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Imagineear partners with English Heritage to help make the iconic Stonehenge more inclusive
Following an extensive accessibility and inclusion review, the Imagineear team have developed and launched a ground-breaking Audio Descriptive version of the Stonehenge app, which is already available in 13 languages.
Imagineear completed a four-month consultation process, analysing and auditing the Stonehenge audio guide app – it’s content, design and UX styling and technical developments for blind and partially sighted visitors to the flagship site, with a view to using smartphone accessibility features.
The results of this review have informed this new development of the app, which now includes an Audio Descriptive tour produced specifically for visually impaired visitors.
Adapted from the original tour script, the app features two voice overs: one voice used for main content narration and a second voice used for instructional and directional audio.
The new interface has been designed and developed around the needs of fully blind users and works with a smartphones’ own accessibility functionalities, such as TalkBack (Android) and VoiceOver (iOS).
“Working closely with English Heritage to develop our most recent app has been a great success,” said Raffaele Flacco, Project Manager at Imagineear. “Multiple site visits and focus groups with visually impaired users have informed our new user interface design and audio content, ensuring it is perfectly suited to fully blind users, without sacrificing the quality and variety of the content available.”
Melanie Coussens, English Heritage’s Interpretation Manager for Stonehenge said, “We’re delighted to be able to offer our blind and partially sighted visitors these brilliant new audio descriptive tours. The tours have been developed hand in hand with Imagineear and a really committed focus group, who have been both generous with their time and candid with their feedback over 18 months, and have allowed us to test the tour again and again. We’re confident that these free-to-download tours will allow blind and partially sighted visitors to really experience Stonehenge in a meaningful and enriching way.”
We’re confident that these free-to-download tours will allow blind and partially sighted visitors to really experience Stonehenge in a meaningful and enriching way.
Melanie Coussens
English Heritage’s Interpretation Manager for Stonehenge
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