As we left the cinema I felt oddly bereft. I was already missing my invisible friend interpreting the sighted world for me through my headset. How illuminating it would be, I thought, if audio description existed in real life and not just at the movies.
Hannah Thompson, via hannah-thompson.blogspot.co.uk
In other media (particularly film) audio description is commonplace. Audio description is a an additional spoken audio track that describes what is happening visually for the benefit of people who might not be able to see or process it effectively (or at all). It is usually communicated through natural breaks in the audio, or less commonly by pausing the media while the description is spoken out.
In recent years it has begun to appear in games too, first for trailers and now for cinematics and some scripted gameplay events.
Audio description aims to communicate as much as possible of the information that is conveyed through sound; actions, facial expressions, character appearances, environments, on-screen text. Not all of this can be communicated at all times, so it is prioritised according to how much can fit into any particular gap.
For example:
Describer: A title, “Teaching Evolution Case Studies. Bonnie Chen.” A teacher shows photographs of birds with long, thin beaks.
Bonnie Chen: “These photos were all taken at the Everglades.”
Describer: The teacher hands each student two flat, thin wooden sticks.
Bonnie Chen: “Today you will pretend to be a species of wading bird that has a beak like this.”
Describer: The teacher holds two of the sticks to her mouth making the shape of a beak.
Dynamic real-time content presents obvious challenges for audio description. However cut-scenes may be a good place to start, particularly where gameplay is already accessible to blind or low vision players.
Best practice examples:
Additional information
- American Council of the Blind's draft guidance on audio description for games
- Conference talk on the implementation of Mortal Kombat 1's audio description
- I love theatre and I’m blind. Here’s how that works
- Netflix gives blind fans of Daredevil the audio descriptions they asked for
Category & Level:
- Vision (Advanced)