Audio Description Software Tools

This Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the expanding field of audio description, the practice of rendering the visual elements of a multimodal product such as a film, painting, or live performance in the spoken mode, for the benefit principally of the blind and visually impaired community. This volume brings together scholars, researchers, practitioners and service providers, such as broadcasters from all over the world, to cover as thoroughly as possible all the theoretical and practical aspects of this discipline. The chapter Audio description software provides an overview of software tools to create audio descriptions and illustrates how this type of technology can be used by trainers and trainees. The chapter first lists some AD software available on the market through a subscription or freely available online. The experience of the author with an online AD software, a group of Master students and a blind collaborator/co-author is described in order to illustrate the benefits and challenges of using AD technology in AD training and to produce film audio descriptions. The chapter then focuses on the newly developed software AD Author, highlighting its functions and applications. Useful websites and publications on AD software/technology are provided in the references section.