided to millions of viewers.
Building on recent research on the quality of live subtitles undertaken in collaboration with the official regulators and the main TV broadcasters in the UK and Canada, this presentation introduces the first large-scale study about live subtitling quality on Spanish TV. The pilot phase involved the analysis (using the NER model) of 400 minutes of programs belonging to four genres (sports, news, entertainment and chat shows) and aired by five broadcasters (TVE, Antena 3, Cuatro, Telecinco and La Sexta). The aim was to look at key quality indicators such as accuracy, latency, speed, completeness and placement. Preliminary findings are interestingly different to those reported in the UK, Canada or the US, and point to the impact that not only national subtitling practices but also national idiosyncrasies (speech rates, turn taking, etc.) can have on the nature of live subtitles and, ultimately, on the quality of the access provided to millions of viewers.