Audio Description Services

Reach audiences who are blind or hearing-impaired

Accessibility is the process of ensuring that people with disabilities or impairments can consume and enjoy digital content. Making your media accessible, means those with hearing impairment or vision loss can enjoy your video content, which in turn enables you to connect with a wider audience.

According to the World Health Organization, 15%, or 1 Billion, of the global population lives with a disability. Because of this, many governments and large corporations have accessibility requirements that their video content must meet prior to publication.

Viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing will benefit from Matinée Multilingual’s Subtitling and Sign Language services. Those with visual imparement can access your content using our Audio Description Services.

Accessibility isn’t just about making your content inclusive for those with disabilities. Accessibility also includes the process of translating your video content for foreign language speakers, or adding captions to enable viewers to enjoy content in a busy or noisy environments.

For explainers, social media ads, e-learning, or any other type of video content, you can make your content inclusive with our expert help.

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AUDIO DESCRIPTION

SUBTITLING

CLOSED CAPTIONS

SIGN LANGUAGE

Audio Description

In the UK, more than 2 million people are living with sight loss. With Matinée Multilingual’s Audio Description service, you can make sure that your video content doesn’t exclude this demographic. Audio Description (AD) is an extra audio track used to make visual media more accessible for blind or partially sighted viewers. In the natural gaps between dialogue, the AD track explains what’s happening on screen, such as who is arriving or leaving, what the characters look like, and their facial expressions.

Audio Description transforms the experience of visual media for people with sight loss, and the track can be turned on and off, so it doesn’t impact other viewers.

From our database of talented voice artists, we can help you select the perfect voice to narrate your Audio Description track. We will then record and produce the audio, which will ensure that viewers can understand what’s happening on the screen.

Subtitling

Subtitles provide a text alternative for the dialogue of video footage, including the spoken words of characters, narrators, and other vocal participants. Subtitles are typically used for translating video footage for audiences of another language.

By adding subtitles to your video, you will be making your content ccessible to viewers all over the world, allowing them to understand and enjoy the content, even if they don’t understand the original voice track.

With a choice of over 80 languages, we can enhance your video with our subtitling services. This includes transcription creation of the subtitles files for delivery in the format of your choice. We can also burn in the subtitles and deliver the completed video file when required.

Closed Captions

Closed Captions are similar to Subtitles, and offer a full description of the audio in text form. Where Subtitles only present a written version of the dialogue, Closed Captions not only add the dialogue, but also relevant audio cues, such as background noises and phones ringing.

For viewers with hearing loss, Closed Captions are essential, as they offer a text alternative for every noise that’s important in understanding the context of a video. Essentially, anyone should be able to watch with the sound turned off and still get the full experience of what’s happening on screen.

There are over 11 million people in the UK who are deaf or hard of hearing, and Closed Captions enable them to get the most out of your video content. We offer a professional and affordable Captioning service to help you connect with this audience.

British Sign Language

There are approximately 72 million deaf people worldwide, using more than 300 different sign languages. The preferred language used among the deaf community in the UK is British Sign Language (BSL), in which people used hand gestures, facial expressions, and head movements to communicate.

BSL is essential for interpreting speech for the deaf, and in-vision signing is frequently used on many British TV channels, including the BBC News. With one in six people living with hearing loss, you can make sure your content is inclusive and ready to be enjoyed by all, adding an on-screen signer to communicate the spoken word.

We can transcribe your video, film the signer relaying your message in British Sign Language, and lay this back over the original video to produce a piece of BSL version that viewers who are hard of hearing can enjoy.

Case Study

Audio Description (AD) – GuideDogs fundraising DVD

Matinée were asked to assist in the production of an awareness DVD, aimed at raising funds for the UK based charity, GuideDogs.
Our client advised that Wales is their best fundraising region within the UK, so they were looking for a native Welsh-speaking voice artist to record the voiceover for the Welsh version of their DVD.

