Subtitling for the deaf and the hard of hearing in Spaina study on media accessibility, accessibility studies and the standard une 153010:2012

Resumen

This study examines the opinions of the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing and hearers of Spain with regards to the subtitling services currently offered by the Spanish Digital Television, with the aim of integrating them in a list of guidelines that could become part of the Standard UNE 153010:2012 in the future. This three-phase research focuses on Subtitling for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SDH), Media Accessibility (MA), Accessibility Studies (AS) and Accessible filmmaking (AFM). It includes two surveys distributed in Spain and one comparative analysis of the subtitling services provided by Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and HBO in three well-known TV series. In the interest of writing a list of guidelines for translators to use in the creation of future Inclusive Subtitles in Spain, a review of the Standard 2012 was also conducted. The results indicate that the (selected) Spanish Audience wishes to customize some features of the subtitles offered by the Spanish Digital Television, like the font size, the colour and the speed, in order to improve their access to enjoyment, which is a new concept developed in this study. Additionally, the data show that the (selected) Spanish Audience wishes to have daily access to two new pages that could be provided on Teletext, called ‘Vocabulary page’ and ‘Plot page’. On the ‘Vocabulary page’ the audience could consult the meaning of all the words and metaphors used in each program, while the ‘Plot page’ could offer a summary of the plot of each program transmitted by the Spanish Digital Television. Finally, the data retrieved in this study highlight that some guidelines of the Standard 2012 could be updated.