Audio Description Links - August 2025

2025-09-01

The August-ish, 2025-or-so, curated round up of audio description links, and things interesting to audio description creators/consumers of all abilities. Yes, I just kind of mashed up the Script Notes intro and The Dark Room intro there.

So much material this month, which I confess I haven't been able to listen to all of it yet. My cup runneth over! But definitely listen to Thomas Reid discussing film sound-design with Estevan Carlos Benson, very thoughtful and fun.

Podcasts

• Describing the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge (Reid My Mind Radio)

  We’re joined by Nic Novicki — comedian, actor, producer, and founder of the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge (EDFC).

  In the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge participants must make a film over one weekend and help change the way the world defines and views disability.

  We hear more about the challenges of providing access to the films, specifically audio description, which for the past two years has been provided by Social Audio Description Collective.

• Bridget interviews Roy part 1: A Voice Actor's Guide To Audio Description Performance Book (The ADNA Presents)

  Tables turned! Bridget Melton sat in the host chair for The ADNA Podcast, grilling me about my new book A Voice Actor's Guide to Audio Description Performance. We dug into privilege, allyship, and why I open the book by addressing the awkward-but-important question: “Why listen to a sighted guy talk about AD?”

• Bridget Interviews Roy part 2: A Voice Actor’s Guide To Audio Description Performance Book (The ADNA Presents)

  What if the voice guiding blind audiences through your favorite show was never credited? Or never even acknowledged?

  In part two of her conversation with Roy Samuelson, Bridget asks more insightful questions about the unseen artistry of Audio Description (AD). From the SAG Awards adding AD to both screeners and the live broadcast, to Netflix requiring crediting AD for performers as well as writers, this episode reveals how a behind-the-scenes craft is becoming a movement.

  Roy shares the origin of the ADNA, the push to get AD talent recognized by the Television Academy, and why AD is more than narration: it's performance, precision, and presence.

  They explore the rise of blind professionals in media, the power of proper tools and coaching, and the industry's slow but thrilling shift toward honoring every voice in the room.

• Close Up With Roman Howell, Live Audio Describer & Audiobook Narrator (The Dark Room)

  Alex and Lee chat with Roman Howell, live audio describer and audiobook narrator, about the nuanced differences of each type of narration.

• The Movie Lover Who Doesn't Give Up: John Stark, part 1 2025 (The ADNA Presents)

  Studios hate him. A blind film critic dropped one review on Rotten Tomatoes and suddenly producers are begging him to reconsider… and he might, if they add audio description in film. That's power. That's disruption. That's John Stark.

  And here's the kicker: he's proving exactly how audio description helps blind audiences experience films fully, while showing the industry why ignoring it costs them money, loyalty, and credibility.

• The Art of Listening (Reid My Mind Radio)

  In this latest episode, I sit down with Estevan Carlos Benson, artist, educator, musician, and composer, to explore how sound tells stories we don’t always "see".

  We dig into: How sound shapes mood, character, and story; Hidden audio “Easter eggs” like the "Wilhelm scream"; Practical tips for Blind and low vision audiences to get more from movies; Why listening differently can change the way we experience the world

  Whether you’re into film, accessibility, or just love great sound, this conversation will make you hear things in a whole new way.

• Behind the AD: The Penguin (The Dark Room)

  In this episode, we’re joined by Dakota Green and Ren Leech, the audio description writer and narrator, respectively, for the Emmy-nominated HBO series The Penguin. They share their creative process behind crafting AD for the dark, gritty Gotham world and discuss the power of inclusive storytelling through an authentically disabled AD team. Tune in for a behind-the-scenes look at making The Penguin accessible to blind and low-vision audiences.

• The Future of Audio Description (Curtin University)

  Welcome to the first episode of AD Conversations!

  In this episode, Dr Kathryn Locke, Fran Mathey and Polly Goodwin explore the future(s) of AD.

• Audio Description and Fans (Curtin University)

  Dr Kathryn Locke talks with describers Fran Mathey and Polly Goodwin about the impact of fans on AD (and about ‘that’ carriage scene from Bridgerton…)

  This podcast contains audio excerpts from Bridgerton, used solely for educational and critical discussion purposes under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act 1968.

• Audio Description and Representation (Curtin University)

  Dr Kathryn Locke and Polly Goodwin tackle the tricky subject of representation and AD.

• International Audio Description Part 1 — China (Curtin University)

  In the first episode of a two-part series, Dr Kathryn Locke explores AD in China

  For links to the research used to inform this podcast, please see the show notes on our website.

• International Audio Description Part 2 — Benshi (Curtin University)

  AD and Benshi: In this podcast, Polly Goodwin explores the art and craft of the Benshi, and how it aligns with – and differs from – audio description.

• International Audio Description — The Global South (Curtin University)

  In this episode, Dr Kathryn Locke speaks to PhD student, Chloe Rattray about audio description's reception in countries outside of Australia.

• Audio Description and Aging (Curtin University)

  In this episode, Dr Kathryn Locke and Polly Goodwin speak about AD's potential outside of those with low vision.

• Audio Description in Australia (Curtin University)

  In this episode of Focal Point (first broadcast on Vision Australia Radio), Professor Mike Kent talks about an upcoming symposium that will bring together audio describers, academics, advocates, and members of the broader ‘AD community’ to discuss the policies and standards for AD in Australia, with an emphasis on how they have evolved, what international contexts have informed this and what the future of AD may look like.

