Gert Vercauteren tenure track asst. professor

Research Gert Vercauteren

Research team

Expertise

My research is situated within the field of media accessibility and focuses specifically on audio description (AD) of films and television programmes. In previous research I have examined, amongst other things, how narratological principles can be used to determine which narrative elements from the film or television programme should be prioritised in the description. This was examined both from the perspective of the narrator (how do you determine what to describe?) and from the perspective of the target audience (which elements does the audience need to understand the film or programme?). For the past few years, my research has focused more on the cognitive dimension of AD and how it is processed. I am therefore focusing on the question of what impact the speech tempo of the AD has on the cognitive effort required of the target audience, and how language (particularly word choice and style) influences the audience’s experience. For this research, I am primarily collaborating with the Antwerp Social Lab to experimentally test the impact mentioned above. In addition, I have recently been working with several colleagues from the OPEN Expertise Centre on the question of what the various dimensions and parameters are that together define an accessible experience. At the moment, each research field employs its own concepts, paradigms and methodologies, which make it difficult to compare studies and to collaborate across disciplines. By mapping out the aforementioned definitions and parameters, I hope to lay the foundations for a cross-disciplinary framework for conducting research into accessibility.

AUDIVI - AUtomatic AUdio Description In VIdeo games. 01/03/2026 - 28/02/2027

Abstract

Over the course of more than half a century and particularly since the turn of the millennium, accessibility and inclusion have been pervading all aspects of our society. This has resulted in an increasing societal awareness and a growing body of legislation requiring developers, producers and manufacturers to make their products and services accessible. With the adoption of the European Audiovisual Media Services Act (EU Directive 2018/1808) and the new European Accessibility Act (2019/882) creators of audiovisual content in European Member States will as of June 2025 be required to make their content on websites, software and apps accessible to people with sensory, cognitive or linguistic impairments. For people with sight loss, this accessibility is achieved through audio description, a service that makes audiovisual content accessible by orally describing visual elements and unclear sounds in that content. While this service has been integrated in audiovisual media such as film and television, theatre and opera for over twenty years, it is still largely unavailable in the biggest entertainment market worldwide, that of video games. This is mainly because audio description is still predominantly a manual, labour-intensive endeavour, and because these descriptions are harder to add to interactive, unpredictable gaming content than to linear audiovisual productions. With this collaborative POC project, researchers from the University of Antwerp and Howest jointly want to change this by developing a technical proof-of-concept that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to create automatic, real-time audio descriptions for video games. To this end, the team will combine the expertise in audio description for traditional, linear media from the OPEN Expertise Centre for Accessible Media and Culture from the University of Antwerp with expertise in game engines and AI from Howest. The final goal is to develop a license model to developers of serious & applied games worldwide, so that every game product developed with the Unity or Unreal game engines can use this model to increase its accessibility for various target audiences.

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  • Research Project

Performance and Immersive Technology Lab for Interdisciplinary Research in the Humanities. 01/06/2025 - 31/05/2027

Abstract

The objective of this project application is to create an experimental performance and immersive technology lab at the Faculty of Arts. It is supported by the research expertise in VR and AR technologies at different Departments of the Faculty. The project describes how the creation of a performance and immersive technology lab will have a direct impact on (ongoing and future) research projects in some of the research centres of the Faculty. It also describes how the creation of this lab will give opportunities to further develop research collaborations within the Faculty and outside the Faculty (e.g., Design sciences, Schools of Arts, Antwerp Social Lab and Maxlab). The infrastructure will be situated in a location of the building 't Brantijser which will function as well as a research lab, a lab where researchers, artists and stakeholders of the cultural field can meet, and as a classroom lab for educational contexts. Third parties will have the possibility to hire the room or the infrastructure for specific purposes. The project includes the assignment of a technical support in the first year. The Faculty administration will provide a continuation of this support. Given the fact that the cultural field is rapidly changing through VR and AI technologies (cf. audiovisual translation and media access industry, the gaming industry, AI produced art, immersive experiences in museal contexts, and mixed reality applications), the creation of an experimental performance and immersive technology lab is a necessary tool for the research potentialities at the Faculty of Arts to face the contemporary cultural and societal challenges of these new technologies.

