Exploring the Experiences of Online and Distance Learners with Visual Impairments in Regard to AI-Assisted Narration

Ensuring accessibility in open and distance learning (ODL) environments is essential to ensuring equal opportunity. Audio learning resources play a particularly important role in enabling individuals with visual impairments to participate independently in ODL. This qualitative case study explored how learners with visual impairments engaged with AI-assisted audio versions of a learning material and how perceived voice characteristics, including voice gender, shaped their learning experiences. The learning material was converted to speech using an AI text-to-speech tool and produced in two versions (female and male voices) with identical technical parameters. Participants were sixteen learners with visual impairments who accessed the audio materials before semi-structured telephone interviews. Data were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings indicated that participants viewed AI-assisted audio not merely as an accessibility supplement but as a central component of independent study within ODL. Voice characteristics shaped perceptions of comfort, concentration, and cognitive effort. While clarity and consistency were valued, limitations in naturalness, prosody, and pausing increased mental effort during prolonged listening. Learners mitigated these challenges through self-regulated strategies such as adjusting playback speed, replaying segments, and segmenting the content. The study offers user-informed design implications for scalable and inclusive audio production in ODL, highlighting the pedagogical importance of voice design decisions in AI-assisted accessibility practices.