Events

‘Photo of the hall.’

Removing Barriers: Symposium on Disability and Accessibility in the Creative Sector

On the 18th of May 2024 the Enhancing Audio Description team headed to Edinburgh to host a one-day symposium at Dovecot Studios focused on discussions and reflections on accessibility in relation to different creative areas, including music, dance and filmmaking. Find out more.


Amble in a wheelchair with overear headphones.

Symposium Speaker: Amble Skuse

We are delighted to announce Amble Skuse, one of our symposium speakers in Edinburg this May. This post features the abstract of her presentation and her bio. Find out more.


‘Amy performing in an artistically lit room with gadgets around her.'

Symposium Speaker: Aby Watson

We are delighted to announce Aby Watson, one of our symposium speakers in Edinburg this May. This post features the abstract of her presentation and her bio. Find out more.


Sonia sitting in a classroom with a saxophone in her hands smiling.

Symposium Speaker: Sonia Allori

We are delighted to announce Sonia Allori, another one of our symposium speakers in Edinburg this May. This post features the abstract of her presentation and her bio. Find out more.


Emily kneeling with an old camera on green grass outside.

Symposium Speaker: Emily Beaney

We are delighted to announce Emily Beaney, one of our symposium speakers in Edinburg this May. This post features the abstract of her presentation and her bio. Find out more.


‘The photo of the event with people in the panel and the audience.’

Sound and Heritage Access

On 6th December 2023 Mariana had the pleasure of being invited to join a panel organised by Suzie Cloves from Manchester Metropolitan University. Find out more.


‘Large building with lake in front of it.’

DARCI Conference: Call for Papers

We are delighted to announce that in September 2025 we will be hosting the Conference on Disability, Accessibility and Representation in the Creative Industries (DARCI) at the University of York (UK). Find out more.


‘Photo of Edinburgh with old buildings.’

Symposium on Disability and Accessibility

The EAD team is delighted to announce the symposium 'Removing barriers: disability and accessibility in the creative sector' taking place in Edinburgh on Saturday 18th May 2024. Find out more.


‘A screenshot of our online meeting with people smiling.’

Annual Advisory Board Meeting

In December 2023 we hosted our annual Advisory Board Meeting online, an opportunity to update our board on what we’ve been up to as well as seek advice on ways forward. Find out more.


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Conference in Italy

Last September, Michael got the chance to present some of our research from the EAD project at the Immersive and 3D Audio conference, at Bologna Italy. Find out more.


An image with two frames from the short films discussed.

Panel discussion with filmmakers at King's Manor

Discussion on accessible filmmaking within the context of the EAD methods. Find out more.


A photo of train station.

EAD on the road

Last July, Mariana had the challenge, but great satisfaction, of being able to present on the Enhanced Audio Description (EAD) methods at two international conferences in one week. Find out more.


University of Salford

University of Salford

On 8 Mar 2022, Mariana held a seminar for the University of Salford titled Enhanced Audio Description – The Convergence of Sound Design and Accessibility. Find out more.


Krisztián demonstrating the use of a portable microphone.

Roving Reporters Training Day

Last June, MySight York, the Enhancing Audio Description project (represented by Krisztián), and Jane Bateman teamed up to introduce the basics of audio interviewing and creating podcasts to a group of visually impaired participants. Find out more.


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2022 Conference and Exhibition on Languages and the Media

Mariana attended the Languages and the Media Conference in Berlin between 7th-9th November 2022 to deliver a pre-conference workshop and present a poster on the EAD project. Find out more.


MySight York's imformation booklet on a table.

Visual Impairment Awareness and Sighted Guiding Training

Last June, we did two workshops with MySight York, a local organisation in York supporting visually impaired people. The first one was a whole day training session delivered by Vicky and Jade from MySight York. Find out more.


Award logo.

Inclusive Impact Award Nomination

Our project has been nominated for an Inclusive Impact Award! Find out more.


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York Festival of Ideas — On Binaural Audio and Beyond

Michael got the chance to help Mariana and Gavin with their Festival of Ideas talk last June. This post is a reflection on his experience. Find out more.


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York Festival of Ideas 2022

On 15 June 2022, between 6pm to 7pm, Mariana and Gavin presented our work at the York Festival of Ideas at the University of York. Find out more.


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Leeds School of Arts

On 27 April 2022, Mariana gave a talk titled Enhanced Audio Description - Sound, Design, Creativity and Integrated Access at the Leeds School of Arts, now archived on YouTube. Find out more.


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Edinburgh Napier University

Mariana gave a guest lecture for Edinburgh Napier University in March titled Enhanced Audio Description - Creative Accessibility through Sound Design.


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Accessibility Camp 2022

On 22 February 2022, Mariana gave a talk titled 'Accessibility through Sound Design; an introduction to Enhanced Audio Description' at the Perth Web Accessibility Camp 2022 event. Find out more.


The logo of BBC Sounds.

