My work in the field of sound design for visually impaired people started back in 2008/2009 with my MA dissertation at the University of York, which focused on the creation of a novel format of sonic art which I called ‘audio film’, which aimed to tell a story without the need for any visuals or narrators and instead relying on sound, sound processing and audio spatialisation. That work was presented and published as part of the 15th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD), Copenhagen, Denmark, 18-22 May 2009.

Since then I have worked on developing ‘Enhanced Audio Description (EAD)’ together with my colleague Gavin Kearney. EAD is an alternative to Audio Description in which sound design is used as a vehicle for accessibility for visually impaired film and television audiences. Rather than relying on a narrator’s voice to describe what is on screen, EAD uses sound effects, audio spatialisation and first person narration/description to provide an accessible experience. EAD is smoothly integrated to the soundtrack of a production, thanks to close collaborations with writers, directors and producers. We also work closely with visually impaired people to evaluate our productions, all our work is evaluated by a focus group before release.

EAD is a method developed by myself and Gavin and we are the official producers of EAD content. If you are interested in collaborating with us in making your films and television productions accessible, please get in touch at mariana.lopez@york.ac.uk. If you have been inspired by our work, please don’t forget to cite/acknowledge us. If you have come across work that is labelled as EAD and hasn’t been produced by us, it is not EAD.

Research on this topic has been and is possible thanks to two research grants from the AHRC.  Our first project ran from 2016-2018, and our second very exciting stage of research started in November 2021, thanks to a £1m grant from the AHRC to continue our research.  Please visit our main project website for more information on the project.

As part of the project, Krisztián Hofstädter, Chaimae Alouan and myself produce the DARCI Podcast on Disability, Accessibility and Representation in the Creative Industries.