The European AUDETEL project-enhancing television for visually impaired people

AUDETEL aims to help visually impaired people to gain more enjoyment and information from television by conveying to them a spoken commentary which describes actions, locations, facial expressions, costumes, etc that are present on the screen. This description, which is delivered in the gaps between the normal programme dialogue, will be carried within the conventional television signal and will be received by a special decoder. This paper provides an overview of the activities of the European AUDETEL project and concentrates on the achievements made during the Pilot Phase and the ambitious plans for the Service Development Phase which will lead to the operation of a pilot service during 1994