Audio Description
According to estimates by the General Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Berlin, there are approximately 6,000 blind and 20,000 visually impaired people living in Berlin. As with the general population, about one-tenth of them are likely to be interested in the arts. Live audio description helps these guests fully experience the visual action on stage. On television, there are films with an audio track where a narrator describes the action for people with visual impairments. We now offer the same service to opera lovers, except that it is not pre-recorded but spoken live. To this end, Förderband e.V., a cultural initiative in Berlin, has trained narrators specifically for this purpose. They deliver the commentary from a soundproof booth at the end of the hall, and it is transmitted via radio. To hear it, you borrow a device in the foyer and receive the audio commentary through an earpiece during the performance.
The Berlin “Audio Description” program was launched by Förderband e.V. in 2019 as a pilot project and was transferred to the sponsorship of Kulturinitiative Förderband GmbH (theaterhaus berlin) in 2026. Funding is provided by the Berlin state budget, the LOTTO Foundation Berlin, and the Herbert Funke Foundation.
For more information about the schedule, visit blog.theaterhoeren-berlin.de.
«Blind people also want to know what’s happening on stage. We make that possible through the Berliner Spielplan Audiodeskription (Audiodescription of Berlin’s Theater Program) project. We develop descriptions of what’s happening visually on stage: How do the characters move? What does the stage look like? It’s a multi-step process: First, a writer creates a script based on the production. Then, a sighted writer and a blind writer each review the text. The audio description is narrated live; the audience listens to it through headphones. For streams, it is recorded. This also includes tactile tours involving walking the stage and touching props. For me, audio description is more than just a service: it is an art form in its own right; it transforms a play into something entirely different.» – Lavinia Knop-Walling
What happens during a tactile tour?
The tactile tour is designed for blind and visually impaired people to give them a more vivid sense of what is happening on stage before the performance. The one-hour tours typically begin two hours before the performance. Depending on what is possible, participants explore the stage area and can touch props, costumes, and mask elements. Artists and staff from various departments describe their work on the production. Different elements of the production are thus presented through dialogue and touch, allowing for the perception of art through multiple senses.