understandability

kkayser · Post by **kkayser** » August 28th, 2012, 8:05 am

I was quite happily going through Book name and author removed by admin when I hit chapter 9. A new reader started this chapter. She has an accent which makes about half of the words a complete mystery to me. I listened to chapters 9 and 10, and cannot tell you anything about them except that they are about the wife of a doctor in a town of 6000 or so people.

I listen to all audio books in my car so listening conditions are not ideal, but this is the first time I could not comprehend any meaning from the audio. I feel sorry for this narrator. She spent considerable time and effort. Does anyone screen readers for audio comprehension? The audition should be done in a somewhat noisy environment with some older people like me who have some hearing loss.

I would be glad to help on this.

catrose · Post by **catrose** » August 28th, 2012, 8:14 am

What's comprehensible for one, someone else can't understand. Why should we make it so that you can understand it, if it means someone else cannot?

Post by **TriciaG** » August 28th, 2012, 8:22 am

Welcome!

I have removed the book and author name from your post, as we do not allow unsolicited negative criticism in the forum. (See THIS PAGE for an explanation of this policy.) By removing this information, the issue can be addressed without embarrassing the reader.

Accent and understandability is in the eye (ear) of the beholder. We do not screen readers for accent or understandability. Once in a while a reader will attempt to record something in a language that is a challenge for them, and only 1 or 2 words out of 10 are understandable. We will step in and either work with them to make it more understandable or ask them to refrain from reading in that language until they're better at pronunciation.

However, a reader reading in her own native language rarely has understandability issues enough for the admins to step in. This particular reader has an Australian accent, which might be hard for some people to understand, but is considered clear enough that we won't pull her sections.

If someone feels that it's not understandable, they are welcome to record an alternate version of the chapters, and we'll put them in the catalog as a second choice for those portions of the book.

All that said, I do hear a lot of background noise in the sections which might make it less easy to understand. I'll try to fix that.

Lilith1966 · Post by **Lilith1966** » August 28th, 2012, 4:06 pm

It must be said that Tricia's response was infinitely more helpful than Cat's.

Just saying......

Tara

Steampunk · Post by **Steampunk** » August 28th, 2012, 5:26 pm

Just a gentle reminder before this gets into not-nice territory...

http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Forum_Policies

catrose · Post by **catrose** » August 28th, 2012, 5:37 pm

Lilith1966 wrote:It must be said that Tricia's response was infinitely more helpful than Cat's.

Just saying......

Tara

Sorry you didn't find it helpful, Tara.

Lilith1966 · Post by **Lilith1966** » August 28th, 2012, 8:55 pm

I apologise for the offensive tone of my comment. It could have been worded better.

Tara