Audio Description Links - May 2025
Feeling a little better this month!
Today, in 2025 — the “AI” era — the future of the internet feels to me a lot like curation. Search engines are deliberately hobbled to profitably keep you on their sites longer (or not to leave them at all). A useful link may be 10 pages deep on a search-engine that prioritises the gamed results of SEO or swamped by generated slop, or its nuance and complexity may be reduced to a summary by an AI; it may surface, once, briefly, on a social-media feed and then sink forever.
We must now be our own search engines. We must collect. We must categorise. We must cultivate. That's the reason for this series of posts.
This month we see the return of Liz Gutman's Access Fuckery, which I am now including episode by episode, because, you know, it's great! While it seldom touches on audio description, the broader topic of accessibility is highly relevant to our field and, anyway, Liz Gutman gives all the appearance of being an amazing human being.
Also we have Roy Samuelson's ChatGPT experiment. Editorialising a little here, it seemed to me to be a novel idea, but I found it an unconvincing demonstration of his thesis. My personal reaction was that neither felt like an organic conversation, but the TTS voice actually felt more authentic to the material, where I found the human voice was difficult to listen to because the generated material seemed to have all the vapid and breathless enthusiasm of a press release and the sustained tone of that, even by a trained vocal performer, felt entirely artificial. A subjective experiment anyway, but one worth doing. But I'm just “a guy on the internet”; listen and judge for yourself!
Podcasts
- The 2025 Blind Film Festival Experience (The Dark Room)
Alex and Lee discuss their 2025 experiences at Sundance and Slamdance film festivals, including a recap of the movies they saw there. They also chat about the aspects of film festivals they appreciate in terms of accessibility, as well as identifying areas of continued growth they would like to see.
- Introducing The Blind Film Critics Society (The Dark Room)
Alex and Lee are pleased to welcome special guest, John Stark, to the show as we proudly introduce the Blind Film Critics Society (BFCS). The BFCS was formed to bring blind and low vision voices to the film criticism space, and we are honored to present the nominations and winners for the first annual BFCS awards. Please note that our selections represent the 2024 calendar year in film.
- An Interview With ChatGPT (The ADNA Presents)
 In this episode, I interview ChatGPT and we explore the multifaceted world of audio description. We discuss the importance of emotional nuance and high quality narration in creating immersive experiences for blind audiences, the challenges of balancing quality with scalability, and the potential role of synthetic voices in the future.
- ChatGPT Interview with Human Voice (The ADNA Presents)
Last week was the interview with ChatGPT, with its synthetic voice. Here's the twist — today is the same interview, this time featuring Rebecca Davis, AD Performer, giving her take on the script. Enjoy!
- Myles Hunt on Mad Lib Fuckery (Access Fuckery)
The universal rule of three “What"s. Myles Hunt is hard of hearing and proud hearing aid wearer visual artist based out of Brooklyn, NY specializing in a myriad of mediums.
- Jillian Curwin on Holistic Fuckery (Access Fuckery)
I'm sorry, the accessible bathroom is *where*? Jillian Curwin is an advocate, blogger and host of the Always Looking Up podcast.
Articles
- 'Flow' adapted for people with visual impairments
Gints Zilbalodis' animation film "Flow" has already become the most watched film in Latvian history, and now people with visual impairments will also be able to enjoy it, as the film is available with audio description.
- Finding the Joy in Alt-Text
My belief is that we should begin to care a little more deeply about alt text, not because it is mandatory or useful, but because it is a joyful little creation of the internet in its own right.
- AI Text To Speech Cost Comparison (Daisy.org)
We investigated the cost of using AI voice services to convert a single typical book to synthetic audio, selecting five leading services.
- Inside the fight to make Audio Description a non-negotiable part of the film industry By Emma Cieslik
A crucial tool for visually impaired cinema lovers yet often undervalued by the industry, it’s about time that audio description’s worth is heard.
