ASSOCIATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF BLIND AND VISUALY DISABLED PEOPLE
The ABA is a private non-profit association in Geneva. Founded in 1901, its mission is to improve the quality of life, integration and autonomy of visually impaired people living in Geneva. The association advises the persons concerned and their relatives and raises awareness among the general public. It is also active through the medical-social and political network in Geneva and promotes the interests of blind and visually impaired people.
1. PROJECT OBJECTIVES – PURCHASE OF EQUIPMENT AND PRODUCTION OF AUDIO BOOKS
- To enable the Bibliothèque Braille Romande to produce more audio books for its subscribers who are unable to read.
- To have adequate home recording equipment that meets optimal technical and sound standards.
- To increase the choice of titles available to blind or visually impaired subscribers to the Bibliothèque Braille Romande and spoken books by producing 17 new audio books.
- To offer the possibility of continuing to enjoy reading despite a visual handicap by proposing a vast literary choice.
The 2022 objective is to increase the number of books produced from home and thus confirm the growth trend that began in 2019.
2. PROCESS FOR STUDIO RECORDING
A new title is acquired in three ways:
- Subscribers express an interest in listening to a particular book.
- BBR librarians make title selections based on current literary events.
- Volunteers suggest books to be recorded.
The book is sent to the studio’s sound technicians for pre-production work, which consists of preparing the book for recording by analyzing its structure. The technician reproduces this structure in HTML language within a software program in order to find all the elements present in the paper version of the book.
The book is then offered to volunteer readers. The recording of the content of the book will be done according to the structure mentioned in point 2 and according to a specific standard called “Daisy”. This allows the user to navigate through the book in a pleasant and user-friendly way. It gives the possibility to perform several manipulations, such as going from one chapter to another, inserting bookmarks allowing to come back to a precise place, memorizing the last listening position with the help of an adapted reading device. Recording is done in soundproof booths with professional equipment to ensure a good quality of production.
Once the recording is completed, the technicians perform a post-production work consisting of cleaning the audio tracks of noise or undesirable elements, as well as a sound treatment on the recording to improve the quality and comfort of listening.
The last stage of production consists of quality control, which ensures compliance with the “Daisy” standard (good navigability within the book).
Once completed, the book is archived on a library server and becomes available for loan to subscribers, on CD or by download.
3. PROCESS HOME RECORDING
In addition to the productions done in the BBR studios, recordings are also made at home by volunteer readers. The production process and the path of the audiobook remain identical to the studio production, except for the recording which is done at the volunteer’s home.
The purpose of the home recording is to increase the number of books available to subscribers in addition to those produced in the studios.