BBC Sounds Amazing

On 25 Oct 2020, Mariana gave a presentation at BBC Sounds Amazing - Celebrating Innovation in Audio. Find out more.


The logo of the Digital Television Group.

DTG Summit

On 7 Oct 2020, Mariana was invited to give an online presentation on the project at the Digital Television Group (DTG) Summit, in the Next-Generation Audio and Accessibility session.


The logo of the Digital Television Group.

Evolving Access Services

On 28 May 2020, Mariana gave a presentation titled EAD; Integrated Access, Sound Design and Binaural Audio at the Evolving Access Services - Content for All, Television for All online event organised by the DTG Accessibility Group. Find out more.


A photo of buildings of Brunel University.

Brunel University London

On 26 Feb 2020, Mariana gave a presentation titled EAD; Towards Accessible Creative Experiences in Film and Television at Brunel University, London.


Mariana speaking behind a lectern.

Eleanor Worthingon Prize

Back in May, I had the honour to be invited to give a short introductory speech as part of the Associazione Premio Eleanor Worthington International Exhibition on Art and Disability that took place at York St. John University in York (UK). Find out more.


Mariana presenting in front of an audience

EAD in Milan and Hamburg!

We haven’t published a post since March so we thought it was time we updated you on what we’ve been up to. Find out more.


A photo of a wide hallway with loads of people.

Klingt Gut! Symposium on Sound

On 7 Jun 2018, Mariana presented Shelf Life - Incorporating Accessibility to Sound Design at at the Kling Gut symposium, Hamburg. In this presentation she talked about the development of the short film Shelf Life as well as premiered the film. Find out more.


For more information on Shelf Life please visit this page.

A photo of a wide hallway with loads of people.

Sky Tech Summit

On 11 Sep 2018, Mariana was invited to give a presentation at the ‘Listen Up! Developments in Next Generation Audio’ Sky Tech Summit in London.


The logo of BBC Sound.

BBC Sounds Amazing

On 2 May 2018, Mariana and Gavin were invited to exhibit at the Sounds Amazing BBC Conference in London.


A frame from the movie Shelf Life.

Shelf Life

It’s been a while since we published a blog post, mostly because we’ve been busy giving talks, creating podcasts and writing up the results of the project. On top of that we also made a short film entitled ‘Shelf Life’! Find out more.


The logo of AES.

144th AES Convention in Milan

On 24 May 2018, Mariana and Gavin presented the concepts, processes, and results linked to the project at the 144th AES Convention in Milan. The title of the presentation was From Seeing to Hearing - Sound Design and Spatialization for Visually Impaired Film Audiences. Find out more.


A photo of Bath Spa University from a birds eye view.

Seeing Sound Symposium, Bath Spa University

On 23 Mar 2018, Mariana presented her paper Seeing With Our Ears - Designing Soundtracks For Visually Impaired Audiences at the Seeing Sound. Seeing Sound was an informal practice-led symposium, at University of Bath Spa, exploring multimedia work which foregrounds the relationship between sound and image. It explores areas such as visual music, abstract cinema, experimental animation, audiovisual performance and installation practice through paper sessions, screenings, performances and installations. Find out more.


Photo of Mariana addressing an audience.

AES Annual Meeting and Lecture

On 7 Feb 2018, at King's College London, Mariana (then elected chair) gave a public lecture after the annual meeting. The meeting was followed by a social at the Shakespeare’s Head in Holbourn. Find out more.


A photo of Olivia and Agnieszka presenting at our conference.

Olivia Gerber-Morón and Agnieszka Szarkowska at our Conference

You can listen to the presentation Olivia and Agnieszka gave at our conference, in our 7th podcast, titled What Makes a Good Subtitle? - Understanding People’s Views on Subtitling Quality. Find out more.


A photo of Maria presenting at our conference.

Maria Oshodi at our Conference

You can listen to the presentation Maria gave at our conference, in our 6th podcast, titled A Brief History of Integrating Description in Theatre by Visually Impaired Artists. Find out more.


A photo of Kerr presenting at our conference.

Kerr Castle at our Conference

You can listen to Kerr's presentation at our conference, in our 5th podcast, titled An Audio Art Form - Accessing the Visual of TV with Audio Description. We uploaded the pod under his previously published interview. Find out more.


A photo of Lauren presenting at our conference.

Lauren Ward at our Conference

You can listen to the presentation Lauren gave at our conference in our 4th podcast titled Television Dialogue; Balancing Audibility, Attention and Accessibility. Find out more.


Logo of Semantic Audio with a buffalo on the left.

Sound Talking at Science Museum

On 3 Nov 2017, at the Sound Talking event held in the London Science Museum, Mariana gave a talk titled The language of Sound - Creating Accessible Film Experiences For Visually Impaired Audiences. Find out more.


A photo of Mariana addressing an audience with a microphone.

Review on Our Conference

We haven’t had a blog post for a while, but we are now back with some news, a new podcast and some reflections from Mariana! Find out more.