We provided our client with a selection of Welsh demos sourced from our database, which they listened to and reviewed. Once our client had made their voice selection, we then organised for the recording sessions to take place. Our in-house engineers edited the audio files to fit alongside the video, which can be viewed on this page.

In addition to the voiceover in Welsh, the DVD also includes an audio description track. This was created in collaboration with our Welsh language experts, in order to ensure that there is a version readily available for those who are blind.

Testimonials

Matinée Multilingual

4.9

Based on 80 reviews

review us on

Tom Hart

17:10 12 Jan 26

I used Matinée Multilingual for an important and time sensitive project that was needed for a new business launch.

The team were great at keeping us updated on the progress and everything was delivered on time.

Would definitely recommend!

Lilli Murphy

11:49 09 Jan 26

Great experience with Matinee, really quick responses and accurate QC-ing. Will be in touch for our next project!

Riccardo Piccinini

11:18 30 Oct 25

Super positive experience working with the team! very professional yet approachable and friendly. We will work with them again in the future for sure! 100% recommended

Tracy Nampala

14:19 12 Sep 25

We had the pleasure of recording with Matinée linking up from London for an animation project. Everything went brilliantly with our voice actor in the studio, whilst we connected from London. I highly recommend the engineers and professional expertise of Matinée. Great technical session with smooth communication. We hope to work with the studio in the near future.

LEXXIKA Translations

15:35 28 May 25

We’ve had a great experience working with Matinée Multilingual on both AI and human voice projects. The team are super responsive, explain everything clearly, and deliver quality on time. Thank you Callum and team!

Jon Essex

07:16 02 May 25

Matinée Multilingual recently wrapped up a voice-over recording project in nine languages for a health and safety film intended for engineering sites worldwide. Their service was outstanding, collaborating with us every step of the way to ensure a successful, timely completion within our budget. They kept us well-informed throughout the process and delivered finished audio files promptly in our requested format and numbering. Matinée Multilingual is our trusted partner for foreign language translations and voice-over recordings.

Thanks,
Jon Essex
Managing Director
Squareye Television Limited

Frankie Price

09:44 16 Jan 25

We (Westhill Communications) recently worked with Matinee Multilingual on a Portuguese voiceover recording for an animation, and the experience was nothing short of amazing. They came recommended by a colleague, and it’s easy to see why. Even with our modest budget, they went above and beyond to deliver a result that blew us away.
Kayleigh, who managed our project, was an absolute star. She was so friendly and professional, always keeping us in the loop without overwhelming us with too much information. We got regular updates, a great selection of voiceover artists to choose from, and all the key details we needed, it was just the right balance of communication.
The whole process was smooth, easy, and completely stress-free. Honestly, we couldn’t have asked for better service. If you need translations, editing, or voiceover recordings, we’d recommend Matinee in a heartbeat. Huge thanks to Kayleigh and the team for doing such a brilliant job!

Willie McDowell

09:51 09 Jan 25

Really accommodating team. Super professional and very flexible with a scheduling change. 10/10 service and recording

Tamsyn Seimon

10:59 11 Sep 24

Matinée Multilingual has done an outstanding job sourcing voice talent and recording voiceovers for 20 language versions of an animated health education video. I’ve particularly appreciated their persistence in identifying voice actors for some less common languages (Rohingya, Karen, Khmer) that they originally thought they would not be able to deliver. They have been responsive, flexible, patient throughout a long process. And most importantly, Matinée has consistently provided top quality voice recordings. I would not hesitate to work with Matinée again on future projects.

Greg Flynn

08:30 15 Aug 24

Matinée have excellent communication from initial enquiry to project close. They delivered on time after we had changed our requirements and the quality of the narrations we asked for was exceptional in both English and Cymraeg. If we have future audio recording needs we would ask for their services again.

