Open lecture: Audio description – in Sweden and in the world

Dr .Joel Snyder
Audio Description Association

Audio Description is a translation of images to words — the visual is made verbal — making media and the arts accessible principally for people who are blind or have low vision (more than 40 million Americans experience significant vision loss - American Foundation for the Blind, 2019). Using words that are succinct, vivid, and imaginative, audio describers convey the visual image for its principal constituency as well as people on the autism spectrum, people with ADHD, language learners, and sighted people who see but do not observe.

Topics include audio description history and theory as well as an overview of the "Four Fundamentals of Audio Description" ©:

• active seeing/visual literacy-developing skills in concentration and observation
• the art of "editing" from what you see
• vivid language skills
• vocal skills: using the spoken word to make meaning

Finally, Dr. Snyder will emphasize the importance of accessibility for people with disabilities as well as their close involvement in the crafting of audio description.

Bionote

Dr. Joel Snyder is known internationally as one of the world’s first “audio describers,” a pioneer in the field of Audio Description, a translation of visual images to vivid language for the benefit, primarily, of people who are blind or have a vision impairment: the visual is made verbal—and aural, and oral. Since 1981, he has introduced audio description techniques in over 40 states and 65 countries and has made hundreds of live events, media projects and museums accessible. In 2014, the American Council of the Blind published Dr. Snyder’s book, The Visual Made Verbal – A Comprehensive Training Manual and Guide to the History and Applications of Audio Description, now available in Braille, as an audio book voiced by Dr. Snyder, in screen reader accessible formats, and in seven languages: English, Polish, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, and Italian. Dr. Snyder is the President of Audio Description Associates, LLC and is the Founding Director Emeritus of the Audio Description Project of the American Council of the Blind.

Audio Description Associates, LLC

The Audio Description Project of the American Council of the Blind

Joel Snyder

Peter Lilliecrona
Syntolkning Nu

Peter Lilliecrona is a Swedish audio describer with more than 30 years of experience and is one of the people who have helped develop audio description in Sweden.

• He began working as an audio describer in 1990, while working at the Gothenburg City Theatre. He was introduced to audio description through the theatre and subsequently developed his own, more vivid way of describing stage performances.
• He is the founder of Syntolkning Nu, established in 2010, and serves as the organisation’s operations coordinator.
• He provides audio description for theatre, film, musicals, live events and television, and according to Syntolkning Nu, he has audiodescribed a very large number of different events throughout Sweden.
• After several years of audio describing at arenas, where he and other audio describers from Syntolkning Nu provided audio description for Melodifestivalen, the organisation was commissioned to be responsible for the first live audio description broadcast on Swedish television in 2012. This was followed by the Guldbagge Awards, Allsång på Skansen, and various television programmes.
• He has also written audio description scripts for feature films, including The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, James Bond: Spectre and No Time to Die, Sami Blood, and Eagles of the Republic.
• Sveriges Radio, Sweden’s national public radio broadcaster, has highlighted his work, including his involvement in film audio description and the development of audio description through
  mobile apps.

What particularly characterises Lilliecrona’s approach to audio description is his belief that it should not simply be a dry narration of what is happening. He has described the task as “lending out his eyes” – conveying what he sees and experiences through vivid and engaging language, while at the same time allowing the original performance to remain at the centre. The non-profit organisation Syntolkning Nu in Sweden has continued, without government funding, to plan and organise live audio description events across Sweden.