Described Video is still a relatively new service in Canada but has been available in the United States since the early 1990’s. The CRTC recommended broadcasters include Described Video in their Canadian programming. This service gives the visually impaired and blind community accessibility to the world of visual entertainment, via television, movies, film. It is to the visually impaired what closed captioning is to the deaf, an opportunity to enjoy vivid, quality entertainment.

More than 1.5 million visually impaired and blind Canadians and 15 million Americans now have the ability to enjoy television programs.

Described Video Information (DVI) is an assistance technology located on the secondary audio track. A narrator provides vocal description of the visual action imparted by an actor's body language, unspoken acting, scene changes and other visual aspects within the natural pauses in the dialogue. The voice over narrator does not compete or “walk over” the program dialogue or sound effects, nor does it offer any subjective assumptions, rather it describes what a sighted person would see. A full mix consisting of the main program audio combined with the narrated descriptions is then accessible through most TV’s and VCR’s on the Secondary Audio Program (SAP).

To access the described audio track, the viewer sets up their television to play back the secondary audio track (SAP), as directed by the manufacturer through the audio “set up menu”.