Audio description, closed captions and sign language are often grouped together as 'accessibility', but they're not interchangeable. Each serves a different audience and a different sense. Understanding the difference is the first step to making a film genuinely open.
Audio description (AD)
AD narrates the visuals for blind and low-vision audiences — the action, the setting and the details that carry meaning — in the gaps between dialogue. It's about hearing what's on screen.
Closed captions (CC)
CC turns the soundtrack into text for Deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences: dialogue, speaker cues and meaningful sounds. It's about reading what's heard. (Captions differ from subtitles, which usually translate dialogue only and assume you can hear.)
Sign language (SL)
SL provides a fluent, signed interpretation as video — the most natural access for many Deaf people who sign, carrying tone and emotion in their own language.
Why all three matter
- A blind film-goer needs description, not captions
- A Deaf film-goer who reads may prefer captions
- A Deaf film-goer who signs may prefer an interpreter
- Offer only one track and you open the door only part-way
Carrying all three — from the same app, synced to the same screening — is what lets a single showtime welcome every audience. It's also why producers increasingly commission all three when they make a film accessible.