Webinar presenters: please don't have background music playing when you are speaking

[kestrell]

I just had to leave a webinar presentation on assistive technology because the speakers--who had pre-recorded their spoken presentations--had music playing way too loud, not quite background, as they spoke.

This makes it very difficult and frustrating to hear the presentation when you have a hearing impairment. And some people don't have the best recording setup to begin with.

Also, the cheezy electronic muzak makes me cranky. I'm going to give the same criticism I give when someone in a play makes me listen to a really bad attempt at dialect: it only makes you sound more professional if you can do it with the highest quality.

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

Yikes.

Even the highest quality music beds are an immediate back button for me. I can't decode meaning from speech while music is playing!

Funny, that's the second time today I've complained about this.

I was interviewed by an acafan. She's looking at the intersection of disability and podfic: are the creators aiming at disabled listeners? is listening to fannish podfic different than listening to "professional" (I know lots of it's volunteer) narration?

Do you listen to podfic?