A photo of Mariana opening our conference.

Conference on Accessibility in Film, Television and Interactive Media

On the weekend of 14-15 October we held our our first conference at the University of York. The event sought to promote communication between researchers, stakeholders in the creative industries, accessibility services, and audiences. Find out more.


The poster of our TATE event.

The Screening at TATE Britain

On 23 Sep 2017 we hosted a digital exhibition in the TATE Britain, London to showcase the research of the project into how sound design techniques can be used to rethink accessibility to film and television for visually impaired audiences. Find out more.


A frame from the movie Pearl.

142nd International Audio Engineering Society Convention

On 20 May 2017 Mariana and Gavin gave a tutorial titled Using Binaural Audio to increase accessibility to Film and Television How Digital at the 142nd International AES Convention held in Berlin. Find out more.


A photo of the front building of the University of Westminster.

University of Westminster

On 21 March 2017 Mariana gave a talk at University of Westminster titled EAD - Digital Audio and Accessibility to Film and Television in which she discussed the concepts behind the project as well as initial findings.


The logo of The Space & BBC Academy.

The Space & BBC Academy Accessibility Workshop

On 20 April 2017 Mariana run a workshop titled How Digital Tools Can Help Make Arts More Accessible in Nottingham and participated in a discussions on Digital Tools which focuses on how digital innovations are helping make the arts more accessible. Find out more.


A photo of Queens University Belfast.

Queen’s University Belfast

On 13 March 2017 Mariana gave a seminar at Queen’s University Belfast titled EAD - Digital Audio and Accessibility to Film and Television, in which she discussed the concepts behind the project as well as initial findings. Find out more.


A photo of an microphone.

Conference News

We are thrilled to announce that we have confirmed Maria Oshodi, Director of Extant as a keynote speaker at our Conference on Accessibility in Film, Television and Interactive Media. Maria’s keynote will be followed by a demo of Flatland. Find out more.


A photo of a building at the University of York next to a large pond.

York Talks - Seeing With Our Ears

On 11 January 2017, at the York Talks – Research in the Spotlight event organised by the University of York, Mariana gave a presentation outlining our research progress. Find out more.


Marianna and Gavin presenting in front of an audience.

Disseminating the Project

I haven’t written a diary entry for a while and that’s mostly because I’ve been busy disseminating the Enhancing Audio Description project through talks in a series of events. Find out more.


Logo of Institute of Acoustics.

Reproduced Sound 2016

On 15 November 2016, Mariana gave a presentation title Sound Design, Spatialisation and Accessibility in Film and Television at the Reproduced Sound 2016 – Sound with Pictures - Time is of Essence Conference. The event was held in Holiday Inn, Southampton. Find out more.


An old, black and white photo of an elderly lady reading on a sofa while being recorded with a camera crew.

Language Transfer in Audiovisual Media Conference, Berlin

On 3 November 2016, Mariana gave a presentation at the 11th International Conference on Language Transfer in Audiovisual Media, Berlin. The title of the presentation was Towards a Framework for Enhanced Audio Description Find out more.


A photo of Cambridge Festival of Ideas flags on a wall.

Cambridge Festival of Ideas

On 29 October 2016, at the Anglia Ruskin University, Mariana presented the project at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas. The presentation was titled Using Sound Design to Foster Inclusivity. Find out more.


A photo of Mariana standing.

AD, the Art of Access, London

On 21 October, the Marian gave a presentation at the Audio Description - the Art of Access Conference, in the Young Vic Theatre, London in Panel 2, The Aesthetics of Access. The presentation's title was Integrating Sound Design to Audio Description. Find out more.


A photo of Mariana presenting.

York Festival of Ideas

We have uploaded our first podcast which contains audio extracts from Mariana’s talk at York Festival of Ideas on June 13 2016. Find out more.


A photo of Marina addressing a focus group in a screening room.

Survey and Focus Groups

As part of the first phase of Enhancing Audio Description we conducted an online/telephone survey as well as focus groups on current accessibility measures and the future of Audio Description. Find out more.


A photo of the Theatre, Film and Television Department at the University of York.

University of York's TFTV

On June 13 2016, Mariana and Gavin presented the project at the University of York's Department of Theatre, Film and Television. The presentation was titled Seeing with your Ears - Film and Television for Visually Impaired Audiences. Find out more.


A young girl handing out flyers for the exhibition.

Dialogue Beyond Sight Exhibition

On the 13 July we traveled to London’s OXO Gallery to attend the first day of the Dialogue Beyond Sight (DBS) event. DBS is a multi-sensory exhibition featuring works by visually impaired artists and performers. Find out more.


The logo of AES.

2018 AES Milan 2018

At the 144th Audio Engineering Conference held between 23rd-26th May 2018, Mariana and Gavin presented a tutorial titled From Seeing to Hearing - Sound Design and Spatialization for Visually Impaired Film Audiences. Find out more.