The Application of Thai Audio Description Guidelines: Practical Challenges

Abstract

This article analyses Thailand’s official Audio Description (AD) guidelines in order to identify practical limitations and suggest directions for improving their effectiveness. The study draws upon four sets of guidelines published between 2014 and 2018 by the Thailand Association of the Blind Research and Development Institute, Thammasat University, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), and Thai PBS. The analysis reveals two significant gaps. First, all four existing Thai AD guidelines lack clear definitions of objective and subjective audio description. While the objective form avoids interpretation, no framework exists for the subjective form, leading to debates—particularly on conveying emotions through gestures and facial expressions in entertainment programmes. Second, most guidelines prioritise visual description while giving limited attention to the role of sound in facilitating effective content access for persons with visual impairment. It is recommended that the guidelines be revised, with ongoing research on the role of different sound formats in audio description conducted within the Thai context. To date, insufficient attention has been paid to how persons with visual impairment interpret different types of sound, or to the development of AD strategies tailored to specific programme genres. Furthermore, most existing studies have focused primarily on participants in Bangkok, resulting in limited demographic diversity and narrow representation. Finally, Thailand’s AD guidelines have been strongly influenced by international models which, although valuable, do not fully reflect the country’s linguistic and cultural particularities. Revising certain criteria is thus essential to ensure that AD practices in Thailand are inclusive, contextually appropriate, and responsive to the needs of diverse audiences.