Audio Description Links - April 2026

01 May, 2026

Welcome to Vivid Language, a monthly round-up thing about interesting audio description things. A small anniversary: I've been doing this for two years now. Hurrah!

Links were a bit thin this month, so I cheated and found a couple of interesting older links. I'm allowed to do this. It's definitely a rule that I can do this. I've just written it down in the rules so it's offical.

Podcasts

• Close Up with Anna Capezzera, Director of Accessibility At Deluxe (The Dark Room)

  Alex and Lee are joined by special guest Anna Capezzera, who is the director of accessibility at Deluxe. This global media and entertainment services company provides audio description, captions, and other accessible options. In our discussion, Anna chronicles her journey into accessibility, talks about her current role at Deluxe, and touches on raising puppies for guide dog training.

• The Darkroom Returns: On Credits, Craft, and What Belonging Sounds Like (The ADNA Presents)

  Alex Howard and Lee Pugsley are back on The ADNA Presents, and a lot has changed since their first visit.

  The Darkroom podcast hosts and co-founders of the Blind Film Critic Society join Roy Samuelson for a conversation about what it means when blind critics evaluate Audio Description -- not just as consumers, but as people who can now name the performers, writers, and engineers responsible for the work.

  They talk about why crediting the full Audio Description team is gaining ground, how the back catalog movement is raising the bar for quality, and what it looks like when the field shifts from technical compliance to genuine artistic contribution. Alex also shares something personal: that bad Audio Description at a movie theater still makes him feel like he doesn't belong. It's a quiet, honest moment that says something important about what's actually at stake.

  The Blind Film Critic Society is growing. Darkroom is expanding its scope. And the conversation about who gets credited -- and who gets to evaluate that work -- is getting sharper.

• Dr. Cynthia Bennett: Who Gets Left Out When We Build for Access (The ADNA Presents)

  Dr. Cynthia Bennett is a blind researcher at Google who studies the AI systems that are supposed to serve blind people. She found out blind people were making Audio Description, and she, a blind person, had no idea. That gap changed how she works. In this conversation, we get into what authentic representation actually requires, why "good enough" accessibility protects the wrong people, and the tool she helped build so blind professionals can finally create AD themselves.

Articles

• AI is now used for audio description. But it should be accurate and actually useful for people with low vision (Blind Citizens Australia)

  Since the recent explosion of widely available generative artificial intelligence (AI), it now seems that a new AI tool emerges every week.

  With varying success, AI offers solutions for productivity, creativity, research, and also accessibility: making products, services and other content more usable for people with disability.

• Accessibility in Museums: The Art of Writing Audio Descriptions (ArtsHelp)

  One starting point in crafting effective audio descriptions is to seek advice through collaboration and co-design. Sarah Barron and Sarah Empey are innovators in this field and have been kind enough to share their expertise with me.

Research Papers

• An Analysis of Audio Descriptions in Ads for Blind and Visually Impaired Consumers (Advertising & Society Quarterly)

  This study focuses on ads designed for blind and visually impaired consumers, more specifically, through audio description. While brands and products rely on visual cues to lure consumers, little is known about how brands communicate with blind and visually impaired consumers about their products and services. An analysis of ads using audio description shows that brands under-describe their products and often leave out important information (e.g., spokesperson identity). Further, the findings of this study suggest that the audio descriptions used in ads are text-dense, which could make processing the persuasive attempt difficult. The results of this study further researchers' and practitioners' understanding of how to provide more inclusive access to product information to visually impaired and blind consumers.

Audio and Engineering Links

• How To Get Started in Voiceover: SET YOUR LEVELS | PT 4 (Youtube)

  How to properly set your levels for recording voiceovers using a couple of different methods, and some of the reasons why.

Social Media

• Skills matter—more than anything—when you’re an AD (Audio Description) writer. (LinkedIn)

  As an AD writer, you don’t have the luxury of long descriptions or expressive paragraphs. You work in fragments of time — sometimes just 2–3 seconds—where every word must land perfectly.

• What is audio description? (LinkedIn)

  You are the artist. You paint the picture in the mind’s eye. So don’t just describe the film—feel it.

• Can fashion shows be accessible for blind people? (LinkedIn)

  I’m honored to highlight this initiative by Hair & Care, and I want to see more change in the fashion industry.

• Creative Captions (LinkedIn)

  Captions are becoming more creative. That sounds exciting until you think about who gets left behind.