While the lights on the Eurovision 2025 stage are about to enlighten the thousands of Eurofans in the St. Jakobshalle, host broadcaster SRG SSR is doing the utmost to ensure that the contest has the largest possible inclusion. SRG has presented its strategy to include people with hearing or visual impairments to fully enjoy the three televised shows in Switzerland thanks to sign language, subtitling and audio description.
Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR has worked with SWISS TXT to make sure that everyone can enjoy this year’s contest. Both semi-finals and the grand final will for instance be offered live in sign language. Sign language interpreters will translate the presentation of the different countries and the accompanying commentary live into Swiss German Sign Language (DSGS), French Sign Language (LSF) and Italian Sign Language (LIS). The 37 songs will be pre-produced by deaf native speakers and translated into international sign language – a first for the interpreters. Sign language interpreter and coach Barbara Rossier explains:
“Music is not just sound, but also emotion, rhythm and atmosphere. The challenge lies in making all of this visually tangible – through body language, facial expressions, iconic gestures and creative metaphors […]. My team and I held a workshop to work out how we can transform music into visual poetry that an international, deaf audience can not only understand, but also feel. We are delighted to be able to expand our expertise in this area in the long term thanks to our cooperation with the ‘Denk an mich’ foundation.”
A total of 16 sign language interpreters will be working for SRG during the event.
Subtitles and live audio description also present
Sign language will not be the only tool used to enlarge accessibility. German, French and Italian subtitles can be displayed on television via teletext and HbbTV. The songs will be subtitled in the original language. The subtitled videos will be available online the day after the semi-finals and final via the Play RSI, Play RTS and Play SRF apps.
People with visual impairments will be able to follow the show through a live audio description. The Eurovision Song Contest is about to become the first national entertainment programme to be audio described in three national languages. What are the three presenters wearing? What does the stage setting look like? And how does the audience react to the musicians’ performances? People with visual impairments receive this and other information via audio description on the third audio channel of SRF 1 (in Swiss German), RTS 1 (in French) and RSI LA 1 (in Italian). The acoustic description of the TV picture is spoken in addition to the commentators and the songs. Tanja Morana, Head of Accessibility Services Zurich at SWISS TXT, explains:
“Often we don’t know exactly when the pauses are coming. The pauses are also very short. But it is precisely in these few seconds that we have the opportunity to describe a situation as precisely, vividly and movingly as possible”
