The Evolution of Audio Description

The Evolution of Audio Description
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Institutional Affiliations
Course Name and Number
Due Date
The Evolution of Audio Description
The concept of audio description arose from the need to avail the same audio-visual experiences to visually impaired persons, such as theatre shows, TV shows, and films. Moreover, other environments such as the museum, gallery exhibitions, and sporting events also sought to accommodate the particular category (Zabrocka, 2018). Greening and Rolph define audio description (AD) as the addition of a descriptive narrative to complement critical visual elements in audio-visual media (Dнaz-Cintas et al., 2007). The AD is strategically incorporated between natural pauses to prevent corruption of the original audio. Zabrocka (2018) records that the other soundtrack is often fitted between dialogues to enable the visually impaired persons to acquire details that the sighted audience readily perceives by sight. The AD includes features such as the character’s facial expression, gestures, on-stage action, time of the day, and the background scenery. As a result, these aspects do not necessitate verbal depictions for the sighted audience, but they are indispensable for the visually impaired to comprehend the programs. Greening & Rolph identify the AD’s primary purpose as the description of the images that are key to conveying the storyline so that the visually impaired persons not only experience the whole picture and the full story but also enjoy the presentations wholesomely (Dнaz-Cintas et al., 2007). This paper tracks the means and the process of actualizing the audio description concept.
The journey to the development of the AD began in the US. According to Snyder (2005), the concept was the subject of the thesis of a master’s student, Gregory Frazier, in San Francisco in the 1970s. However, the idea perhaps only represents the explicit and systematic description of the process. A decade earlier, an employee at the blind education proposed an explanation to facilitate a practical film experience for blind persons. Chet Avery conceived the idea after hearing of a program for captioning films for deaf people at the institution (Snyder, 2005). However, the relevant organizations overlooked Avery’s advocacy, which emphasized the employment of blind persons rather than investing in the proposed project. Avery’s endeavors eventually came to fruition after a theater sought its counseling on accessibility issues. The AD concept finally invaded the entertainment industries across the continents, with the firms striving to pioneer the accommodation of visually impaired audiences. Zabrocka (2018) records that the research on AD has diffused from pioneering nations such as the US, Great Britain, and Spain to other world countries. There are also so many firsts that accompany the development of technology. Thus, tracking the growth of AD should not remain distracted by the claims of the first conception or first improvement of the technology.
The adoption of the technology has varied across the regions, with the developed countries anticipated to be more inclined to embrace the technology than the developing countries. Jessica Yeung argues that developing countries prioritize investment in medical provisions and surgeries for the visually impaired (Dнaz-Cintas et al., 2007). Indeed, these are basic needs. The implementation is reactional projects such as the audio description become stifled by the inadequacy of resources. For instance, Yeung parallels the adoption of AD in developing mainland China and its developed neighbor, Japan. People recognize Japan for establishing AD’s first regular broadcast service in 1983 (Dнaz-Cintas et al., 2007). The two-hour television program incorporated an AD as a fixed part of the production to ensure visually impaired audiences and the sighted audience had to endure the descriptive soundtrack. In the West, the Independent Television Commission launched the Audetel project between 1992 and 1995 in the UK to enhance the television viewing for the blind and the visually impaired (Dнaz-Cintas et al., 2007). The AD growth in the UK took a trajectory of institutionalization with the enactment of policies facilitating the incorporation of AD in television programming. The evolution culminated in the declaration by Ofcom that the television audience should embrace the privilege of accessing AD-enabled programs under the AD category (Dнaz-Cintas et al., 2007). The prototypes in both the East and the West demonstrate that AD technology is a global reality.
The optimization of the AD technology lies in several features. First, the AD occurs in two modes, either as a narration or a description (Fryer, 2016). While the narrations depict the characters and location, the description highlight the visual details. Fryer (2016) indicates the UK ADA esteem the narration above the description as a “need to know” against a “nice to know.” Nonetheless, the report remains essential in improving the overall experience of the visually impaired audience beyond mere information. This aspect does not exhibit any general rules of thumb, so one must assess the presentations on a case-by-case basis to determine the appropriate approach. Whereas specificity remains recommended in some instances, details may emerge as burdening (Vandaele, 2012). This aspect demonstrates a novice mistake, according to Fryer (2016). Stakeholders should maintain a proper balance between the two elements. One can also only achieve either status through word choice. Trends indicate that brevity becomes a guarantee through the elimination of modifiers. Individuals expect a describer to hone observation skills and language well enough to avoid unnecessary modifiers that fill in for unprecise identification (Fryer, 2016). Thus, they should use adverbs and adjectives in moderation. Nonetheless, sometimes the modifiers become fundamental when the exact word that describes the situation is in minimal use, delaying the audience’s comprehension. A listener risks missing subsequent soundtrack sections while contemplating a word from the former area.
The other determinant in AD is cultural reference. Different phrases have varying implications in various cultures. As a result, the exportation of a term to a foreign culture without adequate interpretation is barely helpful to the audience. While the sighted audience can visually perceive an entirely new expression, the blind persons cannot even glimpse. They will be utterly baffled when there is no proper depiction and interpretation. The AD should incorporate sufficient information for the sense-making of the peculiarities. The concept of balance still applies. Fryer (2016) recounts a quip that AD creation faces challenging events because few details deprive the audience while too much interpretation patronizes the audience. In turn, the audience becomes deprived of the pleasure of synthesizing the scenes independently. Another significant barrier to proper AD translation is ambiguity. An ambiguous statement allows for multiple interpretations so that one does not readily achieve the true meaning. Homonyms are a common source of obscurity due to the similarity in spelling or pronunciation but d...