Audio-Video Synchrony

The temporal alignment between audio and video streams in multimedia content or real-time communication. When audio and video are not properly synchronized, the mismatch can significantly impair speech understanding for people with hearing loss who rely on lipreading to supplement auditory information. Research shows that even small timing differences of 100 milliseconds can affect comprehension, and that audio perceived ahead of video is more harmful than audio perceived behind video. Maintaining accurate audio-video synchrony is a critical accessibility consideration for video telephony, streaming media, and any platform where users depend on visual speech cues.