Panopto Audio Descriptions
What are audio descriptions?
Audio descriptions provide spoken narration of key visual elements, such as on-screen text, actions, and scene changes inserted during natural pauses in a video’s dialogue. They read key visual details aloud, helping viewers who are blind or have low vision follow what is happening on screen.
How do I write audio descriptions?
To learn more about how to write audio descriptions, check out the article Audio Description of Visual Information by the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative.
How do I manually add audio descriptions in Panopto?
Panopto provides step-by-step instructions for adding audio descriptions within the Editor.
How do I delete or edit audio descriptions?
See How to Edit or Delete Audio Descriptions in Panopto.
When and how do audio descriptions play within a Panopto video?
When Audio Descriptions Play
- At assigned timestamps: Audio descriptions will play at the exact timestamp set by the video editor.
- Video pauses and resumes: Panopto automatically pauses the video at the timestamp, reads the narration aloud, and automatically resumes playback once the description finishes.
How Audio Descriptions Play
- Toggle the [AD] button on: Audio descriptions are muted by default. Viewers activate them by selecting the AD button in the lower-right corner of the player controls. The icon turns green when enabled.
- Text-to-Speech delivery: Panopto reads the entered text aloud using text-to-speech synthesis rather than requiring a separately recorded voiceover track.
- AD Side Panel: Viewers can also follow along with the written text under the Audio Descriptions tab in the player’s left-hand panel. Selecting any description from this list jumps the video directly to that timestamp.