Seeing films through sound: Sound design, spatial audio, and accessibility for visually impaired audiences

Mariana Lopez,Gavin Kearney,Krisztián Hofstädter

doi:10.1177/0264619620935935

Mariana Lopez, Gavin Kearney + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/0264619620935935

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Abstract

Enhancing Audio Description is a research project that explores how sound design, first-person narration, and binaural audio could be utilised to provide accessible versions of films for visually impaired audiences, presenting an alternative to current audio description (AD) practices. This article explores such techniques in the context of the redesign of the short film ‘Pearl’, by discussing the creative process as well as evaluating the feedback supplied by visually impaired audiences. The research presented in this article demonstrates that the methods proposed were as successful as traditional AD in terms of providing information, enjoyment, and accessibility to audiences, demonstrating that both practices can coexist and, as a result, cater for the different stylistic preferences of end users.

Highlights

Audio description (AD) for film and television (TV) refers to a pre-recorded verbal commentary that describes visual elements, and sometimes sonic elements, for visually impaired audiences
Sharing the sound design concept for a film across different creative departments can help ensure cohesion and inform the choices made on production sound as well as the effects sought in post-production (Lee & Stringer, 2018). This concept can be extended to accessibility – the consideration of sound design techniques for visually impaired audiences from the pre-production stage can result in the creation of an alternative accessible soundtrack
This article explored the process of applying new accessibility techniques to a short film, Pearl, in consultation with visually impaired volunteers

Summary

Introduction

Audio description (AD) for film and television (TV) refers to a pre-recorded verbal commentary that describes visual elements, and sometimes sonic elements, for visually impaired audiences. The project focussed on exploring the creation of an alternative form of accessibility for visually impaired audiences, one which uses sound design techniques and binaural audio to reduce the number of verbal descriptions while incorporating first-person narration to create an organic piece.

Results

Conclusion