New real-time automatic subtitling system for television programs

The Orange Foundation has developed, together with the Carlos III University of Madrid and the Spanish Center for Subtitling and Self-Description, a new real-time synchronization system for video, audio and subtitles in live television programs on the IPTV network.

Within the framework of its strategic CSR plan and within the line of social integration, Orange Spain, a través de su departamento de R&D, colabora en el proyecto de investigación “Synchronized subtitling in live television. Proof of concept”, de la Carlos III University from Madrid. This program, which also has the collaboration of the Spanish Center for Subtitling and Audio Description (CESyA), investigates the options offered by DVB technology and DVB subtitling to synchronize audio and video on television and contribute through access to entertainment and television content to the normalization, integration and autonomous life of deaf people.

The result has been the creation of a proof of concept that provides automatic subtitling without human intervention in real time of television programs using ASR technology, generating subtitles from the audio of the television channels. The study focuses on generating a delayed version of the TV channel in which the video, audio and subtitles reach the user synchronously through DVB.

The proposed system, which was presented at the Telecom R&D held from September 28 to 30 in Santander, requires an audio transcription system that has a slight delay, so it is in turn necessary to delay the original DTT signal so that two key concepts converge, in an economical and simple way: automation and synchronism. As it is not legally possible in Spain to delay the broadcast of live programs, researchers have proposed the creation of an alternative channel in the broadband signal, so it is the user themselves who decides to change the channel and select the subtitled option.

The study also arrives at a key moment for the audiovisual sector, since with the new Law 7/2010, General Law of Audiovisual Communication, public television stations must comply with subtitling quotas of 90% and private television stations, 75%. So far, the programs that are broadcast on a delayed basis are the only ones that are subtitled, with the exception of news programs, so these results offer a great opportunity to contribute to the normalization and integration of people with hearing problems.

The CSR director of Orange Spain, Jesús Guijarro, points out that "greater accessibility to our communication services is one of the main axes of Orange Spain's corporate social responsibility strategy. From this perspective, and this subtitling system is an example, we act to promote access to communication for people who suffer from some type of disability or who are dependent, actively contributing to equal opportunities and the social inclusion of citizens."