Audio Description Links - March 2026

02 Apr, 2026

Vivid Language is a monthly link round-up about audio description, and things interesting to audio describers.

(Short Rant: I loathe "April Fools Day". None of it is funny, very little of it is clever, and in the end it's just noise, congitive drain. In the attention-economy it captures then squanders that attention with a 10 year old "ha ha fooled you". It just makes me tired, and I'm already tired.)

Anyway, I have just signed up to the Audio Description Association in the UK and am hoovering up their fantastic treasure-trove of audio description discussions and resources. A lot of theatre directed discussions, but also covers buildings, museums, gardens and a number of topics that have general interest and overlap with film and television. It's one way of getting some training and insight from the best in the UK!

Of note this month I think is the Hyperfixed podcast. If you're new to audio description, it's a great introduction to various issues of AD, and I love the host's dawning realisation that making a custom audio description track for someone is an incredible amount of labour, and the end product is unable to be shared with the world because it's a derivative of a copyright work. The DARCI interview with Marie Campbell is excellent also.

I haven't listened to all the podcasts yet, and I suspect one may be a duplicate of the other.

Podcasts

• Interview with Lily Norton of Stopgap (DARCI)

  In this interview, Lily explains how Stopgap Dance’s approaches to accessibility reshape practice, broaden disabled artist representation, and underscore inclusive leadership, while also normalising disability in creative work.

• Interview with Marie Campbell (DARCI)

  In this episode, Mariana interviews Marie Campbell, an expert in Audio Description and the AD Excellence Lead at Red Bee Media. Marie and Mariana discuss the craft of Audio Description, focusing on creativity, editorial challenges, and inclusive approaches to describing diversity for blind and visually impaired audiences.

• The Festival Season: Sundance & Slamdance Unpacked

  Alex and Lee share their 2026 film festival experiences at the Sundance and Slamdance film festivals, recap the films they saw, and recount some fun stories. Plus, they touch on the Warner Bros. sale drama.

• Chris's Watchlist (hyperfixed)

  This week - Chris is a movie lover, and there are dozens of classics he's desperate to watch. But he can't. Alex tries to help him.

• Blind Film Critics Society 2025 Awards (The Dark Room)

  Alex and Lee are joined by special guests, John Stark and Ren Leach, to present the 2nd annual Blind Film Critics Society nominations and awards, which honor the best in cinema for 2025.

• Blind Film Critics Give the Oscars Their Own Awards (The ADNA Presents)

  Lee Pugsley and Alex Howard of The Dark Room watched this year's Oscar ceremony with audio description on, and they brought friends. John Stark, and the newest Blind Film Critic Society member Ren Leach, join them to hand out their own awards, debate the night's surprises and snubs, and reflect on what it actually felt like to experience the telecast as a blind audience member.

  They get specific. Who got named from the stage, which nominated films still don't have audio description, and what the Marlee Matlin captioning moment means for the conversation ahead.

• Interview with SightlessKombat (DARCI)

  Mariana speaks with accessibility consultant and gamer SightlessKombat about the realities of playing and creating video games as a blind person. They explore the progress, frustrations, and future of game accessibility, from audio design to inclusive development practices. The conversation highlights why accessibility isn’t just for a few players, but essential for everyone.

Articles

• A New (and Improved!) Way to Watch TV (Experimental Living With A.J Jacobs)

  I was watching the Agatha Christie miniseries The Seven Dials, and one of the characters broke out into a fake smile. The audio describer put it this way: “Her smile doesn’t reach her eyes.”

  So good! The describer could have said, “she put on a strained smile.” But this phrasing -- “her smile doesn’t reach her eyes” – is so much more evocative. (I checked, and the phrase did not appear in Agatha Christie’s book; it seems to be original to the audio describer)

• A Historical Record of Accessible Films & Events for the Blind in Indonesia: A Simple Research Study

  Since the establishment of Komunitas Audio Description Indonesia, I have not only gathered information from my own database, online research, and input from colleagues in the blind, film, and arts communities, but also connected with an increasing number of people who are doing their best to create films and organize events with audio description (AD) in Indonesia. In this updated version, I share some interesting information about their works.

