Louise Fryer

Tourism scholars propose that lack of knowledge is a major barrier for people with a disability. This article makes links between accessible tourism and quality in media accessibility provision. It explores the importance for people with sight loss of access to x once x has been made accessible. It reports data from a survey relating to the use of...

Drafting an audio description script for a short excerpt from a film is often presented as an early didactic task to students. It is presumed to be a simpler exercise than describing a film in its entirety. Is that really the case? How can the challenges of audio describing out of context illuminate AD processes and inform AVT and with what trainin...

Audio description (AD) is one of the younger modes of translation. It shares many similarities with interpreting, although AD users have specific needs because they are blind or partially sighted. As quality is of concern in both fields, this chapter explores the overlaps to see what can be learned for AD from research already carried out in interp...

_________________________________________________________ Abstract Traditional audio description (AD) is giving way to integrated audio description in which media accessibility is no longer an add-on but built in from the start in collaboration with the artistic team. As directors and producers take a greater interest in making their work accessibl...

This article explores the phenomenon of integrated audio description (AD) and the ways in which access provision for blind people can be embedded into the creative process. Exploring a practical example where a describer became a character within a production staged by a company of blind and partially blind actors, it compares an approach to AD tha...

This article explores the phenomenon of integrated audio description (AD) and the ways in which access provision for blind people can be embedded into the creative process. Exploring a practical example where a describer became a character within a production staged by a company of blind and partially blind actors, it compares an approach to AD tha...

Translation as a new strategy of creating audio description was proposed and investigated by several researchers and adopted by professional practice as a cost-cutting strategy that produces a good quality audio description. Theory and practice have at least one thing in common-AD translation is performed exclusively from English into other languag...

This article presents a study that was aimed at assessing presence and emotional experience of blind and visually impaired users when exposed to emotive and non-emotive content with Polish audio description (AD) delivered with two voices: human and synthetic. The results show that AD narrated by a human prompted significantly higher levels of prese...

Within a museum context, audio description (AD) is generally thought to be a tool for enhancing access for people with a visual impairment, in other words, as a means of providing access, through verbal description, to visual details of an object or artwork. Taking evidence from researchers and practitioners, we argue that AD has a much broader pot...

This article presents a study that tested the impact of audio description (AD) style on dimensions of presence (spatial presence, ecological validity, engagement, and negative effects) in blind and visually impaired audiences. The participants were shown two fragments of a naturalistic drama with two styles of description: ‘standard’ and ‘creative’...

Since Köhler’s experiments in the 1920s, researchers have demonstrated a correspondence between words and shapes. Dubbed the “Bouba–Kiki” effect, these auditory–visual associations extend across cultures and are thought to be universal. More recently the effect has been shown in other modalities including taste, suggesting the effect is independent...

For people with a visual impairment access to audiovisual media can be enhanced by Audio Description (AD). AD gives visual information in verbal form. Previous research we have conducted has demonstrated that for AD users, words can be as effective as non-verbal sounds (sound effects) in eliciting presence. However, it has been argued that, to expe...

For people with a visual impairment access to audiovisual media can be enhanced by Audio Description (AD). AD gives visual information in verbal form. Previous research we have conducted has demonstrated that for AD users, words can be as effective as non-verbal sounds (sound effects) in eliciting presence. However, it has been argued that, to expe...

Audio description (AD) is a narrative technique which provides complementary information regarding the where, who, what and how of any audiovisual content. It translates the visuals into words. The principal function of this ad hoc narrative is to make audiovisual content available to all: be it a guided city tour of Barcelona, a 3D film, or a Pica...

Time constraints limit the quantity and type of information conveyed in audio description (AD) for films, in particular the cinematic aspects. Inspired by introductory notes for theatre AD, this study developed audio introductions (AIs) for Slumdog Millionaire and Man on Wire. Each AI comprised 10 minutes of continuous description incorporating inf...

Introduction Time constraints limit the quantity and type of information conveyed in audio description (AD) for films, in particular the cinematic aspects. Inspired by introductory notes for theatre AD, this study developed audio introductions (AIs) for Slumdog Millionaire and Man on Wire. Each AI comprised 10 minutes of continuous description inco...

In this paper we compare levels of presence between sighted audiences and those with a visual impairment accessing audiovisual media via Audio Description (AD). AD is a verbal commentary conveying visual information. Anecdotal evidence suggests AD is at its best when the user is unaware of it. The strength of this 'perceptual illusion of non-mediat...

For wayfinding at museums, galleries, and heritage sites, the majority of people who are blind or partially sighted favour verbal directions over tactile maps. Those who provide such directions are usually fully sighted. Can we assume that details considered important by those with vision are equally helpful to those without? This article presents...

Presence describes immersion in a mediated environment such that it seems unmediated. For people with visual impairment, audio description replaces missing visual information with a verbal commentary, transforming an audiovisual medium into audio. Media forms are more or less immersive, with audio-only at the bottom of the scale. Anecdotally, howev...

Audio Description has increasingly been the focus of academic analysis. This paper responds to the call for more reception studies. It discusses the results of empirical research comparing the responses of blind, partially sighted and sighted participants to two styles of description for David Lean's 1945 classic film Brief Encounter: a ‘standard’...

Presence is affected by deficits in cognition and perception. It is also thought to be associated with a preference for the visual domain. However, presence has been little studied in those without sight. Audio Description (AD) is a verbal commentary conveying visual information, enabling blind and partially sighted people to access visual media. T...

Audio description provides museums and galleries with a means of making their collections accessible to people with little or no sight. Yet for sighted people, much of the enjoyment of their visit comes from an appreciation of the place in which those exhibits are housed. Many venues are themselves of architectural and historical interest. Importan...

In discussing audio description (AD) as a form of translation, there is a tendency to focus on AD as a written text. A key element, easy to overlook, is that AD is always received aurally, together with the existing dialogue and soundscape. AD therefore translates a film or play into a form of audio drama. Insights from the field of Radio Studies r...