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Dealing with objects in audio description, and particularly with those objects that have a clear designer imprint or branding, is a complex matter when a brand name is part of the scene in a film. Deciding whether to describe or not, and how, becomes more than a technical matter that depends on text–image synchronization: it is a complex decision-making process comparable to other forms of audiovisual translation that needs to be approached as a paradigmatic example of intersemiotic translation. Davila-Montes and Orero address the audio description of branded objects in movies, and their intersemiotic translation from images to spoken words, a complex issue that may harbour additional insights into topics of a wider scope.

Sadowska’s chapter presents the origins and the development of audio description for press pictures in Poland. In particular, it focuses on audio description for young visually impaired readers of the press and how it is prepared by their sighted peers. This is done within the framework of the project developed by ‘De Facto’, which is the Polish Association of Work for People with Disabilities. ‘De Facto’ is the main provider of digitized press for the visually impaired in Poland. The author presents the inspiration of the project, its development and benefits.

Walczak presents the results of a study aimed at examining the influence of audio described films on foreign vocabulary acquisition among primary school learners with and without vision impairments. The study also tested whether audio description itself can help both sighted and partially sighted children to increase their lexical competence and better understand the content of educational movies. Finally, the study looked into whether audio describing educational films could prove helpful for young viewers with and without vision impairments, and more importantly, whether such audiovisual materials could become an additional didactic tool. The results showed that these hypotheses were supported and that it is worth introducing films with audio description into the school curriculum. The educational value of audio description was confirmed.

Over the past four decades video games have become a worldwide phenomenon and one of the preferred leisure options for many. However, game accessibility remains a pending issue, due to the visual and interactive nature of the medium. Mangiron and Zhang analyse the current state of game accessibility, particularly for the blind and visually impaired. They discuss the barriers and gaming options for this target group, such as audio games and ‘video-less’ games. Finally, the chapter explores the feasibility of applying audio description to video games, which would potentially enhance game accessibility for blind and visually impaired players.

Holsanova presents theoretical and methodological approaches relevant for the research on audio description (AD) and exemplifies the application of these approaches by studies on live AD of films conducted at Lund University. A cognitive, reception-oriented perspective on AD and the framework of embodied cognition are in focus. It is claimed that previous research on scene perception, scene description and mental imagery can be preferably adopted in the study of AD. It is further argued that an interdisciplinary framework, integration of theoretical approaches and triangulation of methods is necessary in order to investigate such a complex phenomenon as AD.

The chapter by Mazur and Chmiel reports on a study combining eye-tracking and reception study data to find out to what extent audio description beneficiaries appreciate eye-tracking based descriptions. In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 visually impaired respondents who saw videos either with audio descriptions based on eye-tracking data from sighted viewers and reflecting film language, or with audio descriptions based on long-established British audio description standards. The results seem to suggest that audio description should take into consideration the perception of sighted viewers. The findings also show that preferences are greatly determined by individual experience (such as prior exposure to audiobooks).

In an attempt to study memory operation in audio description, Fresno, Castella and Soler-Vilageliu present a reception study designed to explore which physical features of audio described characters are more frequently recalled and recognized by blind and visually impaired audiences. The results of this study indicate that age is the trait which shows a better recall and recognition by receivers, and that more physical features of characters are recalled and recognized when their descriptions are segmented. The findings of this research could provide tentative criteria for presenting and prioritizing information in professional audio description scripts.

The description of co-speech gestures is an under-researched area of audio description. This chapter draws attention to the concept of audio description strategies. As well as looking at the ways in which co-speech gestures are described in audio description, Jankowska and Zabrocka explore the methodological implications of including gesture types into analysis of gesture description. This chapter concludes with the results of a case study in the form of qualitative and quantitative analysis of a corpus of six professionally audio described films.

Matamala describes the ALST project, which aims to research the implementation of three technologies (speech recognition, machine translation and speech synthesis) in two audiovisual transfer modes (voice-over and audio description). Matamala focuses on the experiments related to audio description within the ALST project: firstly, tests in which speaker diarization and speech recognition systems were used to generate an audio description transcript; secondly, experiments in which the effort involved in creating, translating and post-editing an audio description were compared and, finally, tests in which end users assessed audio descriptions created using a text-to-speech system.

The European Commission has had an active role in promoting research and development activities in media accessibility. Many projects have been funded in the last decade, and two have been directed to piloting accessibility services for broadcasting. While subtitling has always been identified as the access service par excellence, audio description (AD) has been gaining importance lately. Pilar Orero presents two EU projects, DTV4ALL and HBB4ALL, where media accessibility is the focus. Developments and outcomes in AD are analysed, as well as the possibilities offered for its broadcast from analogue to digital. The last part of the chapter is dedicated to the future of AD in the new media scenario, where the Internet and broadcast converge to offer new hybrid possibilities for production, distribution and interaction.

Sueroj and Sarakornborrirak provide an overview of audio description on Thai Television. They map media regulation for people with disabilities in Thailand, and then describe audio description projects on Thai television, focusing on the impact of the digital switchover. Audio description research in Thailand is summarized, namely a project by Sarakornborrirak on audience needs and preferences, an analysis of the AD production process by Sueroj, an exploration of the audio description principles in Thailand by Karuchit, and an investigation of audio description for children by Janevatchararuk. Sueroj and Sarakornborrirak also detail the main training activities carried out in Thailand and present some thoughts on the future of audio description in Thailand.

