Audio description
„Audio description can be called a key. One, which unlocks the door leading to culture, that makes it possible to understand people you who share it with you. There are movies that are good and those not that great, but it is good to have a chance to form your own opinion, to watch them, even if with the eyes of another. It is like being given a part of your normality back”.
Arek Perzanowski
The idea that led to creation of our company was to help the blind and the visually impaired in perception of art. From a variety of ways of help, we have decided to choose the technique of audiovisual translation, also known as audio description. This technique, still little known in Poland, has for many years been used in other countries. As audio description is a translation technique, we found it very fortunate that we were able to find a use for our skills to help the physically challenged. Below, we present a short description of this technique.
Audio description is a subfield of visual translation aimed at helping the visually impaired by providing an additional narration track containing description of visual elements of the movie or picture.
The detailed narration track allows the visually impaired to fully experience visual art and enjoy regular day activities, like visiting museums or watching movies and theatrical plays, unhindered by their condition.
Thus, apart from its practical implementations, audio description is also a means of educating society about the needs of people who perceive the world in a different way, yet are not different.
It is worth noting that audio description is a detailed description, rather than a narrative. Its focus is to provide the visually impaired with enough detailed information to be able to imagine a particular scene as accurately as possible. Therefore, the description must be both precise and impartial – it cannot sway the recipient’s emotions in any way, so as they can interpret the scene completely on their own.