- It’s time to start talking seriously about ad accessibility (Creative Brief)
Advertising accessibility. It’s been a priority for ISBA since it was raised by our Inclusion Network at the end of . There are 18 million people in the UK who have a sight and/or hearing impairment. That’s a population double the size of London that advertisers are missing by not having subtitles or audio description.
- Ombudsman Investigation Report
(Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
An astonishing complaint to the ABC about race being audio described.
- The First App in Italy Dedicated to Audio-Descriptive Commentary Debuts at San Siro (AC Milan)
In line with its ongoing commitment to promoting a culture of inclusivity and maximum accessibility, AC Milan officially launches Connect Me Too at San Siro today, Saturday 24 May, during the match against Monza, scheduled for 20:45 CEST. It is the first app in Italy dedicated to audio description for blind and visually impaired Rossoneri supporters.
Papers
- Exploring the Inclusive Potential of Audio Description (PDF File) by Mohammad Reza Ghaffari
This article analyzes the inclusive potential of AD, tracing the historical evolution of AD from its initial beginnings in the 1980s to the current day as a recognized form of audiovisual translation.
This study invites further investigation of the broader applications of AD, encouraging its use in different environments, including education, virtual reality, and interactive narratives. Seen in this light, the current study highlights AD’s potential to facilitate inclusivity and accessibility across society, for a wide variety of users beyond its current target ones.
Audio Description Introductions.
- Cleaner - AD Introduction
Martin Campbell’s high octane thriller Cleaner stars Daisy Ridley as Joanna "Joey" Locke. The story begins with Joey’s troubled upbringing in an abusive household, living in a modest, cluttered flat in West London’s striking Trellick Tower.
Video
- Tell Me Why game trailer with Audio Description
With Vigilante audio description written by Robert Kingett, first, you will see regular, in line, audio description. Then, you will see expanded audio description. This particular version was for the Xbox.
Social Media
- On LinkedIn Giulia Marinaro writes about Exploring the Challenges of Audio Describing Anime
As a huge anime fan, I’ve always been fascinated by how complex and visually rich these animated series and films can be. With fast-paced action, unique characters, and detailed backgrounds, describing anime for those with visual impairments presents a real challenge. That’s why I’ve decided to explore this topic and dive into the key challenges of audio describing anime. Let’s take a closer look at what makes it so tricky!
(Actually this was from last month and I missed it because I couldn't find my "saved links" in LinkedIn).
- On Mastodon, Sara Soueidan asks the question When someone asks you, "why does accessibility matter?" or "why is accessibility so important?", what do you usually answer?
Events
- Audio Description for Television: Legislation, Policy and AI (Youtube)
The Centre for Culture and Technology (CCAT) at Curtin University held an online symposium on Friday 9 May 2025 exploring the challenges and changes in the creation of AD for television. This symposium aimed to highlight the history of the introduction of AD to Australian screens, revisit the call for legislative changes, and consider the current and future challenges to the creation of accessible television.
I missed the symposium (aaargh!), but the recording of this important event in the progress of Australian audio description is very easy to turn into an audio only podcast with yt-dlp software.
It was all interesting, but the panel and Q&A sessions were insightful and fantastic.
Miscellaneous Things
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I personally use the Linux operating system and software for writing audio description, editing audio and video, and for general every-day use. But Linux still has some serious accessibility issues. The following is the first in a series of powerful and moving posts about the problems and frustrating experience of using Linux as a blind person.
I Want to Love Linux, But it Doesn't Love Me Back
Another blind user is starting her journey with Linux and is going to document it here:
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An interesting podcast from CBC and Corey Doctorow: Understood: Who Broke the Internet?
It's not you — the internet really does suck. Novelist, blogger and noted internet commentator Cory Doctorow explains what happened to the internet and why you're tormented by ads, bots, algorithms, AI slop and so many pop-ups.
Spoiler alert: it wasn't an accident.
In a four-part series, Doctorow gets into the decisions made by powerful people that got us here, and most importantly, how we fix it.