Hi, A second year PhD student in Queens University, Belfast will soon carry out testing of how best to assess the affects of audio description. She is looking for volunteers to take part in the testing, probably around the end of July. She is hoping to include some people who are blind from birth and some who became blind later. She says that she is "seeking ethics approval for an investigation that will use non-invasive electro encephalography to assess the cognitive demands and effects of audio description upon the visually impaired user". This means attaching electrodes to monitor what is happening in the brain. She further says: "Ideally the experiments would include 30 visually impaired participants, 15 of them congenitally blind. There are two options for the location of the experiments; either in the state of the art soundproofed lab at Queen's in Belfast, or there is the possibility of acquiring a lower resolution, portable machine, meaning I could transport it to a more convenient location. The experiment itself might take around 2 hours to complete. I would hope to be able to offer money for travel expenses at the least." I think that any testing that provides concrete proof of the beneficial affects of audio description can only help us in our efforts to convince the likes of RTE to provide the service. If interested, please contact Michelle directly, but I would appreciate if you mention that I passed her name on to you. She can be contacted at: Michelle O'Loughlin moloughlin03@xxxxxxxxx Thanks. Take care, Gerry Ellis If you don't know where you're going, How will you know when you get there?
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