Audio description narrates the action that unfolds on screen during the quiet gaps between dialogue. It tells a blind or low vision viewer what they cannot see without talking over the parts they can already hear. Treat it as the visual half of your story, spoken aloud.
Different platforms treat it differently. Some offer a separate track a viewer can switch on, while others expect the description to live inside the main mix. Know which one your audience meets before you plan the recording.
The craft sits in timing. Description has to land in the pauses, so you either write shorter lines to fit the gaps or leave a beat open where a line is worth adding. Trying to speak through dialogue ruins the very audio the viewer came for.
Listen to the raw track with your eyes closed first. The spots where you feel lost are exactly the spots that need a sentence, and the spots where you feel oriented can stay untouched.
The best audio description is invisible. It fills the silence so well the viewer forgets it was added.
Any video that leans on visuals to make its point benefits from a described version. Tutorials and guided tours with silent action lose most of their meaning without one. Talking head clips with constant speech need less, because the audio already carries the content.
Start with the videos that new viewers meet first, since those earn the most from the upgrade. A described version of your most watched clip reaches more people than a batch of obscure ones.
Consider offering it as a separate upload if the main track cannot be changed. A clearly labeled alternative gives viewers a choice and keeps your original edit intact.
You do not need to describe everything. Focus on what changes the story, like who enters and what they do. A viewer who knows the shape of the scene will fill in the rest from context and sound.
Read the description back in a monotone and trim anything that only repeats what a character already said. Every cut word gives more room for the silence to breathe.
Captions help deaf viewers, but they also rescue anyone on a silent phone or in a loud room. Here is why adding them grows your entire audience.
Accurate captions take more than a machine pass. Learn to fix names and timing so your text reads like a person wrote it, not like a machine guess.
On screen text fails when it is small, low contrast, or on screen too briefly. Fix size, weight, and timing so every viewer can read it at a glance.
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