ABSTRACT

Audio description (AD) is a form of assistive audiovisual translation that provides access to audiovisual products, primarily for people who are blind or partially sighted. The TransMedia Catalonia Research Group at the Autonomous University of Barcelona has been hosting the biannual Advanced Research Seminar on AD since 2007. The most significant and comprehensive project conducted on AD to date is Audio Description: Lifelong Access for the Blind (ADLAB), funded by the European Union and coordinated by Christopher Taylor at the University of Trieste in Italy. A. Maszerowska et al., an output of the ADLAB project, uses a single source text – Quentin Tarantino’s 2009 film Inglourious Basterds – as a springboard for contributors to discuss some of the most challenging aspects related to AD. L. Fryer and Romero-Fresco focus on audio introductions, which offer a powerful way of providing the audience with rich contextual and stylistic information to optimize their experience of a film or performance.