Comprehensibility

The degree to which users can understand and retain the key elements of content, including events, characters, actions, settings, and narrative progression. In audio-described media for visually impaired users, comprehensibility measures how effectively the audio presentation enables understanding of the story being told. Comprehensibility can be at odds with immersion: pre-placement of audio effects (before narration) achieves the highest comprehension because it provides advance context, while overlapping placement achieves the highest immersion but may reduce comprehension if audio balance is poor. Accessible media design must balance these competing demands based on the content context and user preferences.