ABSTRACT
The American Council of the Blind (ACB) Recipient of the 2022 Dr. Margaret Pfanstiehl Audio Description Achievement Award for Research and Development
This Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the expanding field of audio description, the practice of rendering the visual elements of a multimodal product such as a film, painting, or live performance in the spoken mode, for the benefit principally of the blind and visually impaired community. This volume brings together scholars, researchers, practitioners and service providers, such as broadcasters from all over the world, to cover as thoroughly as possible all the theoretical and practical aspects of this discipline.
In 38 chapters, the expert authors chart how the discipline has become established both as an important professional service and as a valid academic subject, how it has evolved and how it has come to play such an important role in media accessibility. From the early history of the subject through to the challenges represented by ever-changing technology, the Handbook covers the approaches and methodologies adopted to analyse the “multimodal” text in the constant search for the optimum selection of the elements to describe.
This is the essential guide and companion for advanced students, researchers and audio description professionals within the more general spheres of translation studies and media accessibility.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part One|44 pages
Accessibility and blindness
chapter 2|11 pages
Access services for the blind and partially sighted
part Two|88 pages
A theoretical overview
chapter 8|16 pages
“Ut pictura poesis”
part Three|120 pages
Audio description sectors
chapter 14|14 pages
Visitor studies
part Four|65 pages
Stakeholders
chapter 16|15 pages
The audio description professional
part Five|91 pages
Innovation and technology
part Six|73 pages
Practices
part Seven|33 pages
Training
part Eight|105 pages
National case studies