Lucy Hamill

10:39 10 Jun 24

Worked with Matinee Multilingual for the first time recently and will definitely be using them for any of our translation and VO needs in the future. Callum and Ulrike were incredibly helpful and delivered exactly what we needed with a super fast turnaround! A friendly team with quick & great quality service!!

Merkez Production

10:29 11 Jan 24

Daniel Gwynne

17:30 23 Oct 23

We’ve been using Matinee Multilingual for a long time now for our International VO services. Prompt, professional and high quality, well sourced voices. Always when we need it.

Karis Jones-Hogg

11:07 17 Oct 23

Matinee always provides an excellent service and is our go-to company for all our subtitling and translation needs. The team are friendly, efficient and deliver on time. We have never been let down.

Simon Powers

12:36 18 Jul 23

Excellent service and very helpful throughout. Great end result for our project.

Audio Description Services – how can we help?

Two Recording Studios in Reading

Your Dedicated Project Manager

ten fun factoids for Accessibility

Happy voice-over artist at recording studio

State of the art recording studios with BBC quality acoustics

You will find our voice recordings sound clearer and crisper than they would from other studios. This is because both our studios have been acoustically designed to a very high specification.

Our engineers work with the latest Pro-Tools technology to speed up the recording process and minimise the need for re-takes. This saves valuable time during the recording process and reduces the overall costs of the session. We can record your session either ‘wild’ or lip-sync or phrase-sync to picture.

When you need to find just the right voice for your script, Matinée will have one to fit the bill. We can tap into a network of professional voice artists, with a range of fees to suit your budget. Whether your programme requires a documentary-style read, character voicing, an impressionist or a celebrity, Matinée will help you find the voice you need.

No matter the project, please make contact to discuss your specific requirement, and we’ll give you a quote for the job straight away. Tel: +44 (0)1189584934, email: project@matinee.co.uk or use the Quick Quote form opposite.

Complex project ? Call Us

Your dedicated Project Manager has everything covered

One of our dedicated and experienced Project Managers will work with you to guide you through each step in the delivery of your project. They will review your source materials at the outset, to ensure we have everything that’s needed to provide a well-planned solution. And if your project requires voicing, they will use their knowledge of our reliable voice artists to make sure you get the very best voice at an acceptable price.

Throughout the project, they will schedule the studio time, track the progress through production and pay attention to the details of your project to ensure your media is delivered in budget and on time.

We have some fabulous reviews which bear testimony to our friendly and professional voiceover and subtitling services.

Complex project ? Call Us

woman laughing at voice-over and subtitling factoids

Everything you never needed to know about Accessibility

Over 5% of the world’s population has a hearing loss disability and 3.5% of the population live with impaired vision.

Online video makes up 82% of all consumer internet traffic and 49% of people watch five videos a day.

20% of disabled people have cancelled a streaming service subscription because of problems with accessibility issues.

The most common accessibility issue is that there are no captions on videos.

41% f videos can’t be understood by those with a sight or hearing impairment because of lack of captions or sound.

In the States streaming channels Netflix and Hulu have been sued because they didn’t provide audio descriptions.

Now Netflix has over 500 titles with audio descriptions.

When Facebook added captions their view time increased by 7.3%

YouTube captions increased their views by 7.3%

80% more people will likely watch an entire video when captions are available.

Complex project ? Call Us

Case Study

Audio Description and subtitling for documentary ‘The Rochdale Pioneers’

The Rochdale Pioneers is a true story of hope, determination and principles. Commissioned by the Co-operative British Youth Film Academy (BYFA), it tells the inspiring story of how a group of locals realised the power they had in working together.

It was important to the BYFA to make this important documentary accessible to as many people as possible. Matinée worked with the director – John Montegrande to provide Audio Description and subtitling services for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Matinée selected an experienced audio describer to write the script and cast the voice of Helen to provide the narration.

Learn more about the documentary and order the DVD on the film website: http://www.therochdalepioneers.co.uk