Audio description means that important visual information is also made available through descriptive audio.

  • Videos published or updated after February 1, 2024 must have audio description.
  • Videos published or updated after February 1, 2022, and older videos that are in active use, should generally be captioned.

It usually takes very little to meet these requirements. And as the saying goes: Universal design is necessary for some, but good for everyone!
Guide to how to prioritize captioning and audio description of video in higher education (Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills)
All current regulations and requirements can be found at uutilsynet.no

What tools you need, and how to do the job

Suggestions for accessible and free software for recording a voice track for the video:

Additional audio editing (if desired):

Microphone:

  • You can get reasonably far with a laptop or mobile phone microphone, but a USB microphone, for example, gives much better sound quality.
  • Make sure to record the audio in a suitable room without too much disruptive background noise or excessive reverb.
  • The audio level of the speech should be between –12 and –6 dB.
  • You can also use the recording studio at MCB.

How to create subtitles

Programs and tips for captioning:
It’s possible to upload text files (subtitle files, of the ‘.srt’ type) in Vimeo and YouTube. The content can be edited to some extent afterward in the player’s admin tool,

Where and how to upload videos

Currently, only Vimeo supports uploading a separate audio track, which the viewer can choose to turn on or off.
YouTube has not yet rolled out the ability for everyone to upload an extra audio track.

A video example

Here is an example of a video with an optional audio track with audio description as well as subtitles (there is both “burned-in” and optional subtitles).