In this blog post Kris updates us on the work his been doing as part of his research within the EAD team, where his focus has been on how to use sound to convey cinematographic elements.
Let’s start with a recap of what Enhanced Audio Description (EAD) is. EAD is an alternative to traditional audio description (AD) in which sound design is used to provide access to film and television for visually impaired audiences by working on layering sound elements and remixing others to provide an immersive and accessible soundtrack which can be experienced by both visually impaired and sighted audiences. The development of EAD dates back to Mariana’s 2009 research, in which she developed a new sonic format named ‘audio film’ which used sound, sound processing and spatialisation to tell a story without the need for visuals or a narrator. This then developed further, through her collaboration with Gavin Kearney, and turned into what is now EAD. You can find all our papers on the Publication page.
In the last few years, I have been investigating how EAD could be further developed to convey cinematographic techniques such as shot types, camera angles and movements. This exploration has taken us through an extensive literature review, a set of interviews with audio professionals on their practice (more on this at some other time), my drafting of a theoretical framework and then a set of listening tests.
The listening tests involved 43 participants and were carried out at the University of York, using a 5.1 surround sound setup. The experiment examined how specific cinematographic techniques could be conveyed through different film sound techniques using spatialisation, sound effects and music. Participants experienced different versions of film sound and needed to indicate which of them conveyed a specified visual element (which was explained to them) more successfully. For example, the same forward tracking shot from Notes on Blindness (Peter Middleton and James Spinney, 2016), in which a blind man walks towards an underpass exit with his cane as the camera tracks him from behind, was played with four different soundtracks.
- One version used an increase in traffic sound volume as a sound effect to convey the tracking shot.
- Another version used an increase in music volume to convey it.
- A third combined both an increase in traffic sound and music volumes to convey the tracking shot.
- Finally, we had one version without any additional sound attempted to convey the forward tracking shot, serving as the baseline condition.
We are really grateful to have been able to use audio-visual material for our work from ITV’s Emmerdale, Dimitar Kutmanov’s Ecce Homo and Notes On Blindness.
The study’s preliminary findings suggest that conveying cinematography with sound is feasible and beneficial for visually impaired audiences, though it may not suit everyone - which is something we commonly find in research in accessibility and provides further justification for the need for work on personalising the film and television accessibility experience.
We are currently preparing a paper with our full findings.
Kris