  This interview with Prof Mike Kent was undertaken by Vision Australia Radio in the lead up to our Audio Description Symposium, held October 18, 2024.

Historical Podcasts

• Holly Tuke on Problem-Solving for Fuckery (Access Fuckery)

  Disabled people are not the problem.

• Audio Description (1989-Present) – Public Television to Streaming to the Near Future w/ Thomas Reid (Acting Up with AJ)

  Audio description (AD) is a narration of important visual information in a video or multimedia product to make it more accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired. AD can provide context, clarify speakers, and describe visual elements that are not obvious from the audio, such as on-screen text, graphics, or actions. AD is often inserted into natural pauses in the program’s dialogue.

  Special Guest Thomas Reid is back in the house to discuss his role and historical expertise in the formation of Audio Description and its potential for future accessibility for the visually impaired.

Articles

• EdFringe Review: A Sudden, Disturbing To Do List (theQR.co.uk)

  Eleanor May Blackburn’s solo show A Sudden, Disturbing To Do List, directed by Emily Browning, focuses on Phoebe, a character who uses lists to organise her life. You do as well?

  Probably not quite to the extent that Phoebe does. The depth of power lists have over her existence is plumbed in this tightly written and well-acted show.

  It begins with an audio description to set the scene, making the show more accessible for visually impaired audiences by design, not adaptation. The staging is simple, a duvet, notebook, and handbag marking out Phoebe’s room, creating an intimate space that draws the audience in but with few distractions.

• Review: “Rainbow On Mars” opens new ways of seeing (Sesaya Arts Magazine)

  Rainbow on Mars follows a young woman confined to a Plato’s Cave-like environment, where human interaction takes place almost exclusively through screens and digital devices. When an accident destroys her device and leaves her blind, Iris is thrust into a disorienting new reality.

  Moving between dialogue, narration, and dance, the unfolding story is both intimate and expansive: a love story, a meditation on sight and identity, and an invitation to reimagine what it means to truly “see.”

  A major innovation is the incorporation of Inclusive Digital Audio (IDA). IDA differs from simple audio description, in that it is rooted in the perspective of blindness, rather than added to it as a supplement. So unlike conventional audio description, IDA sound from 360° weaves sound, description and narration directly into the dramaturgy.

• These are the best films of the century. So why aren't they audio described? (All Senses Go)

  Blind cinephile Alex Howard critiques the inaccessibility of the recent New York Times list, The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century.

Historical Articles

• Audio description and the AFI Top 100 List (All Senses Go)

  The American Film Institute's Top 100 Films list is full of iconic, classic and historical works of art that deserve to be experienced by anyone who wants to watch them. Part of this means ensuring that all of these films have audio description. I recently did research to see how many of the AFI Top 100 Films have audio description tracks available.

• Anti Racist Audio Description (Superior Description Services)

  Several professional Audio Describers describers and AD users collaborated to shape this list of best practices, which was originally presented as a manifesto in a talk at the Languages and the Media Conference in Berlin, September 2021. An early version written by Rebecca Singh appears in the Routledge Handbook to Audio Description.

Research Papers

• Putting violence against women into words: May ideology have an effect in audio description? (ResearchGate)

  Results from the analysis revealed that despite a homogeneous sample (women, left-wing and feminist) predicting a tendency to make the violence of the scene visible, participants employed strategies aimed at softening and omitting any element that would suggest to the audience that rape was taking place.

• Putting queerness into words: The audio description of Sex Education (ResearchGate)

  Netflix’s Sex Education (2019–2024) exemplifies diversity, presenting fresh views on sexuality and identity, especially in its final season, which featured more queer and intersectional characters. This paper examines the audio descriptions (AD) of the series, by means of a multimodal approach to analyse how queerness is constructed and represented in the audio described version of the audiovisual content.

Video

• Audio Descriptions (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

  Recently Behind the News added audio descriptions (via iview) to make the show more accessible to people who are blind or vision impaired. The change came about thanks to a fifth-grade student from Tasmania name Reece. We asked Reece to tell us about himself and how audio descriptions help him to enjoy his favourite shows.

Historic Videos

• How Audio Description Brings Stories to Life (SBS)

  Ever wondered how audio description enhances storytelling for blind and low vision audiences? 🧐

  Mike, an SBS audio description producer, shares how the service provides equal access to film and TV - describing action, emotion, and even intimate scenes with authenticity.

Social Media

• Shorthand for "Takes a Photo" (FaceBook)

  Has anyone come up with a shorthand way to say "takes a photo" or 'photographs' (as a verb, not a noun)?

• Point of View (FaceBook)

  How would you describe or talk about a Point of View shot, seen through the character's eyes?

• UK and US English Question (FaceBook)

  I feel like recently, when I'm consuming AD in US English with a US narrator, I'm starting to hear the British plural use for collective nouns, while the vocabulary otherwise remains in US English.

Resources

• Script Library (Arts Access Describer's Website)

  A large library of sample scripts for live theater audio description introductions.

• American Equivalents of British English Terms

  “I came up with this list of UK vs US terms for the writing team I was supporting a few years back. Feel free to steal/adapt as you wish!”

#Australia #China #Sex Education #The Penguin #accessibility #audio description #audio description introductions #sound design #violence