For many decades, subtitles have been considered a useful but ungraceful tool. Indeed, while decoding foreign dialogue, they leave an unsightly mark on screen spoiling the viewer’s pleasure; a double-edged sword that Marleau (1982: 271) once defined as ‘un mal necessaire’, a necessary evil. Nonetheless, the cinema is an industry and all industries are oriented to consumer satisfaction. It therefore seems logical to expect that someday, someone would find a way of making captions more palatable. But how could a succession of words become acceptable, or even desirable? Should subtitles become totally unobtrusive or conversely more aesthetically pleasing and thus more visible? The answer should be left to the discretion of each viewer.

For almost a decade now, audio description (AD) has been a key topic at many audiovisual translation (AVT) conferences and in publications focusing on the issue of accessibility. As a relatively new audiovisual mode of translation, AD has been the subject of heated debates both on the relevance of images and how these should be put into words so that the target audience — vision impaired addressees — could make better sense of the original film soundtrack that, in the case of the blind, was the only source of information on the audiovisual product to which they had access. Regional and individual practices and research have resulted in a discussion concerning the adoption of norms nationally, norms that have ended up vying with each other. At the 2011 Media for All conference, held in London, it became clear that some scholars had begun to realize the futility or, indeed, point-lessness of the wish to nationalize or homogenize AD norms, believing that each audiovisual product should be unique owing to the fact that the audiences concerned are heterogeneous, both within and beyond national borders. The universality of norms is now out of the question and concerns about the uniqueness of the audiovisual product have become more important than simply following instructions on how to audio describe.

Today’s exposure to and interaction with audiovisual content is far greater now than ever before, and this has obvious repercussions for audiovisual translation (AVT), both as a professional practice and as an academic discipline. A recent report by Ofcom (2014), the independent communications regulator in the UK, revealed that UK adults spend an average of eight hours and 41 minutes using media or communications every day, and that approximately half of that time is spent watching audiovisual content. Of course, audiovisual practices differ across the globe. Whereas a large proportion of the audiovisual content consumed in the UK and other English-speaking countries involves AVT in the form of audio description for the blind and the partially sighted or subtitling for the deaf and the hard-of-hearing (SDH), the situation is rather different in other countries where, owing to the need to make foreign programmes available to local audiences, interlingual AVT modes are more frequent. However, some trends seem not to recognize boundaries and could even be deemed to be universal. Far-reaching technological developments and new forms of communication have given consumers and audiences a great deal of power and autonomy, enabling them to decide and influence decisions related to the translation of audiovisual content.

Scholars, such as Braun (2007) and Gambier (2006), have been calling for a cross-fertilization of disciplines concerned with the study of human communication in an attempt to gain a fuller understanding of the complex nature of audio description (AD). The AD script is a hyposemiotic text that uses the aural medium as the sole vehicle for relaying the input derived from visual stimuli, both iconic and verbal. The nonvocal visual and/or verbal input is conveyed as aural output consisting of vocal stimuli (both verbal and nonverbal). As it is the aural medium that is so prominent in AD, one would expect that research in this field would pay more attention to the aural dimension and that it would attract attention from disciplines related to spoken communication and media studies, such as radio broadcasting, television, advertising and film theory. A perusal of the existing literature on media communication reveals the potential of the aural dimension, from the characters’ vocal expression of emotion, to soundtrack, ambient sounds and special effects. While it is true that some scholars have highlighted the critical role of the aural medium in audiovisual products and their translation (Chion 1994; Diaz Cintas et al. 2007; Gottlieb 2005; Matamala 2005; Orero 2005; Salway and Palmer 2007), the true potential of the aural dimension has not yet been fully explored.

Audio description (AD) has been in existence in the Western world for more than 25 years and, in Europe, professional practices are being regulated through legislation and/or guidelines and codes of good practice (Orero 2007; Puigdomenech et al. 2010). In contrast, the development of AD in China is still at an early stage. According to the World Health Organization (2010: 5), with a total population of more than 1.3 billion inhabitants, China has approximately 75 million people with some kind of visual impairment, out of which 8 million are blind and 67 million have poor vision. Since AD services are not regulated by law, the provision of AD in mainland China is very limited at institutional level. After carrying out extensive research, it seems that only one public library, the China Braille Library (http://www.blc.org.cn), founded in Beijing in 2011, provides AD to cater for the special needs of those with some kind of visual impairment. The Audio Description Centre in this library consists of only three members of staff, who are responsible for both the writing and the delivery of audio described scripts. Audio described films are shown weekly, but only those who live in the city have ready access to these services. Nevertheless, the library uploads the audio described material on its official website to increase accessibility.

The UK’s Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) has defined audio description (AD) as ‘an enabling service for blind and partially sighted audiences […] describing clearly, vividly and succinctly what is happening on screen or theatre stage in the silent intervals between programme commentary or dialogue — in order to convey the principal visual elements of a production’.1 Essentially, it is an attempt to make accessible a work of theatre — or any other audiovisual production — for an audience who are either blind or have partial sight by giving in a verbal form some of the information which a sighted person can easily access.