Audio Description: Access for All

I think it was back in prehistoric times when two sighted cavemen were munching on some leftover saber-tooth tiger when one fellow screamed to the other, "Look out behind you, there's a mastodon coming from the left!" There you have it, ladies and gentlemen -- the origin of Audio Description (AD).

I came to description a little more recently. For 25 years I've been working with this narrative technique that provides access to visual images for people who are blind or have low vision. It was developed for the first time as an ongoing service in the performing arts here in the Washington, DC area in the United States. Since that time I have been lucky enough to help performing arts groups, media producers, museums, schools, libraries, and other venues all around the world and on the web develop AD programs.

Audio Description is a kind of literary art form in itself, to a great extent. It's a type of poetry--a haiku. It provides a verbal version of the visual--the visual is made verbal, and aural, and oral. Using words that are succinct, vivid, and imaginative, audio describers insert phrases between pieces of dialogue or critical sound elements during performing arts events and on video or film; in other contexts, timing is less critical but the fundamental goal is the same: to convey the visual image that is not fully accessible to a segment of the population and not fully realized by the rest of us. The rest of us, sighted folks who see but who may not observe.

AD can enhance arts experiences for all people experiencing exhibits in museums, theater-goers, folks at the cinema or watching television at home (you can make a sandwich in the kitchen while the TV is on in the living room--you won't miss a moment of the action), and it can even improve kids' literacy skills. It's useful for anyone who wants to truly notice and appreciate a more full perspective on any visual event but it is especially helpful as an access tool for people who are blind or have low vision. You'll find it these days at arts events, on broadcast television, and in the cinema, but also at weddings, parades, rodeos, circuses, sports events, even funerals.

New applications for audio description

Not too long ago I conducted a workshop in New Haven with day care workers and reading teachers on what I think represents a new application for audio description. We experimented with developing more descriptive language to use when working with kids and picture books. Some of these books are deficient with respect to language skills -- they rely on the pictures to tell the story. But the teacher trained in audio description techniques would never simply hold up a picture of a red ball and read the text: "See the ball." He or she might add: "The ball is red--just like a fire engine. I think that ball is as large as one of you! It's as round as the sun--a bright red circle or sphere." The teacher has introduced new vocabulary, invited comparisons, and used metaphor or simile -- with toddlers! By using audio description, these books are made accessible to kids who have low vision or are blind, as well as help develop more sophisticated language skills for all kids. A picture is worth 1000 words? Maybe. But the audio describer might say that a few well-chosen words conjures vivid and lasting images.

As I alluded to earlier, description has been around as an ongoing service for over 20 years. Indeed, AD is no longer in its infancy. It is beginning to grow and grow up-- becoming more sophisticated, and in greater demand all over the world. New applications continue to emerge--in building literacy, with long-distance learning efforts, in offices and at conferences, as part of interactive computer games, and even within theatrical productions (as demonstrated by the New York City-based troupe Theater by the Blind).

The newly reconstituted Audio Description International [www.adinternational.org] now boasts several hundred members--describers and users of description--from around the world. Working as a consultant to audio description programs is now possible for users of description and formal training to become an audio describer is becoming more available.

For Media

A study conducted by the American Foundation for the Blind revealed that blind or low-vision people watch television about 24 hours per week. But for a televised drama the music score, several bits of dialogue, a few precious sound effects provide the only aural clues to the staged action; a visually impaired viewer is likely to lose key elements of the program.

In the United States, in areas where a local television station is equipped to participate, a special audio channel ("SAP" - Secondary Audio Program) is available on stereo televisions to receive the described narrations inserted between portions of dialogue in the original soundtrack. WGBH in Boston began its Descriptive Video Service (DVS--WGBH's name for audio description on television) in the mid-80s. More recently, its "MoPix" program offers description (combined with rear-window captioning) for first-run feature films in movie theaters (cinema). The National Captioning Institute, a leader in media access for over 20 years, provides closed captioning for 65,000 hours of television each year. Now, its Described Media division produces description for a broad range of American broadcast television including "Sesame Street," feature films, and a myriad of programs on cable and network channels. Another U.S. provider of description for the media is Tulsa, Oklahoma's Narrative Television Network. NTN's founder and president, Jim Stovall, is an accomplished athlete and businessman, totally blind since the age of 30.

Appended to this article is some brief material that may help you see what description is all about by having you, figuratively, close your eyes. In live presentations, I often ask people to listen to an excerpt from the American Broadcasting Company's (ABC) nationwide broadcast of Stephen King's "The Shining," first with no picture on the screen and no description - just as someone with no vision might experience it if he or she had no access to description. Then I play the same excerpt as described by the National Captioning Institute's Described Media division: and finally, one last time with the video intact so a sighted viewer can make his or her own judgments about the effectiveness of the descriptions. What follows this article is an annotated script of the description for this 90-secord excerpt. The notes will afford you some insight into our reasoning for using the precise language we used--why we chose the words we selected to bring these images to your mind's eye.

