What is audio description?
Audio Description involves the accessibility of the visual images of theater, television, movies, and other art forms for people who are blind, have low vision, or who are otherwise visually impaired. It is a narration service (provided at no additional charge to the patron) that attempts to describe what the sighted person takes for granted — those images that a person who is blind or visually impaired formerly could only experience through the whispered asides from a sighted companion. In theaters, in museums, and accompanying television, film, and video presentations, Audio Description is commentary and narration which guides the listener through the presentation with concise, objective descriptions of new scenes, settings, costumes, body language, and “sight gags,” all slipped in between portions of dialogue or songs.
Audio description describes the visual content of video or multimedia programs. It provides individuals who are visually impaired with information that further describes the visual content not provided in the primary audio track. Audio description is a separate audio track synchronized with the program’s primary audio track. An audio description narrator describes actions, gestures, scene changes, and other visual information. The narrator also describes titles, speaker names, and other text that may appear on the screen. Audio description should be carefully scripted and is best produced by trained professionals.
