Adaptive Subtitles: Preferences and Trade-Offs in Real-Time Media Adaption

Abstract

Subtitles can help improve the understanding of media content. People enable subtitles based on individual characteristics (e.g., language or hearing ability), viewing environment, or media context (e.g., drama, quiz show). However, some people fnd that subtitles can be distracting and that they negatively impact their viewing experience. We explore the challenges and opportunities surrounding interaction with real-time personalisation of subtitled content. To understand how people currently interact with subtitles, we frst conducted an online questionnaire with 102 participants. We used our fndings to elicit requirements for a new approach called Adaptive Subtitles that allows the viewer to alter which speakers have subtitles displayed in real-time. We evaluated our approach with 19 participants to understand the interaction trade-ofs and challenges within real-time adaptations of subtitled media. Our evaluation fndings suggest that granular controls and structured onboarding allow viewers to make informed trade-ofs when adapting media content, leading to improved viewing experiences. CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → Interaction paradigms.

“It’s Kind of Context Dependent”: Understanding Blind and Low Vision People’s Video Accessibility Preferences Across Viewing Scenarios

“…This setting could be saved universally for a user, but more ideally, should be variable across scenarios (e.g., a system should consistently provide many details for a how-to video but few details for a science fiction film if those are the detail levels a user indicates). Prior work has emphasized the importance of personalizable settings for closed captioning to direct focus and avoid distractions [16,43,53]; we recommend for video accessibility systems to also support high degrees of flexibility.…”

Graphic Novel Subtitles: Requirement Elicitation and System Implementation

“…This text is usually displayed at the bottom of the media being presented. Recent research in this area has highlighted the demand for subtitles to be presented in a different manner, with a focus on improving viewing experience for the user [17]. The presentation of subtitles within media follows best-practice guidance that ensures accessibility and familiarity across platforms [26].…”

“…Traditional subtitle display does not always suit every individual's needs [17]. A common issue associated with subtitling relates to presentation speed being too slow or too fast for different viewers which can hinder comprehension of the content [32,33].…”

“…One mainstream method of subtitle customisation is the user-controlled resizing of subtitle text and subtitle viewing area [27]. Another method is adaptive subtitling which takes an object-based approach [1] to personalisation of subtitles that creates opportunities for adaptation surrounding words (e.g., names, locations), phrases (e.g.catchphrases), characters, audio-descriptive elements, and scene composition [17].…”

Impact of Audio on Adaptive Japanese Subtitles and Captions Ruby

“…User-adaptive subtitles have been studied due to their broad user base. In such a system, Adaptive Subtitling [2] caters specifically to users of UK content. This system enables users to selectively display subtitles for certain speakers arbitrarily chosen by the user.…”