Audio description for successful communication between the sighted and the blind

The project investigates how people with visual impairment and blindness experience audio description, i.e. spoken narration of visual content in film. Despite the crucial role of audio description (AD) for making visual content accessible, surprisingly little is known about how non-sighted audiences actually understand these descriptions. Focus on reception of AD and the underlying cognitive processes has to date been largely ignored in the literature. The present project fills this knowledge gap and provides answers to the question of how people with visual impairment and blindness perceive, imagine and remember what is described. The project builds on the applicants’ more than 15 years of interdisciplinary research on cognitive mechanisms underlying AD. By using advanced methods, such as brain imaging, experiments and focus groups, the applicant has shown how voice quality, narrative detail, and segmentation of events affect understanding and enjoyment of AD. These studies bridge the gap between what sighted audio describers produce and what blind audiences in fact need. The goal of the project is to synthesize the results of this research into a unified monograph in English, building on articles in international journals and volumes authored by the applicant. The book will offer both theoretical insights into cognition and communication, and practical implications for training of audio describers, development of accessibility standards, and quality of user experience.