[Book Sip] Stories of People Delivering Sound to the Visually Impaired

Some sentences encapsulate the entire content of the book itself, while others instantly reach the reader's heart, creating a connection with the book. We present meaningful sentences excerpted from the book. - Editor's note

The ‘screen narrator’ is a person who conveys to visually impaired individuals the expressions and gestures of characters on screen in movies or dramas, as well as various information that is presented without dialogue, through ‘spoken words.’ This book tells the story of the struggles of five veteran screen narrators who have devoted themselves to this work for over ten years, dreaming of a world where everyone can ‘see’ together. It is the first professional memoir to reveal to the world what these writers do, what thoughts they hold, and what kind of lives they lead.

‘Screen narration’ refers to a service that ‘provides audio descriptions of what is happening on TV or screen for people with low vision or total blindness,’ and in English, it is called ‘Descriptive Video Service’ (DVS). In other words, screen narration is the verbal explanation of all scenes in a video, including scene changes, characters’ facial expressions, gestures, and all visual information that is not conveyed through dialogue. A ‘screen narrator’ is a professional who writes scripts that serve as the eyes for visually impaired people by describing the screen. Our writing is delivered to visually impaired individuals through the voices of voice actors.

---From the “Prologue”

Congenitally visually impaired individuals have never seen the shape or color of objects, so no matter how detailed the narration is, it can be difficult for them to understand. In such cases, it may be better to narrate only the necessary information. However, visually impaired people who lost their sight later in life and have memories of seeing objects sometimes want more detailed narration. Ultimately, the answer to this issue is ‘Sibashi (Visually Impaired by Visually Impaired)’ and ‘Pubap (Program by Program).’ Screen narration should be written based on congenitally totally blind individuals, but maximum flexibility should be exercised according to the situation of each program. At the same time, it is important not to forget that overly abundant narration can tire the ears, while overly simple narration can cause disappointment.

---From “Part 1 Chapter 2 | Even if we cannot convey the world like family members do”

It does not mean that sounds are meaningless. I believe that the sounds in the original video, which were ‘difficult to accurately grasp the meaning of,’ are reborn as ‘beautiful sounds’ with more precise meaning when combined with screen narration. I also think that the work of a screen narrator is not only ‘explaining the video’ but also ‘imbuing sounds with meaning.’ Every sound in the world has a reason for existing. The screen narrator is the person who finds that reason and conveys it to visually impaired people.

---From “Part 1 Chapter 3 | The Beauty of Those Sounds”

Clearly in Mind | Written by Kwon Seong-a, Kim Eun-joo, Lee Jin-hee, Lim Hyun-ah, Hong Mi-jung | Sideway | 268 pages | 16,000 KRW