• How Blind Audiences Experience Movies (Curveball Conversations)

  Join bestselling author, filmmaker, and disability advocate Kristin Smedley for the first episode of Curveball Conversations, a new livestream series exploring the people and ideas changing how the world sees blindness.

  In this conversation, Kristin sits down with Alexander Howard, an entertainment professional and audio description advocate who brings both industry insight and lived experience as a person with low vision.

  Together they’ll explore:

  • What audio description is and how it works

  • Why accessibility should be built into filmmaking from the beginning

  • The experience of attending Sundance Film Festival as a visually impaired professional

  • Why millions of people with vision loss love movies when they can access them

  • The surprising gap in accessibility across today’s major streaming platforms

  Alex is a graduate of RespectAbility’s Entertainment Lab for professionals with disabilities and is passionate about ensuring the stories being told in film and television are accessible to everyone who wants to experience them.

• Accessible Audio Description (Chax Chat Accessibility Podcast)

  This episode of Chax Chat features guest Roy Samuelson, a renowned audio description performer and consultant, who discusses the craft and impact of audio description in making video content accessible to blind and visually impaired audiences. The conversation covers the nuances of producing effective audio descriptions, the artistic and technical roles involved, and practical guidance for organizations looking to implement audio description in their media. Chad, Dax and Roy also emphasize the broader benefits of accessible content, drawing parallels between audio description and other forms of accessibility. they also share actionable tips for including blind professionals in the process and leveraging new features on platforms like YouTube for inclusive content delivery.

• Recording Pickups for Audio Description - A 10-minute Crash Course (Youtube)

  Audio describer and producer Kyle Warwick-Matthieu from Canada demonstrates techniques for recording pickings for audio description, using Logic Pro software.

• Building a Dialogue Mixing Chain (Order Matters) (YouTube)

  Most dialogue chains aren’t wrong — they’re just out of order. And that’s enough to break a mix.

  In this livestream, I’m building a real-world dialogue mixing chain from scratch, focusing on what actually matters: DSP order, decision-making, and subtlety.

• Why Your Voice Recording Still Needs Work (Even After Processing) (YouTube)

  In this video, I walk through a real voice recording submission and demonstrate why processing can improve your sound—but still fall short if the raw audio capture isn’t right. You’ll hear a before-and-after comparison using EQ, compression, and other tools, and I’ll show you exactly what I’m listening for when I diagnose audio. We’ll look at issues like gain staging, frequency imbalance, and how your room and microphone placement affect the final result. More importantly, this is a clear example of the difference between processing that refines your sound and processing that’s forced to compensate for underlying problems. If your audio sounds better after processing but still doesn’t feel natural, consistent, or “finished,” there’s a good chance the issue starts in your raw recording—not your plugins. I’ll also briefly touch on something many voiceover artists overlook: how your background and experience can actually be a strength in your positioning, not a weakness.

Research Papers

• Audio Described vs. Audiovisual Porn: Cortisol, Heart Rate and Engagement in Visually Impaired vs. Sighted Participants (Frontiers in Psychology)

  Audio description remains the cornerstone of accessibility for visually impaired audiences to all sorts of audiovisual content, including porn. Existing work points to the efficacy of audio description to guarantee immersion and emotional engagement, but evidence on its role in sexual arousal and engagement in porn is still scant. The present study takes on this challenge by comparing sighted and visually impaired participants’ experiences with porn in terms of their physiological response.

• The impact of film audio description style on presence in Chinese visually impaired audiences (Frontiers in Psychology)

  This study investigates the impact of film audio description (AD) styles on dimensions of presence—spatial presence, engagement, ecological validity, and negative effects—among visually impaired audiences in China. Two distinct styles of AD were evaluated: objective AD and subjective AD.

Social Media

• As a blind QCer, what are the biggest issues you find or that annoy you? What are the top 3 issues that you flag? (Facebook)

  Margo Ravel-Tone asks the question of the biggest issues that annoy audio description consumers.