Production and Evaluation of a 2D Animated Short Film for Deaf and Hearing Impaired Viewers
Keywords:
2D animation, Accessibility, Deaf and Hearing Impaired, Inclusive Design, Visual Captioning, Sign Language IntegrationAbstract
This study addresses the critical gap in accessible narrative media for Deaf and Hearing-Impaired viewers, as conventional 2D animation relies heavily on audio-including dialogue, tone, sound effects, and ambience-to convey narrative and emotional context, which standard captions often fail to communicate fully. While existing research advances captioning practices and sign language animation, most work focuses on live-action or educational content rather than integrated, narrative-driven animation. This project develops and evaluates a 2D animated short film designed with three core accessibility features: enhanced visual captions, visual sound effect cues, and sign language overlays, all integrated from pre-production through post-production. Employing a Descriptive-Developmental research design, the study follows a three-phase animation pipeline, with evaluation centered on caption readability, visual clarity, story comprehension, emotional understanding, and overall accessibility using a 5-point Likert scale and audience feedback. Findings will produce evidence-based design guidelines to support inclusive animation production, advancing SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) by ensuring equitable access to narrative media.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Maria Christine Deonoso, Pabustan, Karlyn Gabrielle, Cabardo Felix, Parica, Aubrey May, Ingal, Ashley (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
