Selina Mills

Lend me your ears | 22 February 2018

Audio description is now a presence in almost all the arts – and even at football matches

Audio description, or AD, as it is fondly called, is coming of age. Once consigned to the utility room of grey voices reading boring cues to inform blind people what was going on on stage or screen, AD is now a dynamic narrative form that is findinga presence in almost all the arts (from opera, theatre and film to art galleries and museums). It is so widespread and well done that many consider it an art form in itself.

For the uninitiated, audio description simply provides a listener, through headphones or a TV speaker, with the essential details of the action and events in a film or play during a convenient pause. When done well, it does not intrude on an audience’s experience of the play, the acting or the director’s intention, but instead shapes and enhances it.

Over the past few weeks, for instance,I have seen quite a few shows in the West End and at the National Theatre that have ‘audio described’ performances. As usual, AD gives me access to precise facial cues that I, as a blind person, would never see. At Amadeus at the National I am informed through my earpiece that ‘She [Mozart’s wife] looks at the palms of her hands sadly, and softly turns away’. I was also told about the physicality of the orchestra, which was an integral part of the action on stage. And if you like musical shows (which I don’t) AD can really change the game. At Pinocchio (also at the National), having someone describing how a dancer moves –– swivel, turn, bend, tap — really does give you the sense of how a body works on-stage and how it interacts with others.

Audio description is also increasingly available via media and streaming providers, and here the quality of description is really improving.

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