What is audio description and how is it created?

ne of these professional solutions is audio description. According to The Accessibility for Persons with Special Needs Act, W kontekście ustawy o zapewnianiu dostępności osobom ze szczególnymi potrzebami from 2019 is a service in the area of information and communication accessibility. Let us recall here that the Act also defines two other key areas: digital accessibility and architectural accessibility.

Information and communication accessibility addresses the needs for communicating different content. This includes groups such as people with visual impairments, people with intellectual disabilities, people who are deaf and hard of hearing, as well as people on the autism spectrum.

The specific nature of each of these groups requires adapted content development in terms of merits, language and technical delivery.

Audio description addresses the needs of people with visual impairments. It is the communication of essential visual content in words.

It is therefore good news for all audiences with visual impairments, as well as for all visual artists and organisers of public spaces. Both those working in the cultural and business fields.

Anything can be described: architecture, a landscape on a hiking trail, a painting, a print, a sculpture, a photograph, as well as a film, a play, an advertising spot, a sporting event. You can and should describe the office space, the access to the building from the nearest bus stop. You can describe the products. You can describe yourself and others as an interviewee/interviewee or speaker/speaker or a rock star's fancy stage costume. You can describe slides in a presentation and photos or graphics on social media.

Accessibility, including the creation of an audio description text, is a team effort. An expert audio describer alone is not enough. A visually impaired consultant and, very often, a content consultant first and foremost enter the scene. In our team, we take co-creation very seriously. In our view, the consultant, as the native recipient of the audio description, so to speak, is the de facto co-author of the text. His or her perspective is very important and robustly discussed. This, among other things, is how high quality audio description is born.

The entire production process differs depending on the industry in which the operation takes place. This is due to the specific nature of the objects we describe.

The process of producing an audio description in a museum

In the case of static objects, for example in a museum, a gallery or in architecture, the starting point is the selection of specific works. A difficult decision has to be made as to which, for example, twenty exhibits will be described out of the hundreds and sometimes thousands of exhibits in the facility. Optimally, our team is involved in the process right from the selection stage. Our consultation will enable the client to get the perspective of the audio description audience right at the stage of creating the adapted tour. It is also at this point that a content consultant should be appointed from the client's side. He or she will initially provide materials explaining the significance of the works and graphic files with good quality photographs. If these are not available, we will make the necessary photographic documentation ourselves. We place great importance on getting to know the original exhibits live. Our audio description team then compiles the texts and submits them to the client for content consultation. After receiving comments, it makes editorial changes.

After final approval comes the stage of preparing the text for voiceover. Audiodescription, for obvious reasons, reaches the audience in this form. Sometimes it is the synthesiser of a sound software, sometimes the voice of a male or female reader. The quality of this delivery is very important. An irritating voice or incorrect reading can effectively disrupt and discourage the recipient. It can distract so that even the best-edited text fails to serve its purpose. In contrast, good voice perception not only helps to immerse the reader in the text, it even enhances the quality of life for people with visual impairments. Using sound software for a large part of the day, they are particularly sensitive to this aspect.

In the case of audio description in a museum or gallery, two solutions are possible. It will be to hire a sound studio to make a voiceover recording or to provide the audience with the text in electronic form, according to digital accessibility standards. In the first case, the final work for the client is an audio file, in the second a text file.

Jeśli jest to nagranie, nasz zespół przeprowadza jeszcze kontrolę jakości nagrania, sprawdza jego zgodność z tekstem oraz poprawność realizacji dźwięku. Dopiero wówczas przekazuje finalny produkt klientowi.

The process of producing an audio description in theatre

In the case of describing plays, in principle, the best practice would be to make all performances in repertory accessible. It is a good idea to start planning the audio description as early as the planning and budgeting stage of the premiere production. When a client orders an audio description, our team starts by viewing the play. Then we start working on the text. We receive a script file and a good quality video recording from the theatre. It is very good practice to appoint a subject matter consultant in the form of an actor/actress of the play being described. We have developed such an element of the process in collaboration with the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre and tested how visibly this affects the quality of the service. Once the text has been completed, the theatre plans an accessible performance using audio description. In this case, the voice transmission of it is done through a live reading, during the performance. To ensure that the voice is not heard by audience members not using the audio description, a system with a radio wave or infrared headphone transmitter and receivers is used. A separate reading room provided by the theatre is also needed. This must be acoustically isolated from the auditorium and have video transmission and a microphone. Our team can advise on how to plan the whole process, what equipment to choose, what technical details to include, so that the end result is as good as possible. The writer of these words also has a lot of experience in reading theatre audio description, so we can carry out the procedure from start to finish.

The process of producing an audio description in a movie

In the case of video, the process starts with the submission of a lightweight video file - in mp4 or similar format. Our team analyses the video, creating what is known as a timecode and text. The timecode is the specific places, defined to the nearest second, where it is possible to insert the audio description between acting issues or relevant sounds. Content consultation is rarely used for a film, but it is highly advisable. This role can involve, for example, the producer, director or a specialist from an industry or cultural area relevant to the film. The developed and approved text goes to the recording studio. In the case of a foreign film, both the audio description and the dialogue translation must be recorded. Necessarily in two different voices. The sound engineer then makes a file with the audio description track spaced according to the time code. Such a sound file is then checked for loudness in the context of the background sounds - music and sometimes other noises against which the audio description appears. For some forms of broadcasting, it is still necessary to edit the video with an audio description soundtrack. In the case of the film industry, our team will also carry out the entire process from start to finish.

We regularly create audio descriptions and alternative texts for our clients and provide training on the subject.