Accessible subtitles are an intralingual form of subtitling that is primarily created for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers. Accessible subtitles are also known by the abbreviation SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing) or as barrier-free. Though SDH subtitles have a lot in common with foreign-language subtitles, they have some specific features.
SDH subtitlers translate the audio portion of a movie – words, sounds and music – into written words. SDH subtitles are designed to provide deaf and hard of hearing audiences with the same level of understanding as hearing audiences.
Accessible subtitles are sometimes also used by people who are not hard of hearing but do not understand a dialect or the film's original language.
Accessible subtitles are available in all media: in cinemas (on smartphones with special apps, data glasses, film files with open SDH), on television (teletext or digital), on DVD, on streaming services, and on other film material posted on the internet. However, Germany is still a long way from providing all films with SDH.
The target audience for SDH is heterogeneous, meaning that subtitling can often only represent a compromise. It comprises people who are
The expectations, needs, and usage conditions of these groups are different from those of hearing viewers. This means accessible subtitling is required to have special features.
The typical parameters for foreign-language subtitles – such as reading speed, reading rhythm, text reduction, text division, editing, and much more – also play an important role in the accessibly titled version. However, these parameters may be prioritized slightly differently, since people who are hard of hearing have no or limited acoustic access to the original sound of a film. Factors such as the provision of sufficient reading time are thus more important with SDH subtitling than with strictly synchronous timing.
Users of accessible subtitles must have access to all important acoustic information in the film. This applies to relevant sounds and music as well as to information about how people speak. In addition, the target audience must always be able to attribute what is said to the respective speaker. To summarize, in addition to titles that reflect spoken words, the SDH version includes so-called metatext subtitles. These include:
In principle, SDH subtitles are created in the same way as original sound subtitles – with the help of special subtitling software for digital film files. Sometimes script or dialogue books or transcripts are provided. The work requires general subtitling and SDH-specific expertise.
