The Enhancing Audio Description II project seeks to explore the potential of sound design practices and spatial audio to provide accessible film and television experiences for visually impaired audiences. It fuses audio technology and creativity to widen the notion of media accessibility and increase the quality and quantity of provision, providing cutting edge techniques to the UK cultural sector.
Enhancing Audio Description II: implementing accessible, personalised and inclusive film and television experiences for visually impaired audiences, is a project that proposes a new paradigm in accessible experiences, in which there is not an overreliance on a narrator's spoken word, as in traditional Audio Description practices. Instead it utilises new accessibility features that include: the addition of sound effects, the spatialisation of dialogue and sounding objects, and first-person narration, to provide accessible experiences that are seamlessly integrated to the soundtrack of a film or television programme. These techniques are integrated into film and television workflows from the development phase up to final delivery.
The project builds up from previous research which demonstrated the success of these methods, and explores them even further, by concentrating on the conveyance of cinematographic elements through sound, the exploration of the intricacies of using first-person narration across different genres and different cast sizes, as well as exploring how spatialisation techniques can be adapted for multi-listener scenarios for a variety of loudspeaker formats. The exploration of these methods will be conducted with an end-user centred approach, in which visually impaired audiences are consulted from the design process up to delivery. Furthermore, the project explores the creation of guidelines that will allow the incorporation of these methods to professional broadcasting pipelines and film workflows, by collaborating with a Project Advisory Panel representative of the different roles in film and television as well as end users.
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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.
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.
Game developer, Deep-End Games is funding their new horror video game, Perception, through Kickstarter. How is this game related to our Audio Description research? Find out more.
We have encountered too many interesting projects to fit into our last blog post on exciting projects, so here is part two. Find out more.
Accessibility should take centre stage as a creative consideration at the theatre. Find out more.
On 23 February 2017, Disability Sports Network interviewed Mariana in their Speed of Sound programme.
Whilst working on the EAD project we’ve been impressed by lots of exciting research studies, which share our aim of promoting accessibility and social inclusion. Here are just a few of them. Find out more.
You may remember that back in August we conducted online/telephone surveys on current accessibility measures and hopes for the future of Audio Description. We received 127 responses which have been invaluable to our research – but what encouraged participants to respond? Find out more.
You may remember that back in August we conducted online/telephone surveys on current accessibility measures and hopes for the future of Audio Description. We received 127 responses which have been invaluable to our research – but what encouraged participants to respond? Find out more.
