Dr Louise Fryer is one of the UK’s most experienced describers. She has described at the National Theatre since it started offering AD in 1993. She works with VocalEyes as a describer, trainer and editor. For the BBC, she helped develop the pilot TV Audio Description Service (AUDETEL).
She has described films, often working with independent filmmakers, and was the accessibility advisor for the BAFTA-nominated Notes on Blindness (2016). She writes audio guides for museums and galleries and is currently working with NDACA to make their collection accessible. She helps companies interested in developing integrated approaches, most recently 2Faced Dance.
She is a Senior Teaching Fellow at University College, London (UCL) and is involved in a number of European Research projects. Her company Utopian Voices Ltd. is a partner in the Erasmus+ funded research project ADLAB-PRO creating an online curriculum and teaching resources for AD trainers.
Utopian Voices Ltd. offers audio description as well as training and consultancy.
- Books
- Fryer, L. (forthcoming). Audiodescription, Translation and Pragmatics in Rebecca Tipton and Louisa Desilla (Eds), Routledge Handbook of Translation and Pragmatics Routledge, Oxford.
- Book Chapters
- Fryer, L. (2019). Quality Assessment in Audio description: Lessons learned from Interpreting. In E. Huertas-Barros, S. Vandepitte and E. Iglesias-Fernández (eds.) Quality Assurance and Assessment Practices in Translation and Interpreting. IGI-Global publications.
- Fryer L. (2018). Psycholinguistics and Perception in AVT, in Luis Perez-Gonzalez (ed.) Handbook of Audiovisual Translation. Routledge, Oxford. ISBN-13: 978-1138859524
- Eardley, A. F., Fryer, L., Hutchinson, R., Cock, M., Ride, P., & Neves, J. (2017). Enriched Audio Description: Working towards an inclusive museum experience. In Santoshi Halder and Lori Assaf (eds.) Inclusion, Disability and Culture (pp. 195-207). Springer International Publishing.
- Romero-Fresco. P. & Fryer, L. (2015). “AI of Inglourious Basterds” in Remael, A., Reviers, N. and Vercauteren, G. (eds.) Pictures painted in words: ADLAB Audio Description guidelines.
- Romero-Fresco. P. & Fryer, L. (2014). Audiointroductions. In Maszerowska, A., Matamala & P. Orero (eds.) Audio description: New Perspectives Illustrated. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
- Fryer, L. (2012). A sense of place: Putting exhibits in their spatial context. In C. Alvarez de Morales, C. Limbach, & M. Olalla Luque (Eds.) Accesibilidad en la nueva era de las comunicaciones profesionales y universidad: un diálogo imprescindible (pp. 85 – 93). Granada, Ediciones Tragacanto. (softback)
- Reports
- Fryer, Louise and Amelia Cavallo (2018). “Integrated Access Inquiry 2017-18 Report.” Extant, 2018,
extant.org.uk/docs/uploads/Extant_Integrated_Access_Report_2018_Full_Length.docx.
- Fryer, Louise and Amelia Cavallo (2018). “Integrated Access Inquiry 2017-18 Report.” Extant, 2018,
- Articles & Papers
- Fryer, L. (2018) Staging the Audio Describer in Disability Studies Quarterly 38(3).
- Fryer, L. ( 2017). Audio Description: Art or Access? Ways of Seeing Art Shape Arts Publication.
- Jankowska, A. Milc, M. & Fryer, L. (2017) Translating Audio Description Scripts …into English. Skase journal of Translation and Interpretation vol 10 no 2 http://www.skase.sk
- Walczak , A. & Fryer, L. (2017) Vocal delivery of audio description by genre: measuring users’ presence Perspectives: Studies in Translatology http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2017.1298634.
- Walczak, Agnieszka, and Louise Fryer (2017). “Creative description: The impact of audio description style on presence in visually impaired audiences.” British Journal of Visual Impairment 35.1: 6-17.
- Fryer, L. (2013). An ecological approach to audio description. The Psychologist, 26 (6), 458 – 460.
- Fryer, L. (2010) Audio description as audio drama: a practitioner’s point of view. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 18(3). 205-213.
- Presentations
- Fryer, L. (June 2018) “Barriers to Access: Everything but the Audio Description. Paper presented at ACT conference, Barcelona, Spain.
- Fryer, L. (June 2018) “Quality in AD: Why Audio Describers need a Model of Visual Perception. Paper presented at UMAQ conference, Barcelona, Spain
- Fryer, L. (February 2018) “Audio Description and Immersion” Centre for Translation & Intercultural Studies (CTIS), University of Hyderabad, India
- Fryer, L. (October 2017) “It May be Audiodescribed, but is it any Good? Paper presented at UMAQ conference, Vigo, Spain.
- Fryer, L. (September 2017) Putting Our Own House in Order Intermedia Conference, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland
- Fryer, L. (Aug 2017) “Audio description and the limitations of sight Open Lab, Brady Arts Centre London
- Fryer, L. (June 2017) “The Future of Media Accessibility: Issues and Visions” Poesis, Lecce, Italy
- Fryer, L. (March 2017) “Audio Description and immersion” Cambridge Sci-Fest, Cambridge, UK.
- Fryer, L. (February 2017). Audio Description: Art or Access? Bridging the Gaps Tate Exchange
Tate Modern, London, UK - Fryer, L. (February 2017). Audio Description :AD on the Cheap? Taking Flight Symposium Thinking Outside the Box, Sherman Theatre, Cardiff
- Fryer, L. (October 2016) Keynote. Audio Description: The Art of Access, The Young Vic, London.
- Fryer, L. (Sept.2016) Accessible Events: Collaborative approaches 8th EST Congress (European Society for Translation Studies). Aarhus.
- Fryer, L. (July, 2016) AD: Media Access and Social Inclusion. On the Edge Symposium, Birmingham.
- Fryer, L. (April, 2016) Blue Smarties. Plenary Lecture. 3rd Intermedia Conference, Lodz, Poland.
- Fryer, L. (April, 2016) Pastime with Good Company. Paper presented at the Unlimited! Symposium, Antwerp, Belgium.
- Fryer, L. (September, 2015) Research Findings AD and Cinema. Guest Lecture AGM. Audio Description Association (ADA UK), Theatre Trust, London
- Fryer, L. (July 2015). Music – What’s not to hear? Paper presented at Translating Music Project: Making Music Accessible seminar. Europe House, London.
- Fryer, L. (June 2015). An Ecological Approach to Audio Description Paper presented at Blind Creations Conference. Royal Holloway College, University of London.
