The HBB4ALL project, coordinated by the UAB, makes audiovisual media services more accessible

The UAB presented to the delegates of the European Commission the results of the HBB4ALL project, conducted with the aim of making audiovisual contents accessible at European level and in a hybrid distribution and reception environment.

20/02/2017

The HBB4ALL project, coordinated by the research group Transmedia Catalonia and led by Translation and Interpreting lecturer Pilar Orero, has made it possible to improve accessibility to audiovisual means for all European citizens, but especially for those with specific needs, by taking advantage of new technologies and covering the demands of hybrid or connected TV - broadcast and broadband.

In this sense, the development of solutions based on the standard HbbTV (Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV) have helped to foster personalised services, in which users can adapt them to their needs, capacities or preferences, by using subtitles, audio-descriptions or sign language.

The role of the UAB included surveying over 1,400 people using a user-centred research methodology. It also worked on the development of a course on Accessible and Multilingual MOOC, which can be followed with a PC, tablet and smartphone.

The final evaluation on behalf of the European Commission delegates was highly positive, with emphasis put on the excellent project results as well as the impact caused in the field of audiovisual accessibility at European level, where the project has become an inspiration. During the evaluation process, the representatives encouraged the consortium to continue to promote accessibility among European broadcasters and transmit the message that "accessibility is perfectly compatible with a tight budget".

CCMA Challenges Met
One of the project partners, the Catalan Media Corporation (Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals, CCMA), took advantage of the project to work on significant improvements in the accessibility services offered on all the platforms in which it publishes contents.

In this past year, the CCMA has begun to offer personalised subtitling, audio-description and original versions for its TV3alacarta online services and smart TVs with HbbTV standard. Others objectives reached within the project were the generation of automatic multilingual subtitling, the improvement of adaptable access interfaces and the development of new production processes of cross-platform accessibility.

The HBB4ALL project has been co-funded by the European Community through the CIP ICT PSP programme and is an initiative of a consortium of twelve European partners, among which two academic institutions (UAB and UPM), CCMA and other broadcasters (RBB, RTB and Swiss TXT), research institutes (IRT and Vicomtech) and experts in media accessibility (VSonix, Screen Subtitling Systems, People's Playground and Holken Consultors & Partners).