Audio Descriptive Content Literally Filling The Lasting Images For Sports and Visually Impaired…

A few years ago at the Sloan MIT Sports Conference I was walking the outer hallway and listening to the pitches of those starting businesses and culling ideas in search of an “aha” moment. One that jumped out was actually part of a business storyline that we covered on our podcast a few weeks ago, about the use of AI to help those with low vision. The company was Onecourt.io. The brainchild of several students at The University of Washington, the company takes live video and translates movement into a tactile experience that those with vision impairment can actually feel as the ball or the puck moves up and down the field of play. Marrying the touchable video to sound completes the experience as well. While the audience, the vision impaired, may thought to be a small subset, its inclusive technology opens the pathway for fandom that was missed by teams, who can bring technology partners in to also augment both cost and experience. The boards literally but the game in the hands of those who were left out, and takes immersive experience to a new level as their partnerships with teams like the Portland Trailblazers and others grow.

Then this summer we were talking with some colleagues and learned about another step forward in helping the visually impaired literally see baseball through the description on a broadcast well beyond the traditional call. It is called Audio Descriptive Content, and while it is done more extensively in Europe, MLB tested it with announcer Jamie Watson at the Field of Dream game this summer. It literally is the last mile in audio for a game, telling for almost every nuance of the ball, the bat, the field, the players between the calls that we are used to, even more in depth than captioning. Jamie came on with us the discuss how she learned the technique and implemented it for MLB and Netflix this summer. You can hear the whole discussion here, where she breaks down what audio descriptive commentary actually is, how she trained with FIFA’s accessibility partner in Washington DC to call six matches at the Club World Cup for blind and low vision fans, and how she later applied those skills to Netflix’s Field of Dreams game as an overlay commentator.

I thought about this latest advancement in drawing in an audience of low vision for live events, after reading a piece on MLB.com this week about all the work the league is putting in to make it easier for people with disabilities to enjoy the in game and broadcast experience.

As we think about new horizons for content, inventory to bring to partners and blue ocean for technology, the sounds of the game may be one of the more unique places literally sitting there in every broadcast. Let’s see where the tech goes next.