The Talking Guide, also known as the Screen Reader, is a voice guidance feature available on EXP that will speak the text on your screen. This feature covers functions such as program selection, channels, menus, settings, search and much more making navigation of on-screen services and functions easier for customers with visual disabilities.
Note: After the Screen Reader is on, you will not be able to use Dolby Audio. If your audio is set to Dolby Audio, the system will automatically bar you from Dolby.
Using your EXP remote control
The Screen Reader can be turned on/off only through the remote control. However, there is messaging in Settings > Help > Troubleshooting > Accessibility > Vision and Settings > User Preferences > Screen Reader (Talking Guide) that describes how to turn on/off the Screen Reader.
There is help messaging available on how to access closed captioning under Settings > Help > Troubleshooting > Accessibility > Hearing.
The Audio Description feature (also referred to as Video Description, Described Video, or Visual Description) is the insertion of audio narrated descriptions of a TV program's key visual elements into natural pauses in the program's dialog, making video programming more accessible to viewers who are blind or visually impaired. Audio Description is available as a secondary audio service (sometimes referred to as a secondary audio program or SAP) for selected programs. Not all shows have Audio Description, nor is Audio Description included in programming information. The American Council of the Blind (ACB) website provides a list of shows and links to network websites that have program schedules and show descriptions. When Audio Description is turned on and a show flagged for Audio Description is played, programming automatically switches from the globally-selected language track (for example, English), to the Audio Description track. Your EXP set top box remains on the Audio Description track until you switch back.
To turn on the Audio Description, hold down the C button for a minimum of 2 seconds.
In an emergency situation, an audible crawl is presented to the subscriber through the Secondary Audio Programming (SAP) audio track. SAP is an auxiliary audio channel for analog TV that can be broadcast or transmitted both over-the-air and by cable TV. The audio comes from the cable operator or local broadcaster (if watching OTA). NOAA or another government affiliate will locally provide the emergency text. The cable operator or local broadcaster sends this text as metadata to the box, which displays the message as a text crawl. (The cable operator or local broadcaster creates the text-to-speech on the SAP track.)
There is no change in user experience for “high level” emergency alerts. In this case, the EAS alert automatically surfaces on the screen and there is no need to press the C button. After the EAS alert, programming resumes automatically.