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  • Research Project

Advancing Media Accessibility. 01/01/2025 - 31/12/2026

Abstract

In today's interconnected world, media accessibility is a vital area of research and practice aimed at ensuring that all individuals, regardless of sensory or linguistic abilities, can engage with and enjoy media content. This field addresses the needs of people with disabilities, including those who are blind, deaf, or have cognitive impairments. Its goal is to remove barriers that hinder equal access to information, entertainment, and communication. Legislation like the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the EU Accessibility Act emphasizes that accessible media is a fundamental human right, reflecting society's commitment to inclusivity in cultural, social, and civic life. To further our understanding and implementation of media accessibility, we invite researchers to participate in a postdoctoral challenge that fosters innovative exploration across various methodologies and theoretical frameworks. We welcome proposals that cover a wide range of topics within media accessibility, supporting both fundamental and applied research. Recognizing the complexity of this field, we encourage diverse methodological approaches, including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods.

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  • Research Project

OPTIMA I: Optimising the processing of Audio Description – The impact of narration speed on cognitive load in AD 01/08/2024 - 31/07/2028

Abstract

The overarching aim of the OPTIMA I project is to develop a conceptual and methodological framework that lays the foundation for systematic cognitive load research in the field of audio description (AD) for film. AD is a service that translates visual and unclear aural elements of the film into a verbal narration so that people suffering from sight loss can better understand the film. It is a well-known fact that a verbal discourse that creates a cognitive load that is too high or too low compromises understanding and may even lead to complete disengagement. So far, there has hardly been any cognitive research in the field of AD, and various fundamental questions have not been answered yet: on the one hand, we do not know yet what different features in the AD soundtrack influence cognitive load. On the other hand, we lack the necessary knowledge to conduct experimental research that can measure cognitive load in AD: we do not know yet how the features in the AD soundtrack can best be operationalized or what tools are best suited to measure cognitive load in visually impaired audiences. The OPTIMA I project wants to contribute to answering those questions with two distinct aims: 1) The project will focus on one specific parameter that is known to influence cognitive load in verbal discourse in general and in the processing of AD in specific, namely narration speed. More in particular, the project will duly conceptualise and operationalize this parameter as a starting point for experimental research that will measure its impact on cognitive load; 2) The project will develop a methodology that will allow for a reliable and accurate measurement of cognitive load in AD based on both subjective measures, such as questionnaires and objective measures, such as heart rate variability and galvanic skin response. Finally, these two aims will be combined in an experiment that tests the impact of different narration speeds on the cognitive load imposed on AD users with different degrees of visual impairment, to determine what constitutes an optimal narration speed in Dutch AD.

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  • Research Project

Accessibility in Focus: Towards a Consolidation of Accessibility Studies Across Disciplines. 01/12/2023 - 30/11/2025

Abstract

In recent decades, access and accessibility have emerged as pivotal forces reshaping a wide spectrum of human endeavours, from innovative practices through social discourse to regulatory frameworks. This transformation has propelled accessibility into the forefront of diverse research fields, catalysing a wealth of novel methodologies and conceptual frameworks that have revolutionised the foundations of these disciplines. These developments have coalesced into what Greco (2018 and 2022) identifies as Accessibility Studies—an interdisciplinary field of research dedicated to investigating accessibility processes and phenomena. Despite its promising growth, Accessibility Studies remains fragmented, with accessibility often addressed disparately within distinct academic and professional domains, including Translation Studies, Architecture, Disability Studies, Design, Information Technologies, Law, Philosophy, and others (Greco 2022). This fragmentation has resulted in a disconnected and detached landscape within the field. The objective of the present project is to lay the foundation for an EU-level consolidation of the burgeoning field of Accessibility Studies in Europe by critically mapping the current state of the art in accessibility processes and phenomena. Our project seeks to bridge the gaps and enhance cohesion by fostering a deeper understanding of accessibility within and across these diverse domains. To accomplish this, we will create an international interdisciplinary team that will collaboratively investigate accessibility from various angles in order to get a better view of its complex identity and to uncover disparities that have to be overcome to achieve a more unified and integrated perspective. This research endeavour will explore the design, implementation, and evaluation of accessibility-based and accessibility-oriented methodologies, ultimately advancing our comprehension of access and accessibility in contemporary society.

