AD Fundamentals, Explained, Explored
Audio Description (AD) makes visual media accessible for people who are blind or who have low-vision, like how captioning supports widespread inclusion of people who are d/Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Here are the basics:
- AD makes visual media accessible to all: Audio Description (AD) refers to an audibilized and detailed description of an already existing piece of visual information, such as a photo, map, video, table, chart, etc.
- AD grows your audiences: When media are accessible, more people can enjoy them. That's good for business, whatever the business. Accessibility creates inclusion, which generates goodwill feelings of community and fellowship, across diverse stakeholders. Want to include 10 percent more people? Use AD.
- AD embodies "Nothing About Us Without Us": Projects that include people who are blind or who have low-vision from the earliest planning stages value lived experience as expertise and result in more accessible, effective, and enjoyable experiences for everyone.
- AD can be provided in many forms: Once a description is created, it can get delivered to its audiences in many ways, including through live audio, such as by human voice or synthetic voice, or prerecorded audio, and also as digital text heard via a screen reader or felt through a refreshable eBraille reader.
- AD is not just nice to do. It’s the law of the land: Accessibility has long been required under U.S. law, but new enforcement will soon raise the stakes. The Department of Justice’s final ruling on the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title II, set to take effect in April 2026, underscores and reinforces that accessibility is a civil right and a shared responsibility.
- AD builds clear, cohesive, and concrete mental imagery: AD is just another way to learn the same information as some people get through sight and vision. AD provides that equivalent information through sound and hearing in ways that are comprehensible to listeners.
- AD is not new. It has a rich history, conceptual models, best practices: The American Council of the Blind’s Audio Description Project (ADP) and The UniDescription Project, among others, offer extensive resources, including training, examples, professional standards, empirical research, and community connections.
- AD marketing matters: AD projects should not be a 'one-and-done' effort. Build your AD, share it, and keep sharing it, like everything else you market. Highlight your accessible experiences in press releases, newsletters, and social media at every opportunity, as a matter of routine.
- AD builds agency: AD gives more people the ability to explore, learn, and participate independently. That means more visitors will have meaningful, positive experiences, not just some of them.
- "Audio Description" is the right term: Audio Description is the label used in Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), by the American Council of the Blind, the National Federation of the Blind, the Royal National Institute of Blind People, etc.
However, dozens of competing labels also in circulation cause confusion.
To help to define AD as a product and as a process, “static” AD addresses inaccessible still images, tables, charts, maps, collages, and other non-moving visuals.
“Dynamic” AD applies to live or moving media such as television, movies, theater, and sports.
In computing, the term “Image Description” is often used for websites (e.g., alt text), though it essentially refers to static AD in short
forms. Other labels, and there are many, include audiovisual translation, verbal description, and video description. But we're all talking about the same basic remediation process.
Access Hound
