Skip to main content

Netflix adds descriptive audio tracks for visually impaired, starting with Daredevil

Thanks to an agreement made with the National Association for the Deaf (NAD) back in 2012 (which was brought about by a lawsuit), the hearing impaired have access to subtitles across Netflix’s catalog of content. However, the visually impaired haven’t received the same attention from the streaming service. While descriptive audio tracks are increasingly common in movie theaters and on Blu-ray discs, they have remained absent from Netflix content — until now. In a recent announcement, Netflix says it will be adding audio descriptions to select titles, and Marvel’s new Daredevil series is the first to get it.

Now, visually impaired subscribers can enjoy the original series with a narration track that describes everything happening on screen, from physical actions, to facial expressions, costumes, settings, and scene changes. Anyone knows that especially with superhero flicks, the visuals are a large part of the experience. So this is a major move, not to mention a great first choice that will really put the option to the test.

Recommended Videos

The narration track will be available under Netflix’s language options menu. More titles will get audio tracks for the visually impaired over the coming weeks. And, not surprisingly, they’re all Netflix original series, including the current and previous seasons of House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Marco Polo.

Related: Netflix/Marvel’s Daredevil changes the game for superhero stories on TV

Tracy Wright, Director of Content Operations at Netflix, says the over-the-top streaming video service is “actively committed to increasing the number of audio-visual translations for movies and shows in our English-language catalogues. We are also exploring adding audio description into other languages in the future.” She also hinted at working with studios and other content owners to offer audio descriptions for other select shows and movies as well, across a range of devices.

Data cited by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) estimates that in 2012, there were more than 6.6 million American adults with a visual disability. The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) notes a 2012 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Preliminary Report that found nearly 10% of all adult Americans reported either having trouble seeing (even with glasses or contacts) or were completely blind.

This is all great news for the visually impaired who want to be able to enjoy Netflix content to its fullest. And it provides an incentive for households with visually impaired members to sign on – most content on Netflix is also available through a variety of alternative services, except for the original series.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Christine Persaud
Christine has decades of experience in trade and consumer journalism. While she started her career writing exclusively about…
Top Gun: Maverick director will bring Miami Vice back to the big screen
Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas in Miami Vice.

Miami Vice, the iconic neo-noir cop drama of the '80s, is heading back to the big screen. Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski has signed on to helm Miami Vice from a script by Eric Warren Singer, which is being rewritten by Andor scribe Dan Gilroy.

According to Deadline, Kosinski may not get around to Miami Vice right away. He still has to direct an untitled UFO project at Apple Studios for producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Kosinski's next movie, F1, will be released this summer by Warner Bros. Pictures and Apple Studios.

Read more
Adrianne Palicki had talks with Marvel about playing Mockingbird in the MCU
Adrianne Palicki as Mockingbird in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..

Just over a decade ago, actress Adrianne Palicki joined the cast of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 2 as Agent Bobbi Morse aka Mockingbird. In Marvel's comic book universe, Mockingbird was also an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. before marrying Hawkeye and joining the Avengers. Palicki's version of the character never had the chance to go in that direction, but the actress recently revealed that she was in talks with Marvel years ago about playing Mockingbird in the MCU movies.

"The conversation I had when I signed on actually to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was either I was going to be participating in the films or have a spinoff," said Palicki during a recent interview with The Direct. Palicki became a series regular through the end of the second season and into the third. Nick Blood was also introduced in the show as Bobbi's ex-husband, Lance Hunter. Blood and Palicki were written out of the series in season 3 to film a spinoff, Marvel's Most Wanted. However, ABC ultimately declined to go forward with the show.

Read more
Dwayne Johnson stuns in Smashing Machine footage. Is this his Oscars moment?
Dwayne Johnson sits at a table in The Smashing Machine.

Dwayne Johnson has electrified audiences for three decades as The Rock in the WWE. Drawing from that experience in professional wrestling, Johnson will play former MMA fighter Mark Kerr in the A24 biopic The Smashing Machine.

"Winning is the best feeling in the world," Johnson's Kerr says in the official trailer. "It's 40,000 people in there cheering you on. There's no other high like it in the world."

Read more