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  • Research Project

Electroencephalography system for cognitive experiments in social sciences and humanities. 01/06/2022 - 31/05/2024

Abstract

Electroencephalography (EEG) is a technique of recording electrical activity of the brain. By using electrodes placed on the scalp the researchers are able to track the activity of cortical neurons. Despite the fact that EEG It is the most widely used way of studying cognitive processes in the current century, the University of Antwerp still does not have an EEG laboratory. EEG is used so widely because of the numerous advantages that it can offer researchers. It has a high temporal resolution, which means that it captures cognitive processes in real time, as they occur. This is a great feat, since cognitive processes are fast. They occur within tens to hundreds of milliseconds and other neuroimaging techniques (such as fMRI or PET) are only able to record the processes that last longer than a second. Furthermore, EEG is inexpensive, lightweight, and portable. It allows for ecologically valid experimental designs at an affordable rate. The price of a whole EEG system can be less than 30,000 EURO, while fMRI scanners cost millions. However, the biggest advantage of using an EEG system is the ability to study the unconscious drivers of human behavior. Our researchers at the The Social Lab, Media and ICT in Organizations and Society (MIOS), Translation, Interpreting and Intercultural Studies (TricS), the Centre for Philosophical Psychology, and the Centre for Ethics are interested in investigating implicit attitudes, language comprehension, response inhibition and many other processes that are inaccessible to survey research. In this application we summarize several research projects which would greatly benefit from utilizing an EEG system at the University of Antwerp. We cite recent, world-renowned research which was made possible only thanks to EEG data collection and point out specific ways in which our scientists could use an EEG to achieve similar world-class results.

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  • Research Project

Towards an inclusive Covid-19 crisis communication policy in Belgium: the development and validation of strategies for multilingual and media accessible crisis communication 01/02/2021 - 31/03/2022

Abstract

The interdisciplinary project subsidized by Sciensano aims to develop an effective strategy for more inclusive (digital) crisis communication, which takes account of the socio-linguistic diversity of Belgium and actively battles information inequality. The focus lies on how government communication about Covid-19 information during the pandemic can be improved through bespoke (re)translations and accessible media and language tailored to linguistic minorities' needs and specific needs groups. These needs include the information's linguistic/multimodal form, the communicative channels and dissemination measures.

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  • Research Project

CoReAD - Cognitive Research in AD - Towards a model determining cognitive load in audio described audio(-visual) products. 01/07/2019 - 31/12/2020

Abstract

Inclusion and accessibility are higher on Europe's political and social agenda than ever before, and this has led broadcasters, film houses but also theatres and museums to start developing services to give people with disabilities access to their products and events. For blind and partially sighted people, audio description (AD) has been created, a service that describes visual and unclear sound elements for the visually impaired, so that they too know what is happening on screen or on stage. Within the academic discipline of translation studies, this evolution has given rise to the emergence of a new field of research, namely media accessibility. As far as audio description is concerned, research was initially focused on the question what should I to describe, and how should I describe (and present) it. One issue that has received much less attention so far is the effect that these audio descriptions have on the target audience, especially in terms of the cognitive load they induce. CoRe AD wants to lay a solid foundation for cognitive research within media accessibility/audio description. Its primary aim is to investigate which (auditory) features in an audio described film or television programme contribute to the cognitive load imposed on the target audience. In a second phase, the project aims to create a model that researchers and audio describers can use to analyze what cognitive load specific audio descriptions induce and that hands them a tool to reduce/optimize that cognitive load. Finally, the usefulness of the model will be tested in a small-scale pilot study.

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  • Research Project