What is audio description?
Audio description is a way of describing things in words so that people with sight problems can appreciate and understand them.
Learn more about audio description by listening to a verbal description of the painting 'Morning Sight' by Ann Roughton.
Now look at a picture of the painting, 'Morning Sight'.
Now you've seen the picture, what do you think of the description? Is it factually accurate? Do you think anything is missing?
Ann has age-related macular degeneration and her painting, 'Morning Sight', shows what she now sees.
Do you think this has helped you understand the picture more or should we let the picture 'do the talking'?
Is audio description objective or subjective?
Audio description usually seeks to be objective so that a blind or partially sighted person can receive the same factual information as a sighted person (or as near as possible). Audio description is a way of making visual art come alive for blind and partially sighted people. It is a means of transferring the information we perceive through our eyes into descriptive words. These words can be either written or spoken.
But does art really work on our senses objectively? Is it appropriate to stay neutral? How can we bring in subjective viewpoints when these viewpoints are provided by the describer not the blind or partially sighted person?
Using words to paint pictures
The eye takes in a myriad visual details in an instant. Information floods into the brain through the eye in microseconds so putting all this visual information into words creates two big problems:
-
description uses language. Words are less 'immediate' than pictures because people make sense of language by listening to one word after another until sentences are formed and a meaning is constructed. Language and visual images are processed by the brain in very different ways.
-
language is also very culturally dependent. The words we use betray our culture, attitudes and experience.
We must recognise the problems but not let ourselves be put off from trying to build verbal images. The vast majority of blind or partially sighted people will have visual memories so verbal descriptions can often be translated into visual images in a person's imagination.
Now try audio description yourself.
Other uses of audio description
Apart from its use in galleries and museums, AD is also used to enhance the experience of drama in the theatre, film in cinemas and on video, as well as in sports commentary. It is one of the most significant means of improving access to arts and culture for blind and partially sighted people.
Find out more about audio description.