Enhancing Audio Description II: Implementing accessible personalised and inclusive film and television experiences for visually impaired audiences

增强音频描述II项目旨在探索声音设计实践和空间音频的潜力，为视障观众提供无障碍的电影和电视体验。该项目提出了一种可访问体验的新范式，在这种范式中，不像传统的音频描述实践那样过度依赖叙述者的口头语言。相反，它利用了新的可访问性功能，包括：添加声音效果，对话和声音对象的空间化，以及第一人称叙述，以提供与电影或电视节目的原声无缝集成的可访问体验。从开发阶段到最后交付，这些技术将被纳入电影和电视工作流程。该项目建立在之前的研究基础上，这些研究证明了这些方法的成功，并通过专注于通过声音传达电影元素（如镜头类型，构图和镜头角度），探索在不同类型和不同演员规模中使用第一人称叙事的复杂性，进一步探索这些方法。以及探索如何将空间化技术适用于各种扬声器格式的多听众场景。这些方法的探索将以最终用户为中心，从设计过程到交付，都会咨询视障人士的意见。此外，该项目还将与代表影视行业不同角色以及最终用户的项目咨询小组合作，探索制定指导方针，将这些方法纳入专业广播管道和电影工作流程。这些指导方针将通过两集新播出的电视剧、一部纪录片短片和一部故事片来探讨。增强音频描述II探讨了如何通过不同的复制格式（耳机/扬声器）以及传统的访问形式来提供新的创造性的可访问性形式，允许最终用户选择最适合他们的格式。这将产生个性化的体验，承认视障观众在需求和偏好方面的多样性。增强音频描述II融合了音频技术和创意，拓宽了媒体可访问性的概念，提高了提供的质量和数量，为英国文化部门提供了前沿技术。

The Enhancing Audio Description II project seeks to explore the potential of sound design practices and spatial audio to provide accessible film and television experiences for visually impaired audiences. The project proposes a new paradigm in accessible experiences, in which there is not an overreliance on a narrator's spoken word, as in traditional Audio Description practices. Instead it utilises new accessibility features that include: the addition of sound effects, the spatialisation of dialogue and sounding objects, and first-person narration, to provide accessible experiences that are seamlessly integrated to the soundtrack of a film or television programme. These techniques would be integrated into film and television workflows from the development phase up to final delivery. The project builds up from previous research which demonstrated the success of these methods, and explores them even further, by concentrating on the conveyance of cinematographic elements (such as types of shot, composition and camera angles) through sound, the exploration of the intricacies of using first-person narration across different genres and different cast sizes, as well as exploring how spatialisation techniques can be adapted for multi-listener scenarios for a variety of loudspeaker formats. The exploration of these methods will be conducted with an end-user centred approach, in which visually impaired audiences are consulted from the design process up to delivery. Furthermore, the project explores the creation of guidelines that will allow the incorporation of these methods to professional broadcasting pipelines and film workflows, by collaborating with a Project Advisory Panel representative of the different roles in film and television as well as end users. These guidelines will be explored through two newly broadcast episodes of television drama, one short documentary film and a feature film. Enhancing Audio Description II explores how new creative forms of accessibility can be made available through different reproduction formats (headphones/loudspeakers) alongside traditional access forms, allowing end users to choose the format that works best for them. This would result in personalised experiences that acknowledge the diversity in needs and preferences of visually impaired audiences. Enhancing Audio Description II fuses audio technology and creativity to widen the notion of media accessibility and increase the quality and quantity of provision, providing cutting edge techniques to the UK cultural sector.