ABOUT SOUND Can we use sound to help people with vision loss understand visual art and culture? In 1987, Elisabeth Salzhauer Axel first asked me that provocative question as she began Art Beyond Sight (originally Art Education for the Blind). ABS went on to create techniques and guidelines for making visual art and culture accessible to people who are blind or have low vision. Today those techniques and guidelines are used in museums around the world. Axel’s question began my explorations. Of course, sound includes spoken words, so I learned the art and craft of Audio Description, using words to convey visual culture. (See my site www.writingad.org). But beyond words, sound can have emotional power. So what can we do with music, ambiences, sound effects, sound as analogue? That question led to others:
Sound and Sense Memory I began by wondering: what is the same and what is different for sighted people and blind people who experience art? For sighted, experiencing art -- through the eyes -- includes an emotional component, a visceral reaction. When sighted people stand before a painting or sculpture, or inside a work of architecture, they have a direct immediate response. They smile, or weep, or sigh, or feel anger, or maybe just feel confused. The point is that a feeling is the first response, before analysis or interpretation. They feel a reaction before they can verbalize it. They have a direct experience with the work of art. And equally important, afterwards sighted people are left with a mental image of the work, and a sense memory of that direct experience. For people who are blind or have low vision sound can help add that component to the experience of a work of visual art. That’s because of the difference between the sensory experiences of seeing and hearing. When seeing, you must aim your eyes at specific points, in one direction at a time. You direct your gaze outwards. When hearing, sound comes to you. You receive sound. Remember, sound is actually waves of air that touch your entire body, (or just your ears if you are wearing headphones). You are literally touched by sound physically, and you can be emotionally touched too. So, it’s possible for the creative use of sound — integrating audio descriptions and narration, sound effects, ambiences, music, and sound as analogue -- to help people with vision loss 1) understand how a work looks and 2) develop a mental image and a sense memory of the experience. I believe that sound can help evoke the emotional essence of a work of art, which is part of an aesthetic experience, part of the truth of the art. Sighted and blind people will never have the same aesthetic experience with a work of art. And that is fine. What sound can do is bring both groups closer together in the understanding of art and art history. |