\n<\/p>\n
I<\/span>s artificial intelligence going to destroy the SDH [subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing] industry? It\u2019s a valid question because, while SDH is the default subtitle format on most platforms, the humans behind it \u2013 as with all creative industries \u2013 are being increasingly devalued in the age of AI. \u201cSDH is an art, and people in the industry have no idea. They think it\u2019s just a transcription,\u201d says Max Deryagin, chair of Subtle, a non-profit association of freelance subtitlers and translators.<\/p>\n The thinking is that AI should simplify the process of creating subtitles, but that is way off the mark, says Subtle committee member Meredith Cannella. \u201cThere\u2019s an assumption that we now have to do less work because of AI tools. But I\u2019ve been doing this now for about 14-15 years, and there hasn\u2019t been much of a difference in how long it takes me to complete projects over the last five or six years.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAuto transcription is the only place where I have seen some positive advancements,\u201d Cannella adds, \u201cbut even then that doesn\u2019t affect the total amount of time that it takes to produce an SDH file.\u201d So many corrections are needed that there\u2019s no net benefit compared to using older software.<\/p>\n <\/span>\u2018You can\u2019t overwhelm the viewer\u2019 \u2026 an open caption screening of Barbie for an audience of deaf and hard of hearing people in Westwood, California, in 2023.<\/span> Photograph: Allen J Schaben\/Los Angeles Times\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Moreover the quality of AI-generated SDH is so poor that much work is needed to bring them up to standard \u2013 but because human subtitlers are often assigned tasks as \u201cquality control\u201d, payment is minimal. Subtle notes that many of its members are now unable to make a living wage.<\/p>\n \u201cSDH rates are not great to start with, but now they\u2019re so low that it\u2019s not even worth taking the work,\u201d says Rachel Jones, audiovisual translator and member of the Subtle committee. \u201cIt really undermines the role that we play.\u201d<\/p>\n And it\u2019s a vital role. Teri Devine, associate director of inclusion at the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, says: \u201cFor people who are deaf or have hearing loss, subtitles are an essential service \u2013 allowing them to enjoy film and TV with loved ones and stay connected to popular culture.\u201d<\/p>\n The same sound can mean a million different things. As humans, we interpret how it\u2019s supposed to feel<\/p>\n The deaf and hard-of-hearing community is not monolithic, which means subtitlers are juggling a variety of needs in SDH creation. Jones says: \u201cSome people might say that having the name of a song subtitled is completely useless, because it tells them nothing. But others might have a memory of how the song went, and they\u2019ll be able to connect to it through the song\u2019s title. Some people think that emotional cues get in the way and tell them how to feel rather than being objective. Others want them.\u201d<\/p>\n Subtitling involves much creative and emotionally driven decision-making, two things that AI does not currently have the capacity for. When Jones first watches a show, she writes down how the sounds make her feel, then works out how to transfer her reactions into words. Next, she determines which sounds need to be subtitled and which are excessive. \u201cYou can\u2019t overwhelm the viewer,\u201d she says. It is a delicate balance. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to describe something that would be clear to the audience,\u201d Cannella says, \u201cand sometimes, what\u2019s going on on the screen is much more important than the audio. The gentle music might not matter!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>\u2018An algorithm can\u2019t get anywhere near the level of professional work.\u2019<\/span> Photograph: Milan Surkala\/Alamy<\/p>\n AI is unable to decide which sounds are important. \u201cRight now, it\u2019s not even close,\u201d Deryagin says. He also stresses the importance of the broader context of a film, rather than looking at isolated images or scenes. In Blow Out (1981), for example, a mysterious sound is heard. Later, that sound is heard again \u2013 and, for hearing viewers, reveals a major plot point. \u201cSDH must instantly connect those two things, but also not say too much in the first instance, because viewers have to wonder what\u2019s going on,\u201d he says. \u201cThe same sound can mean a million different things. As humans, we interpret what it means and how it\u2019s supposed to feel.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t just give an algorithm a soundtrack and say, \u2018here are the sounds, figure it out\u2019. Even if you give it metadata, it can\u2019t get anywhere near the level of professional work. I\u2019ve done my experiments!\u201d<\/p>\n Netflix shared a glimpse of its SDH processes after subtitles from Stranger Things, such as \u201c[Eleven pants]\u201d or \u201c[Tentacles squelching wetly]\u201d went viral, via an interview with its subtitlers. The company declined to comment further on its use of AI in its subtitling. The BBC told the Guardian: \u201cThere is no use of AI for subtitles on TV,\u201d though much of its work is outsourced to Red Bee Media, which last year published a statement on its use of AI in SDH creation for Australian broadcaster Network 10.<\/p>\n Jones says that linguists and subtitlers are not necessarily against AI \u2013 but at the moment, it\u2019s making practitioners\u2019 lives harder rather than easier. \u201cIn every industry, AI is being used to replace all the creative things that bring us joy instead of the boring, tedious tasks we hate doing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Is artificial intelligence going to destroy the SDH [subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing] industry? It\u2019s a valid question because, while SDH is the default subtitle format on most platforms, the humans behind it \u2013 as with all creative industries \u2013 are being increasingly devalued in the age of AI. \u201cSDH is an<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[761,1394,14306,14308,9309,1162,14307,5114],"class_list":{"0":"post-23452","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-human","9":"tag-movies","10":"tag-squelching","11":"tag-subtitle","12":"tag-tentacles","13":"tag-threat","14":"tag-wetly","15":"tag-writers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}