For Theater

In a live theater setting, at designated performances (depending on the availability of the service and how it is administered), people desiring audio description are provided headsets/earplugs attached to small receivers, about the size of a small pocket calculator. Often, before the show, a taped or "live" version of the program notes plays through the headsets, after which a trained describer narrates the performance from another part of the theater via an FM radio or infrared transmitter. The narrator guides the audience through the production with concise, objective descriptions of new scenes, settings, costumes, and body language, all slipped in between portions of dialogue or songs.

For Museums, Galleries, Art Exhibitions

Museums use Audio Description techniques to translate the visual to a sense form that is accessible to people who are blind or have low vision. Using these techniques for the description of static images and exhibitions, museum docents find that they develop better use of language and more expressive, vivid, and imaginative museum tours, greatly appreciated by all visitors. In this way, docent-led tours are more appropriate for the low-vision visitor and docents find that their regular tours are enhanced. A lively and vivid descriptive process enables docents to make the museum experience more accessible and more meaningful for everyone.

Recorded AD tours, specifically geared to people with low vision, are increasingly common. Combined with directional information, these recorded tours enable visitors who are blind to use a simple hand-held audio player to tour at least a portion of the museum independently and with new access to the visual elements of exhibitions. Other curators are interested in having certain videos within an exhibit or a particular film described.

Opportunities for Audio Description are all around us. Its growth as an access technique is only constrained by our imaginations and the building of AD skills in a greater number of people. For instance, another potential for AD involves audio books. These tapes are used by millions of sighted Americans. It may only be a matter of time

before the soundtracks of films and plays with an added audio description narrative are available so that anyone can experience (or re-experience) those arts events without actually being there.

International experience

Over the past fifteen years, it has been my privilege to train describers and do AD workshops throughout the United States and in over a dozen countries around the world, most recently in Portugal, Russia, and Germany. After leading several days of AD training in Moscow, I came home with a new insight into the arts and access. My colleagues there taught me that audio description, access to the arts, is about Democracy. In the United States, a prosperous, democratic nation, accessibility generally is not yet viewed as a right, as a reflection of the principles upon which our nation was founded. People in Russia are wrestling with economic circumstances attendant to any new democracy, yet to them the word itself means "access to everyone." I learned that from my friends there and I share that wonderfully inclusive notion with you here.

It's an idea that still requires broader acceptance and understanding. A blind fellow visiting a museum with some friends in the United States was once asked, "Excuse me, but what you doing in a museum? You can't see any of the exhibits." His response? "I'm here for the same reason anyone goes to a museum. I want to learn, I want to know and be a part of our culture." His inability to see shouldn't deny him access to our culture and I believe it the responsibility of arts institutions to be as inclusive as possible. His story illustrates the importance of access to culture, everyone's right.

We have a rich and varied culture in the United States. That's certainly true in countries around the world. All people need to be full participants in their nation's cultural life -- there is no reason why a person with a visual disability must also be culturally disadvantaged. There needn't be a state in the U.S. or a nation world-wide that doesn't offer access for all its people. Perhaps with a focus on people's abilities , we will come much closer to greater inclusion and total access.

For more information on Audio Description, visit www.audiodescribe.com

References

Axel, Elizabeth. 1996. Making Visual Art Accessible to People Who Are Blind And Visually Impaired. Art Education for the Blind. New York, NY.

Charlson, Kim. 2001. Making Theater Accessible: A Guide to Audio Description in the Performing Arts. Bay State Council of the Blind. Watertown, MA.

Ellis, Fay. 1991. A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words for Blind and Visually Impaired Persons Too!--An Introduction to Audiodescription. American Foundation for the Blind. New York, NY.

Grambs, David. 1993. The Describer's Dictionary: A Treasury of Terms & Literary Quotations. W. W. Norton & Co. New York, NY.

Groff, Gerda and Gardner, Laura. 1990. What Museum Guides Need To Know: Access for Blind and Visually Impaired Visitors. American Foundation for the Blind. New York.

Packer, Jaclyn and Kirchner, Corinne. 1997. Who's Watching: A Profile of the Blind and Visually Impaired Audience for Television and Video. American Foundation for the Blind. New York, NY.

Schaefer, John. 1995. Sight Unseen: The Art of Active Seeing. GoodYear Books/Scott Foresman. Glenview, IL.

Author: Joel Snyder is Director, Described Media, National Captioning Institute, Vienna, VA and President, Founder, Audio Description Associates, Takoma Park, MD

 printer-friendly format